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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
This book was interesting and at times funny and thought provoking. However there were large parts of it that were repetitive and just went on for too long. Many of the current issues he talked about were basically the same from state to state yet were discoursed at length for each state. I enjoyed it but not nearly as much as Baghdad Without A Map or A Voyage Long and Strange.
A hilarious and informative book! Horwitz is a great writer, very engaging. I don't read much non-fiction, but I loved this one!
I’ve never been to the South. I know this is an odd way to start out the review but I thought I’d just give it a mention. Tony Horwitz visits fifteen different states to see what the Civil War means to different people. There are a lot of prejudiced people he meets in his travels. Granted, it is in the 90s when he does research for this book but holy mackerel and rice.
The book starts with Tony explaining how he became interested in the Civil War as a young boy and how it was renewed when reenactors were filming close to his house. He goes hiking with some guys who are all about hardcore reenacting where they throw away Tony’s apples because they are Granny Smith apples and look too good of apples to actually be considered for the hike. Then, he spoons with them.
Tony Horwitz does a great job of adding humor to his writing. He uses observation and word play to highlight amusing moments.
Examples:
The place was shut but a newspaper box offered the Dinwiddie Montior, whose banner proclaimed: “The only newspaper that gives a hoot about Dinwiddie County.”
And
I gently observed that the hardcore look had its drawbacks in the chick department. Rob glared at me. “What are you saying? I should stop washing my beard in bacon grease?”
This book also has some different viewpoints about the Civil War and why the Civil War happens. I’m not going to highlight them here because I think it is a good idea for people to read the novel and conclude for themselves what the Civil War was about.
The book starts with Tony explaining how he became interested in the Civil War as a young boy and how it was renewed when reenactors were filming close to his house. He goes hiking with some guys who are all about hardcore reenacting where they throw away Tony’s apples because they are Granny Smith apples and look too good of apples to actually be considered for the hike. Then, he spoons with them.
Tony Horwitz does a great job of adding humor to his writing. He uses observation and word play to highlight amusing moments.
Examples:
The place was shut but a newspaper box offered the Dinwiddie Montior, whose banner proclaimed: “The only newspaper that gives a hoot about Dinwiddie County.”
And
I gently observed that the hardcore look had its drawbacks in the chick department. Rob glared at me. “What are you saying? I should stop washing my beard in bacon grease?”
This book also has some different viewpoints about the Civil War and why the Civil War happens. I’m not going to highlight them here because I think it is a good idea for people to read the novel and conclude for themselves what the Civil War was about.
I'm not a big history buff, so when I was assigned to read this book for class, I was dreading it. However, I was somewhat pleasantly surprised to find how many different places and people Horwitz explored. I gave this book 2 stars because it dragged at some places, and I felt some parts could have been cut out completely.
My difficulty with reading non-fiction is not a news flash to me, but having recently traveled to a few of the sites Horowitz talks about in detail, I was more excited than I usual to pick up nuggets of history. His approach with people from the north and south was fascinating brought about modern sociological considerations that never would have occurred to me. I am now hopeful about someday getting to tour other battlefields, and will likely reread this book before I go.
"Confederates in the Attic: Dispatched from the Unfinished Civil War," by Tony Horowitz was a fascinating look at those who are passionate about preserving the history of the Civil War. It delves into southern poverty, race relations, and those obsessed with war reenacting. Written in the late 1990s it was dated in some areas regarding current events, but overall it was a solid read.
Finally! I am finally done with this book! It felt like such a long torturous read! I don't feel that my challenges with the book were due to Horwitz's writing style, or my reading skill level, as both are pretty good. I attribute it to the subject matter. I had no idea so many people were still so fired up about the Civil War and its aftermath. I appreciated Horwitz's honest look at so many of these topics, and his openness about the factors affecting his opinions and perceptions (his Jewish heritage, for instance). The chapters with Rob, the farb-hating "hardcore" re-enactor, was a fun, although strange, contrast to much of the rest of the book, which wrestled with racism, violence, and prejudice in so many forms and for so many reasons. I found the chapter set in Kentucky and the last chapter on Alabama to be the saddest chapters in the book, and I'm thankful he had a final chapter after that last Alabama chapter, or I would have left the book feeling TERRIBLE. As it is, I'm glad I read the book, because I learned a lot, but I will honestly NEVER read this book again. It made my head AND my heart hurt.
"It made the book so much better that he has the natural inclination to ask questions and let people explain their lives to him. If I was writing this book, I would have not spoken to anybody and made the worst book of all time." - Episode 66, CONFEDERATES IN THE ABBEY
https://thetoreadlistpodcast.libsyn.com/northanger-attic
https://thetoreadlistpodcast.libsyn.com/northanger-attic
I read a chapter of this book in a class - somewhere between high school and college, but I can't for the life of me remember why I read it or what the context was.
At any rate, going back and reading the book - as a Civil War nerd - was fantastic. Particularly living in such a history rich area, it's fun to recognize many of the spots I am so familiar with - the battlefield I worked at (Manassas/Bull Run), Petersburg and Dinwiddie, Fredericksburg, the valley near Winchester, all of the battlefields I'd toured with my family, etc.
The book touches on things FAR beyond the War as well, in many ways it's an exploration of the South - though by no means an exhaustive one. It touches on the fascination with [b:Gone With the Wind|18405|Gone With The Wind|Margaret Mitchell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166913011s/18405.jpg|3358283] (both here and in Japan), the civil rights struggle, neo-Confederates, all in the context of the author's travels through the Civil War battlefields. There are also lots of instances of "myth-busting" both Northern and Southern propoganda.
This is a book that obviously has followed upon the success of Gettysburg - a movie I love, but would not subject others to. There was a certain pop culture fascination with the Civil War after Gettysburg and Glory, and the book addresses that as well.
I'm not sure people uninterested in the Civil War would enjoy this book, but I loved it. I'm sending this book on to my Dad, and I'm certain he'll enjoy it. It's written in an easy to read style, and the author is a journalist which has clearly influenced his approach. Because it is seperated roughly by state, it is a book written in fairly bite-sized chunks that made it easy to stop and start.
At any rate, going back and reading the book - as a Civil War nerd - was fantastic. Particularly living in such a history rich area, it's fun to recognize many of the spots I am so familiar with - the battlefield I worked at (Manassas/Bull Run), Petersburg and Dinwiddie, Fredericksburg, the valley near Winchester, all of the battlefields I'd toured with my family, etc.
The book touches on things FAR beyond the War as well, in many ways it's an exploration of the South - though by no means an exhaustive one. It touches on the fascination with [b:Gone With the Wind|18405|Gone With The Wind|Margaret Mitchell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166913011s/18405.jpg|3358283] (both here and in Japan), the civil rights struggle, neo-Confederates, all in the context of the author's travels through the Civil War battlefields. There are also lots of instances of "myth-busting" both Northern and Southern propoganda.
This is a book that obviously has followed upon the success of Gettysburg - a movie I love, but would not subject others to. There was a certain pop culture fascination with the Civil War after Gettysburg and Glory, and the book addresses that as well.
I'm not sure people uninterested in the Civil War would enjoy this book, but I loved it. I'm sending this book on to my Dad, and I'm certain he'll enjoy it. It's written in an easy to read style, and the author is a journalist which has clearly influenced his approach. Because it is seperated roughly by state, it is a book written in fairly bite-sized chunks that made it easy to stop and start.