Confederates in the Attic

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Summary: A pen-toting Yankee in King Cotton's Court
Review: This book caused quite a stir in the re-enacting circles I move in. The fellows don't take kindly to being seen with anything but an admiring eye. Tony Horwitz followed in Charles Kuralt's footsteps (or van tracks) and sought out the unusual in his trip through the Southland. He could find just as many oddballs during a trip through my home state, which is not anywhere near the South. I read the book before a trip to Tennessee and Georgia, and when I got home I reread the chapter on Shiloh, which I had just visited. He got it right, but was not as reverant as I had been on the battlefield. Horwitz writes essays, not hard reportage, in this book. He injects his opinions. No one has to agree with him. But I will count myself a successful writer when I can put together a book which people talk about as much as "Confederates In the Attic."

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Summary: A well written interesting book.
Review: One of the greatest civil war releated books ever. I loved how the you just couldn't put this book down. It was a real page turner.

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Summary: How is history defined?
Review: Does a history class have to be the most mind-numbingly boring class you have ever endured? Not necessarily, according to Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelan in The Presence of The Past. They interviewed 1,500 people of all ages and different walks of life to see how these popular history-makers compare and contrast with professional history-makers. The value of this text is that it provides a look at the audience that professional history makers need to play to. Professionals too often fall into closed compartmentalization and talk only to each other. As a tragic consequence the nation's history is relegated to a monotonous recitation of facts and dates that are disconnected from human interest. Although most of the respondents reported being bored by history, they seemed to be drawn to the past. In fact it was present in their lives. They participated in various activities designed to locate themselves in the past, like family history. By passing this information on to children and grandchildren, they feel like they are passing values and identities from one generation to the next. According to the survey findings, Indians and African Americans derived their personal identities from the history of their ethnicity. Those of European decent looked at genealogy to discover the roots of their individual families, and were not necessarily concerned with their ethnic community. Recent studies have focused on "whiteness" as an ethnic group. Historically, certain ethnic Europeans (like the Irish) struggled to become white. Perhaps this way of interpreting the past is more inclusive and will let everyone in on the significance of their ethnic origins. Since traditional history classes push individualism as a sacred value, it is not surprising that that ethnic groups or communities are not focused on. The authors offer creative and exciting new ways of presenting the facts that students are required to know for standardized tests. It is exciting because the teacher is also learning and the student is also teaching. Critical thinking is a tool professionals try to teach students. But the respondents use this tool regularly as they embrace the past. They do use a variety of sources to judge the validity of movies, books, authors, and even teachers. Multiculturalism would be better served by teachers who actually engaged their students in critical analysis of text books. The study of history need not be a zero sum game. Students can learn the facts needed to perform on standardized tests, and feel a relevant part of that past. Again, this book's strength is that it offers ways of seeing from popular history-maker's eyes. These findings should begin a dialogue for professional history-makers. The text is not with out fault, though. A major flaw is that there were no Asians interviewed. Another is that I am not comfortable with this approach to identifying definitive factual knowledge. For example, nothing definitive can be said about why Mexican Americans, unlike African Americans and American Indians, represent a kind of borderland group who are less attached to their ethnic group history. We need historical research documentation to understand this phenomenon. What this text does do is point us in the direction of new scholarship and it helps us to see our audience. What it does not do is help us to come to a consensus about what is history.

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Summary: Powerful, rich with character and history.
Review: Mr. Horwitz has written a contemporary classic, a splendid, subtle and at times discomforting classic. The personalities he encounters along his battlefield adventures are often humorous, enlighting, charming and colorful. Some are real gems, the hard-core reenactor Robert Lee Hodges in particular, is a real prize; festooned with his rubber blanket, tin cup, a slab of salt pork, haversack, ragged attire and that special layer of history, bacon grease and dirt. His special "bloating" ability is incredible. The odessey Horwitz undertakes in the name of understanding the Civil War is thought provoking, entertaining and written with a certain panache and earthy observant style. I would like to see somebody from the Sundance film outfit do a short feature on this book, filmed in black and white, of course. If Horwitz hasn't written a fresh, compelling, humours, sometimes grim classic, then he has done something very much like it. "Bloat on!" No farbs allowed. Excellent!

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Summary: The past is never dead. It's not even past. -Wm Faulkner
Review: CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC is a well-balanced narrative that demonstrates, through a collection of viewpoints and personal histories, that the effects of the Civil War ...the War Between the States... continue to permeate our lives, esp those of us descended from Confederate soldiers. Horwitz has no axe to grind: he collects extreme views as well as those that fall between. I thought he was losing his objectivity in his chapter on Andersonville when he describes its national park exhibits, but it proves to be more neurtal reporting; he brings the level back to the middle when he suggests we consider the prisons -both North and South- as dark shadows with which each side must come to terms. It's an excellent book for the thoughtful person wanting to understand how -and why- the war still simmers and even rages 134 years later.

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Summary: Grain of Salt
Review: The reviews of this odyssey (70+ at the time of this writing) are more telling than the book. With only a couple of exceptions, non-southerners believe that the book is 5 star, inciteful, revealing ,etc. (how would they know-is it beause the book mimics Hollywood sterotypes?), while the southerners believe that the book is at least dishonest and arrogant. Even though I rate it 3 stars, I must agree with the southerners (but I am one). I give it 3 stars because the subject deserves them despite Mr. Horowitz's sometimes sophmoric and often repetitious treatment. He is a good writer, but I was truly diappointed at his carefully chosen anectdotal snapshots, and wonder at the ones he must have omitted. I thought it was an interesting read and understand the 5 star ratings, but I found myself trying to figure out what was honestly reported and what was not. Its pretty bad when one S.C. reviewer writes (while giving 5 stars): "I live in S.C. and was not aware of all the characters down here." Exactly.

In sum , please read the excellent reviews by Penn. 8-23-98, Wisc. 8-10-98, Miss. 7-6-98, Ala. 6-16-98, USA 5-26-98, and take the book with a grain of salt. Consider what could be written and embellished upon if a southerner (or even Mr. Horowitz)took a 2 year trip through D.C., Phil., Newark and NYC. Or the steel towns-what would the steel workers be?-hardworking, honest, blue collar Americans or ignorant, Labor Socialist, racists(black and white). It's easy to be prejudiced and myopic. I had hoped for more from him. Lastly, I question his eye. Has he been to the same Cold Harbor battlefield that I have? It's actually pretty well preseved, ground works and all, although in a low key fashion. It has a mixed grave yard. It even has a farm house that served as a Union field hosptital (and Lee's headquarters). A plaque notes that the family/owners were relocated to the basement where blood ran on them through the floor boards. I have similar gripes about his observations of important sites at Richmond and Lexington, Va.

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Summary: Penetrating Insight into the Soul of the South
Review: This book was nothing short of a klieg light, illuminating previously dark, for me at any rate, areas of the Southern mindscape. While the Civil War appears to be the thread, the real protagonists are the South's current inhabitants, and particularly their somewhat dysfunctional state of mind. It contextualizes the present-day South's, to outsiders, bizarre behavior, e.g. Jasper Texas' mayhem ; behavior which ,it is implied, results from the post-bellum South's intense loser-based neurosis. The book doesn't leave you an expert by any means, but it does leave a flavor in your mouth, likely a bitter one if you're a Southerner. Southerners do not understand how to really move on. It sounds as if the entire region needs a complete psychological workup.

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Summary: Beneath the wit, a penetrating gaze
Review: Tony Horwitz ventures to follow all leads to seek the answer to why Americans remain obsessed with our Civil War. His path follows that of the war itself, which means he spends virtually all of his time in the American South - though this does not mean that his view is only of Southerners. Using a critical gaze gained from years spent as a foreign correspondent, and taking full advantage of a gift for allowing others to reveal themselves, Horwitz has produced a book I will want to read more than once. His journey is personal, yet his view is larger. The predominance of Southerners in our current political culture, the population shift to the South, and the sharply increased visibility of "Southern values" - self-defined as religion, country and family - makes this book all the more valuable in understanding what moves America at the end of the millennium.

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Summary: Excellent picture of the South with historical appeal
Review: This book is great for the many things it accomplishes. A person who is a Civil War Buff probably gets the biggest kick out of it, but those who know little about the war will enjoy it for other reasons. I learned things I hadn't known about the war before, but learned the most about the southern society today. The characters in Horwitz's book jump off the pages in their colorfulness. The encounters he has in the Southern states are all amusing and interesting. Some of the reviews at this site I looked at seem to be upset about the issue of racism being constantly mentioned. However, this captures the essence of the war like no other subject. I believe that the Civil War was, above all else, a matter of the future of the African American, and its underlying purpose WAS to free the slaves, with economic issues far behind. The biggest result of the war, the one that is remembered, is the fact that an African American never again was a slave. The book is great for the way it analyzes how the African American is treated today, 130 years after the fact. The book focuses on other things, too, but the fact it was about civil rights is very justified and is what made it great. One last thing, this book is not at all biased towards the north or the south, BUT IT IS BIASED TOWARDS THE RIGHTS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS, WHICH IS THE RIGHT SIDE TO BE BIASED TOWARDS. Mr. Horwitz is right for casting white supremacists in a bad light, because I believe they are wrong. It is not necessary to mention that I am white, however for those of you who read this, it helps to know that I am, and from the north.

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Summary: Social Anthropology, Southern Style
Review: Don't let the title fool you. Confederates are coming out of the attic. Horwitz's book touches on what it feels like to have the heart and soul of a Southerner. Horwitz's expose' is an anthropoligical and sociological study into the Southern psyche. As a Virginian displaced in the Northwest, Horwitz's accounting of bulldozed battlefields contrasted against the modern-day presence of Southern heritage and pride brings about mixed emotions: anger and sandess among those of us who toured historic sites of the South as a child and re-newed hope that, one day, people will come to truly understand what it means to "Be A Southerner". God forbid, that the only place in the country with a distinct culture (and I don't mean redneck or racist) and heritage evaporate as America becomes nothing more than one big strip mall. Although Horwitz leaves you with a feeling that "think God the South lost..." Horwitz's book has the capacity, for those that embrace the integrity and honor of the South, to re-new your committment to preserving Southern heritage rather than being ashamed of it.