Selected Book
Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War
- Paperback
- Author: Tony Horwitz
- Publisher: Vintage
- Release Date: February 1999
- ISBN-10: 067975833X
- ISBN-13: 9780679758334
- List Price: $15.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryPulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz returned from years of traipsing through war zones as a foreign correspondent only to find that his childhood obsession with the Civil War had caught up with him. Near his house in Virginia, he happened to encounter people who reenact the Civil War--men who dress up in period costumes and live as Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks. Intrigued, he wound up having some odd adventures with the "hardcores," the fellows who try to immerse themselves in the war, hoping to get what they lovingly term a "period rush." Horwitz spent two years reporting on why Americans are still so obsessed with the war, and the ways in which it resonates today. In the course of his work, he made a sobering side trip to cover a murder that was provoked by the display of the Confederate flag, and he spoke to a number of people seeking to honor their ancestors who fought for the Confederacy. Horwitz has a flair for odd details that spark insights, and Confederates in the Attic is a thoughtful and entertaining book that does much to explain America's continuing obsession with the Civil War. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
A Really Good Read for Understanding and Reflection
Rating:
This is a book I would never have read, except for the fact that I have a remarkable step son who likes to challenge my reading habits and try to make me a better person. With this book as a Christmas gift this year, I hope he has done both.
A son of the North, born in Maine and lived there most of my life, I always kind of looked at the Civil War as "we won", "they lost," Yea for our side.
As this book points out, if the battles had been fought largely in my nieghborhood, say Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, I might have has a different and more intense view of things.
Horowitz, points out in a very pleasant way, what this war meant and still means to those on the losing side and sometimes...why it does.
The book is divided bewtween his experiences with some very "hardcore" reinactor types, and his own travels through the "South" where he experiences the reactions of others to their view of (1) the War Between the States or (2) the American Civil War. Which description you use depends on where you live.
My step son who gave me this book, attended and graduated from Gettysburg College. His mother and I have many fond memories of getting acquainted with the Civil War battle ground there during the four years of his matriculation. The 20th Maine had a large role in that encounter, commanded by Joshua Chamberlin. Little Round Top is something I knew a bit about before traveling there. Having been there and read on that aspect of the battle, I know much more now.
However, I digress. This book is an interesting travel through the South of the Civil War with interesting encounters and discussions with those in the South who will not let his matter go and who give insight and understanding as to why.
You will encounter Robert Lee Hodge when you read this book. He is as hard core a reinactor as exists. He probably should be bronzed by those who believe as he does in the essence of the war and the need to preserve it as living history forever.
The American Civil War was a horrendous event in the numbers of people killed and wounded, the devestation brought to the South and it's long lasting effect on the American psyche, even when we don't realize it.
This book goes some distance in addressing that. It gets past the parades, the flag waving (both sides) and deals with a myriad of under currents which still affect this country. It is is powerfully and well written and worthy of being read by anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of who we are as a people and a country.
A Yankee writer's take on the Civil War's legacy in the South
Rating:
As other reviewers have stated, the author Horwitz, in Confederates in the Attic, does engage in some "rebel bashing." But I believe he does so only half heartedly, probably in order to appease his peers who would take him to task if he did not sufficiently bow to political correctness in his observations. It's not hard to read between the lines with his admiration of the accessible Shelby Foote and the experience with hardcore reenactors and Civil Wargasm that he so enthusiastically relates. Some of the people and attitudes documented by Horwitz are indeed grim and dark. Nevertheless, they all play a part in the great sociological tapestry of the South.
I found especially interesting and amusing the chapter on Atlanta and Gone with the Wind. Horwitz documents the unsoutherness of modern Atlanta and offers this quote from John Shelton Reed on page 283: "Every time I look at Atlanta, I see what a quarter million Confederate soldiers died to prevent." Interesting as well is the fondness of the Japanese for Gone With the Wind. On page 299 Horwitz notes the resonance between Japan and the South, both societies having been destroyed and then reconstructed by the United States.
Hilarious, Informative, Riveting
Rating:
Horwitz is an incredible writer, researcher, realist, and humanitarian. I have not been able to put this book down. Often, it is absolutely HILARIOUS, but at the same time, well, a horror story. I have lived all over the US, but my family hails from the South and that is where my heart has a home (not to mention my heritage is FULL of Confederate veterans). Horwitz hits the nail on the head with the Southern attitude of the War not really being over. What makes this book so special is you get a view of ALL sides. I loved it! Cheers, Tony Horwitz!
BAIT AND SWITCH
Rating: 
I have to agree with the other one star commentors. This book is nothing more than a collection of anecdotes about eccentrics and trivia, sprinkled with disapproving comments about the South by the author. It leads nowhere and you learn nothing. The author's lack of knowledge about the war shows also. This book had an interesting premise, but the author failed to follow through. At least now I know I can make a quick buck writing about all the eccentric kooks I met while living up North. Don't waste your money or your time y'all.
confederates in the attic
Rating:
Anyone interested in the civil war and the south will truely love this book. It is a unique look at reinactors and to the details they achieve for the simple passion they had for the war and soldiers that fought in battle. The author is a great story teller with wit and heart.
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