- How far back does his introduction go (I know the essentials of the Civil War, but very little about the, well, half century before it, really), and how much later does the epilogue/whatever go - does it discuss Reconstruction and that conquest of the West that you mention in much detail?

- Do the books devote much attention to the geopolitical ramifications of the war, and the role played by the various other powers of the time?

- Since you mention "the greatness of Lincoln" standing in sharp contrast to those around him, does that mean Foote is guilty of the common American habit of hero-worship for certain presidents that makes non-American readers (i.e. me) rather sceptical? I've long felt that the real merits of men like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln are nearly impossible to determine because of all the hero-worship in most American sources (and in Lincoln's case, his assassination doesn't help either) - it's exaggerated, but by how much? I'd be interested in attempts to balance those portrayals out a bit, the way historiography has done with e.g. Winston Churchill, or Napoleon.