Rating: 
Summary: A personal revelation
Review: Horwitz's book explained to me why as a graduate student at Vanderbilt University I took a weekend jaunt to North Carolina to find my wife's relative's confederate headstone, if only to take a few pictures and to make a coal etching of it. The book provided me the much needed explanation of my slight fanaticism about that war. It was inspiring and informative and I highly recommend it to anyone remotely interested in Civil War history and especially to those who need an answer to the nagging question, "Why does this Civil War interest me so much?"
Rating: 
Summary: Book Book left me feeling disappointed
Review: Being a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans I was looking forward to this book. I thought it might help people look at those of us interested in preserving Southern history in a better light in the world of political correctness. However it only ended up making anyone interested in War Between the States history look like some kind of weirdo, who's about half-way off the deep end. The booked harped on racism and the flag too much. The book did have it's good points, but the were outweighed by the negatives. Horwitz does deserve credit though for having the nerve to write this book many would see as politically incorrect.
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Summary: Exactly, completely right
Review: From the cover photo, I felt certain this was another "Those ignorant rebs..." book. To the contrary. Displaying the same compassion and understanding for his subjects as in "Baghdad Without A Map," Tony Horwitz does a magnificent job of showing the scars -- all of them -- and the beauty -- all of it -- left on the psyche of the American South by the Civil War. Horwitz explains well what it means to live in a part of the world where losing is an unavoidable historical fact that finds new embodiments daily (the Kentucky race-killing, for example) and where hope finds a thousand tiny ways to rise, both in a clear-eyed vision for the future and a rose-colored view of the past (Cats of the Confederacy?). Another way of saying that this is a timely read on a timeless subject. Horwitz prompted my own interest in Shiloh, my own family's story of the era, and, most amazingly to me, made me wish I'd spent a Gasm with Rob Hodge, too, which, for a liberal Southerner, is a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Wickedly accurate, without malice, and with good humor
Review: As a transplanted Southerner "livin' Up Nawth," I bought the book to see what this young Yankee could dig up by trapsing around with a group of re-enactors (my whole family back home does this). Horwitz made me see the whole cloth of the "new" South, the funny, the sad, and the ugly. Lyrical journalism.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasant travelogue that lacks analysis
Review: Being a Civil War and reenactment buff, as well as a journalist with a strong interest in civil rights and race relations, I was very anxious to read "Confederates in the Attic." But I was disappointed by Tony Horwitz's straight-reporting style of writing. I found that the stories--while they might be interesting to the entry-level Civil War buff--lacked analysis. Horwitz does not clearly lay out a thesis, nor does he develop his work much beyond a travelogue of his time in the New South. For example, Horwitz's reporting of the facts surrounding a race-related killing--carefully noting skin color and racial slurs and the presence of the battle-flag-waving Klan, not to mention the quality of the author's backwater hotel room--was not that of a historian making profound connections about race and violence across the span of American history. It was that of a seemingly casual observer--who noted the distressing events in Kentucky with the same casual aloofness as he did his whirlwind tour of Virginia battlefields with living historian Robert Lee Hodge. On the plus side, however, Horwitz's book did allow me to relive some of my own travels past strip malls to reach a small patch of hallowed ground. Whether farby or hardcore, reenactors are history's footsoldiers, and many of them are fighting to hold onto our critical past before it gets paved over. It was nice to see the spotlight shining brightly on them.
Rating: 
Summary: A present search for our Cival War past
Review: As a Cival War junkie I traveled with the author to sites I had already visited, such as Gettysburg and Bull Run. Reading about Shiloh I know that the battlefield is calling. I would recommend this book for anyone who is searching for an understanding of the Cival War and it's impact on today's society. It is a plea for not forgetting the horror of battle and a plea to not forget.
Rating:
Summary: Superb writing from a real storyteller.
Review: As a former re-enactor, I appreciate Mr. Horwitz' superb story of the Civil War mania that turns up in the form of battlefield pilgrims, re-enactors, and divisive racial issues. His treatment of the subject was even-handed and his masterful prose makes the whole book an enjoyable read. My only regret is not seeing more space devoted to the "hard-core re-enactors", whom I found to be the most interesting characters in the book.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, humorous and highly readable
Review: Horwitz captured the same sense of facination that I too felt growing up virtually on top of the battlefields of the Civil War. I can still remember adults referring to the War as "the recent conflict." It's hard to believe that people are still captivated by a bitter conflict that ripped America apart and left hundreds of thousands dead. After all, Bosnia has nothing on what happened here in the 1860s. I think maybe Horwitz hit on the secret of our nation's "Civil Wargasm." Thousands of Americans, North and South, rich and poor, from all sorts of backgrounds, joined together to fight for something they believed in. The hardships those soldiers endured are almost beyond our imagination, despite Rob Hodges hilarious attempts. In the 1990s, you have to ask whether we as a nation are still worthy of the sacrifices they made then. One important point is worth mentioning. As Horwitz touched on, most of the Confederate survivors came home, built new lives, and put the war behind them. It was their children and grandchilden who fought to keep the War alive. Maybe those veterans understood something that was lost to subsequent generations.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and thought provoking book
Review: I don't know if I can offer much on this book after all that has been said below in the other reviews. Being from Austrlia which is some distance from the United States and with no background in the Civil War (other than reading great history books) I found this a very interesting book. At times I was amazed and saddened and I wondered was America really like this. I think the book offers you something about your country that you can be proud of but also maybe a bit scared of as well. A very interesting travel, well worth the time to read.
Rating:
Summary: Well written..entertaining...thought provoking
Review: There will be some from the south who will be somewhat bothered by what Mr.Horwitz writes. Thats to be expected but, and this is a big but he also presents some unflattering portrayls of other more Northern types. I believe that he does a superb job of reporting what he see's and letting the particular scene's unfold. The book is beautifully written and moves at a brisk pace. Highly recomended!!
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