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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
excellently crafted, moved along quickly with great little vignettes of southern life (don't get me started on the people he features who still worship the confederacy and *everything* it stands for....). As a person who has completely been swept up by different historical periods and consider myself somewhat of a history nerd, I resonated with the author & his journey. Kind of makes me wanna visit the south now
Oh, they take this Civil War stuff waaaay to seriously, which makes for fun reading and a lot of anecdotal stories.
Great writing, provocative history, illuminating our current situation and the artificial claims to connections with the past. I'll be reading all of Horwitz's books.
2 STARS
I started this book without knowing anything about it other than the title. I assumed it was about Civil War but it is actually about Civil War reanactors and the South. It was an intriguing concept but I shortly became bored with it.
I started this book without knowing anything about it other than the title. I assumed it was about Civil War but it is actually about Civil War reanactors and the South. It was an intriguing concept but I shortly became bored with it.
Okay, but a bit drier than anticipated; certain expectations tend to be formed with a back cover blurb announcing that the material is "hilariously funny." Horwitz provides interesting insight into how the Civil War and its repercussions continue to affect us as a society through his experiences within ten Southern states, and I had to keep reminding myself that this book was published nearly 20 years ago as these issues are just as prevalent if not more so today. I was struck in particular by the complicated tale of Michael Westerman in Kentucky as well as the various attitudes and practices associated with educating today's youth about the Civil War within Alabama's schools. Horwitz's account of his time spent with reenactor buff Robert Lee Hodge mostly fell flat and did not provide the intended humor for me, but I liked discovering the vital work that reenactors do in bringing history to life for regular folk. I wish that the book had come to more of a summation on its topic instead of being presented as a scattered collection of thoughts and encounters, which would have made it more satisfying as a whole.
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
The timing of this book—originally published in 1998–makes this now seem like a really quaint nostalgia tour versus the intimate, illuminating work it probably was when it was published. Though you can see the threads of our current national attitudes and difficulties here, and it’s fascinating to look back on this book through that lens, the original idea of this being some sort of hilarious travelogue documenting scattered weirdos who can’t let go of a loss 130 years in the past doesn’t hold up. Still an easy read and a good primer for folks who maybe don’t know much about their Civil War history or the reason we’re in this mess currently, but adjusting the lens seems key to enjoying this today.
informative
medium-paced
Everyone who has ever wondered why the US is the way it is should read this book. I'm not saying that as in "let's blame the South for everything," but in the sense that a very small portion of population knows or understands how the legacy of the Civil War still impacts us today. This book forces the reader to consider that. Though it is rounding on 20 years old, this book is still remarkably relevant to readers in 2017, especially in today's shaky political/racial/cultural climate.
I picked up this book in an effort to learn about a portion of the country and population that I know very little about, and boy did I learn! I learned a lot about the South and the Southern "way of life," some of it surprising, some not, but I feel a little more familiar with Southern culture all the same. Well-researched and accessible, this book made me feel like I was in the passenger seat next Tony Horwitz, barreling down some stretch on rural highway in Kentucky or marching shoulder to shoulder through a dewy field on the way to yet another Civil War historical site. As someone who relishes nostalgia, I loved every page of this book.
I picked up this book in an effort to learn about a portion of the country and population that I know very little about, and boy did I learn! I learned a lot about the South and the Southern "way of life," some of it surprising, some not, but I feel a little more familiar with Southern culture all the same. Well-researched and accessible, this book made me feel like I was in the passenger seat next Tony Horwitz, barreling down some stretch on rural highway in Kentucky or marching shoulder to shoulder through a dewy field on the way to yet another Civil War historical site. As someone who relishes nostalgia, I loved every page of this book.