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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
I found this book fascinating and extremely thought provoking. Horwitz spent a year or so in the mid-1990's traveling through a number of southern states from Virginia to Mississippi and talking to countless people about their feelings on the Civil War, race relations, and more. When I first began reading this, I had some reservations about how relevant the material was, due to the fact that it was published over twenty years ago. However, due to recent events, it seems quite possible that little has changed over the last 20+ years. Horwitz talks to a great variety of people and treats them and their opinions respectfully. His writing style is never dull historical material but rather attempts to deduce why after so long the fascination with the War Between the States is still so high. Engaging reading and still quite relevant, as it touches heavily on race relations, antigovernment sentiment, and feelings over the Confederate flag. I will be thinking about this for a long time.
Fabulous book about race, the civil war, and the south.
This is a brilliantly written, poignant exploration of the threads of Lost Cause devotion in the 1990s South. Tony Horowitz has a truly delightful way of coining a phrase. I took my time with this detail-rich, nuanced narrative history, but I'm so glad I read it. Highly recommended.
A little long but fun to read. The chapters and scenes on Robert Lee Hodge and the other “hardcore” re-enactors were the best and most entertaining, and where Horowitz was most immersed in his subject. The homo eroticism of the Hodge crew and contrarian viewpoints were genuinely interesting profiles. There is also some compelling sections like the interview with Shelby Foote, the coverage of a contemporaneous racially charged killing and debate in small town Kentucky over the Rebel mascot, and interesting coverage of Richmond’s town hall on where and how to include an Ashe memorial.
I usually enjoyed descriptions of conversations with locals and museum visits but found the wondering of the battlefields a little dull. Somehow reading this made me a little more open minded to people’s opinions on lost cause nostalgia. Before I had completely dismissed it as silly and hurtful, but I at least follow the emotional and psychological logic of it while still finding it offensive. It also ties some of the emotions of rural and anti-government outrage into the lost cause ideology well.
Not the best narrative travel journalism I’ve read, but an interesting subject that was probably covered as well as possible. Some of it may be a little dated, but it doesn’t seem like main viewpoints on the subject have changed much in the 20+ years.
I usually enjoyed descriptions of conversations with locals and museum visits but found the wondering of the battlefields a little dull. Somehow reading this made me a little more open minded to people’s opinions on lost cause nostalgia. Before I had completely dismissed it as silly and hurtful, but I at least follow the emotional and psychological logic of it while still finding it offensive. It also ties some of the emotions of rural and anti-government outrage into the lost cause ideology well.
Not the best narrative travel journalism I’ve read, but an interesting subject that was probably covered as well as possible. Some of it may be a little dated, but it doesn’t seem like main viewpoints on the subject have changed much in the 20+ years.
Fascinating, entertaining, important. I've been meaning to read this for at least a decade, but if I'd read it earlier I wouldn't have seen all the foreshadowing of Tea Party politics as clearly. In his interviews, he was empathetic and fair with everyone he talked to, and in his reflections, he thought deeply about why the Civil War has such a hold o his imagination and about how its legacy affects this country so many years later.
This book was an adventure. It reads like a documentary and I felt, very much, like I was on a journey with the author. As a life-long Virginian, I have mixed and difficult feelings toward the Civil War and this book didn't help me to figure them out, only excited my intrigue and ignited an odd sort of Southern pride I didn't have before. The people the author meets along his journey are presented in brilliant ways and the variety of their character presents a solid picture of the variance of opinions on the Civil War and all the other issues that go along with it. All in all, a great and wonderful read.
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Probably worth a reread to make sure I’m not looking at this book with an outdated lens. That said, this book explores the insidious nature of racism in a similar manner to White Trash, a nonfiction book that came out much later—at least that’s what I remember.