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cascadienne's review against another edition
4.0
Back of the book says " 'Hilariously funny.' - Washington Post." I'd agree with that. Except when this book makes me want to either cry or throw up. (I'm currently on Chapter 5, which is depressing as all-get-out. I may find it funny again later.)
tarmstrong112's review against another edition
5.0
This was really very good. White southerners sure don't like to let things go. I would love a sequel to this book exploring the 20 odd years since it was published. So much has brought the Civil War and it's memory into the forefront. Still, for being over 20 years old, it's clear that things have not changed much. People keep bending history to meet their own views or narrative. That is wrong, and we need better education so that we don't continue to distort history and further divide our society. Highly recommend.
ohheyalesa's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderfully written book, although it dragged a bit toward the end. Even though I didn't share Horwitz's particular fascination with the Civil War, he's a tremendous storyteller. His journey through the Southern states is told through a blend of history and interviews with colorful modern-day Americans, which is fantastic if you're not up for a purely historical book, but interested in how the South is still influenced by the Confederacy.
jeremyanderberg's review against another edition
4.0
The late Tony Horwitz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, penned a number of travelogue-esque books in which he roamed the world and wrote about it, giving history lessons along the way. In Confederates in the Attic, the native Washingtonian man (DC, not state) and amateur Civil War buff traveled throughout the South exploring why the Civil War and its memory maintains such a strong grip on the region's collective memory.
Each chapter chronicles a different immersive experience Horwitz embarks on: participating in "battles" with hardcore re-enactors (who shed weight to look more gaunt); touring a number of battlefields and sites; more seriously, a look at the aftermath of the murder of a white man at the hands of a black man for having a Confederate flag on his truck; a long conversation with writer Shelby Foote (whose work is high on my list); another long conversation with a woman believed to have been the oldest living Confederate widow; and plenty more.
It was a really fascinating and oftentimes funny book. It gets into history lessons sure, but it's far more about the cultural legacy of the Civil War that remains strong in the South, and why. Why are Robert Lee and Stonewall Jackson and the Confederate experience as a whole so romanticized (as in Gone With the Wind)? Well, much of the war took place on Southern soil; the landscapes — from fields to forests to cities — were laid to waste. For many folks — especially white ones — the war just isn't as over as Northerners think it is.
At times it feels like a hit job — like Horwitz is doing some character assassination on the people he's talking to. That's perhaps too strong . . . maybe he's simply poking fun at how seriously Southerners take it, or somewhat hanging his superior intellectualism over them. Either way, I understand some of the critiques.
That said, and though it was a hair long at times, I really enjoyed reading this book. It gave some understanding to our continued fascination with the war — why the Confederate flag still flies all around the nation and why literal monuments to the "Lost Cause" are still found throughout the South (and why they've come under fire in the last couple years).
I think I'll pitch it to book club, which means a few things: I found the book a pleasure to read, it was easy enough reading that everyone can finish it in 4-5 weeks, and it was interesting enough to generate a lot of discussion. Confederates in the Attic is a book about the Civil War that anyone can read and enjoy. For someone like me who is about as Northern as you can get (Skol Vikings!), it was an insightful window into a seemingly foreign land.
I'm looking forward to diving into Horwitz's other work, including this year's Spying on the South, in which he again travels through the South, but this time with the idea of figuring out how our nation became so divided.
Each chapter chronicles a different immersive experience Horwitz embarks on: participating in "battles" with hardcore re-enactors (who shed weight to look more gaunt); touring a number of battlefields and sites; more seriously, a look at the aftermath of the murder of a white man at the hands of a black man for having a Confederate flag on his truck; a long conversation with writer Shelby Foote (whose work is high on my list); another long conversation with a woman believed to have been the oldest living Confederate widow; and plenty more.
It was a really fascinating and oftentimes funny book. It gets into history lessons sure, but it's far more about the cultural legacy of the Civil War that remains strong in the South, and why. Why are Robert Lee and Stonewall Jackson and the Confederate experience as a whole so romanticized (as in Gone With the Wind)? Well, much of the war took place on Southern soil; the landscapes — from fields to forests to cities — were laid to waste. For many folks — especially white ones — the war just isn't as over as Northerners think it is.
At times it feels like a hit job — like Horwitz is doing some character assassination on the people he's talking to. That's perhaps too strong . . . maybe he's simply poking fun at how seriously Southerners take it, or somewhat hanging his superior intellectualism over them. Either way, I understand some of the critiques.
That said, and though it was a hair long at times, I really enjoyed reading this book. It gave some understanding to our continued fascination with the war — why the Confederate flag still flies all around the nation and why literal monuments to the "Lost Cause" are still found throughout the South (and why they've come under fire in the last couple years).
I think I'll pitch it to book club, which means a few things: I found the book a pleasure to read, it was easy enough reading that everyone can finish it in 4-5 weeks, and it was interesting enough to generate a lot of discussion. Confederates in the Attic is a book about the Civil War that anyone can read and enjoy. For someone like me who is about as Northern as you can get (Skol Vikings!), it was an insightful window into a seemingly foreign land.
I'm looking forward to diving into Horwitz's other work, including this year's Spying on the South, in which he again travels through the South, but this time with the idea of figuring out how our nation became so divided.
judyward's review against another edition
4.0
After waking up one morning at his Virginia home to the sounds of a Civil War reenactment, Tony Horwitz launches a search to find out how the Civil War is viewed and remembered in the American South. In his quest, he spent time with a band of really hard-core Confederate reenactors who went on crash diets to get the authentic look of starved soldiers who had been on lengthy campaigns. He also attended a Ku Klux Klan rally in Kentucky, an American history class in Selma, Alabama, and traveled from Antietam to Gettyburg, to Appomattox (a Civil Wargasm) with his friend, Robert Lee Hodge. Along his year-long investigation, he examined how the Civil War is remembered among white Southerners and African-Americans in that region. A funny, moving, and heartwarmingly informative book.
dja777's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting book, but kind of depressing, too. I feel like I live in an entirely different world than where this book takes place.