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A review by sjgrodsky
Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz
4.0
Compulsively readable. I wish Horowitz had a better grounding in historiography. That would have helped him understand that the stories people tell about the civil war are the stories that their 21st century perspective demands. That is why a war criminal like Wirz can become a martyr.
The complete ignorance -- and willful misunderstanding -- displayed by some subjects is stunning.
Best bits are the random facts about the war itself. It was the first US war that was photographed. Soldiers welcomed battles as a diversion from the monotony of marching. A prisoner at Andersonville weighed 180-something when he entered and 80-something when released.
The complete ignorance -- and willful misunderstanding -- displayed by some subjects is stunning.
Best bits are the random facts about the war itself. It was the first US war that was photographed. Soldiers welcomed battles as a diversion from the monotony of marching. A prisoner at Andersonville weighed 180-something when he entered and 80-something when released.