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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
Such a wonderful resource on how history is still used politically, the adoption if the confederate flag for new uses, civil war reenactment, and southern identity.
I liked his style of writing and the questions he elaves the reader with. Seeing the Civil War through the eyes of a Southner is a different take on it. I would love to see an update since this was written in 90's. Even so, it still resonates.
The storytelling is quite remarkable throughout the book and Tony Horwitz does a wonderful job of looking at different sides of the story and going after sources as well as trying to experience as many things as possible first hand. The book was an eye opener for me about how the Civil War is seen (or rather was seen in the late 1990s) in the Southern states. I learnt most of what I know about the era during middle school social studies classes in a Bostonian suburb and, while I do remember hearing about both sides of the story, I had no idea that the subject was still so fresh for many people.
A fascinating and unique account of the Civil War as it happened, and its historical significance that can still be seen today. The author travels to the South to see what remains of the Civil War and the southern secessionist beliefs. The evidence he finds for the Civil War's relevance in today's USA is stunning.
At first, I thought "Oh my gosh, I will NEVER understand the South." But by the end of the book, I realized both sides, North and South are still struggling with the original sin of this country, slavery.
A fascinating non-fiction account of travels through the former Confederate States of America, and some border states as well, Horowitz tries to figure out what the Civil War truly means in the American psyche. Money quote: "Down here, folks think it's half time."
Takeaways: Beyond that half time quote, there's a sense throughout the book that an image of a South that never was, a perfect Confederacy, was on the very verge of truly existing back in 1862ish and looms large in the imagination. Because it never quite existed, the Confederacy can be all things to all people: a government that never had to get down to the nitty gritty of actually governing, a way of life idealized in Gone With the Wind and other fictions, and a country that could have been truly great had it just been allowed to be anything at all.
One of the interesting passages dealt with the similarities the author saw between civil rights remembrances in Alabama and Civil War reenactments elsewhere: "The civil rights celebrants seemed caught in the same ghost dance as so many whites I'd met, conjuring spirits from an exalted past of heroic sacrifice, halo-crowned martyrs, and unfulfilled dreams."
Another interesting thing: this book was written in the mid-90s, and nearly everyone the author talks to either works at a museum or has a job in manufacturing. It's interesting to think how those jobs are mostly gone now, and to understand the argument that the economy isn't doing any better no matter what the data says, at least not for these folks.
Takeaways: Beyond that half time quote, there's a sense throughout the book that an image of a South that never was, a perfect Confederacy, was on the very verge of truly existing back in 1862ish and looms large in the imagination. Because it never quite existed, the Confederacy can be all things to all people: a government that never had to get down to the nitty gritty of actually governing, a way of life idealized in Gone With the Wind and other fictions, and a country that could have been truly great had it just been allowed to be anything at all.
One of the interesting passages dealt with the similarities the author saw between civil rights remembrances in Alabama and Civil War reenactments elsewhere: "The civil rights celebrants seemed caught in the same ghost dance as so many whites I'd met, conjuring spirits from an exalted past of heroic sacrifice, halo-crowned martyrs, and unfulfilled dreams."
Another interesting thing: this book was written in the mid-90s, and nearly everyone the author talks to either works at a museum or has a job in manufacturing. It's interesting to think how those jobs are mostly gone now, and to understand the argument that the economy isn't doing any better no matter what the data says, at least not for these folks.
An examination of modern nostalgia for the Confederacy, and what it all means: how it ties in with issues of race, class, regional identity, and anti-government politics. And of people's apparent need to take sides and then vigorously defend their own side even when it might be better not to. And the wish for tidy historical narratives.
There's something fascinating and depressing about the fact that people seem unable to engage with history in a neutral way: they insist on reading history as a story about themselves. So history continues to distort society long after it is out of living memory, and modern attitudes distort the telling of history. The whole cycle is pretty poisonous, and hardly unique the American south.
Surely the world would be a better place if no-one felt either pride or shame about anything their ancestors did before they were born, but that doesn't seem to be the way people think.
The book is a good read, full of striking characters and incidents. I found it slightly unsatisfying because in the end I didn't feel much closer to real understanding; but to be fair I think that's probably inherent on the subject matter: there is no simple answer.
There's something fascinating and depressing about the fact that people seem unable to engage with history in a neutral way: they insist on reading history as a story about themselves. So history continues to distort society long after it is out of living memory, and modern attitudes distort the telling of history. The whole cycle is pretty poisonous, and hardly unique the American south.
Surely the world would be a better place if no-one felt either pride or shame about anything their ancestors did before they were born, but that doesn't seem to be the way people think.
The book is a good read, full of striking characters and incidents. I found it slightly unsatisfying because in the end I didn't feel much closer to real understanding; but to be fair I think that's probably inherent on the subject matter: there is no simple answer.
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
This book is about a journey a journalist took one summer around the South, visiting Civil War sites, talking to Southerners, taking part in reenactments, trying to determine just why the memory of the Civil War is so strong and why it still means so much to so many people in the South. It's very funny in parts, and quite sad and disturbing in others. It pokes fun at redneckers, peckerwoods, crackers, all those other names you want to use - but it's sad at the same time to see how firmly people hang onto their old prejudices and hatreds. He concludes that part of the reason Southerners hang onto the symbols of the Civil War is not necessarily because of the Civil War itself, but because they serve as useful stand-ins for other political issues that are still relevant - big government, states' rights, affirmative actions. But the symbols themselves are so loaded with meaning and importance that it causes conflict all over again. An interesting, deceptively thought-provoking book.