Rating: 
Summary: Unbelieveably readable
Review: Horwitz has a certain style that is extremely readable; and the subject-matter of the book is likewise interesting. The book is basically a record of Horwitz's travels through the South (to non-American readers, that is southern USA) and his experiences in seeking out Southerners who remember the American Civil War of 1861-65. Tony Horwitz has described Northerners who have read this book as coming up to him and saying "Is it really like that down there?" For an Australian, this reaction is multiplied tenfold. Yes, it really is like that "down there". The whole world has a culture heavily influenced (or, in the case of Australia, practially based on) America's culture. The shock of this book is in discovering a whole other America - an America of which even very many Americans are largely ignorant. The South is like America's subconscious - sort of the same, but with certain underlying peculiarities. Of course, as with any other culture, that of the South is a product of its history. The remembrance of the American Civil War is much stronger in the South than elsewhere in America. By some it is not just remembered but virtually worshipped. Horwitz contacts two types of "worshippers" in his travels - the benign (and often hilarious) re-enactors or "living historians", who are largely apolitical; and the exceedingly disturbing groups such as the UDC, who are highly political - they salute the Confederate Third National Flag, (which cannot be changed "until the Confederate government reconvenes"), teach their children to hate Yankees and to recite Confederate "catechisms", and above all believe that the Old South was a glorious place where the slaves were loyal and grateful to their masters.
It is to Horwitz's credit that he usually stops short of open criticism of such people, or indeed anyone. While his liberal leanings are made clear, he is never openly outraged. His criticisms of the people he meets are subtle, likely to be more ironic than explicit. This is so even when he meets members of the Ku Klux Klan. Above all Horwitz's deep love of the South and its history (he is a Northerner living in Virginia) comes through; and he never treats anyone he meets, or their beliefs, with light dismissal. We feel his horror at seeing the battlefield of Chencellorsville covered with a mini-mall; or Atlanta's bulldozing, and Orwellian suppression, of its antebellum past; or the general soullessness of modern cities compared with the great historical events that once took place there. In a way, the presentation of this alternative America, hiding beneath the surface of the tarmac and strip malls, is strangely comforting sometimes. It indicates the surprising - and rich - alienness that can sometimes lurk even within the dullest facades. And Southern history *is* fascinating.
Rating: 
Summary: A perfect read for civil war buffs and no-nothings alike
Review: When I picked up Confederates in the Attic I was really excited and a bit worried about what I would find inside. I knew nothing of the civil war and was interested to learn from a modern standpoint. It is fascinating to read not only about what battles were fought where, and personal accounts from the war, but also how alive it still is in the South.
I was worried that the ignorance I was bound to be subjected to when reading about such a controversial topic would enrage me-- but the author has such a tolerant approach to all those he interviewed, I found myself simply feeling sorry for those who still had so much anger about a lost cause.
People wanted to open up to Horwitz and I was amazed by the large, varied number of voices who spoke candidly to him. I highly recommend this not only as a history lesson for those who need it, but as a way to see the way people think about a cause most northerners barely think about.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest books of the decade
Review: Who Are We? What does it mean to be American? How did the Civil War define us? Why does it still seem to define us, especially in the South? I opened Horwitz's book expecting to be entertained by stories of eccentric hardcore re-enactors, the type of guys that live all weekend on hardtack and salt pork and then go back to their jobs as dentists and systems analysts. But this is not "just" a Civil War book. Tony Horwitz develops an interest in Civil War re-enactors when they show up in his back yard one morning. He follows them around on their weekend attempts to recreate the war. Through them, he discovers the continued obsession Americans have with the War itself. At first I was interested in this book because I am a history buff and a fan of re-enactments, but Horwitz has his sights set on a bigger topic than "just" hardcore re-enactors. He is investigating the role the War plays in our national Identity. It is the thing without which we would not be Americans at all. This is a book with a wonderful afterglow: it is an entertaining, fast read, highly enjoyable...but months after I first read it the questions I posed earlier were still running through my head, and I had to read it again. Amazon editors listed this as one of the best non-fiction books of the 1990s, and after a 2nd read, I still agree with them.
Rating:
Summary: Great and Easy Read
Review: I was impressed. What a wild adventure! My purpose in reading this book was to learn more about the locations of the civil war battles, and I learned that and much more. This book inspires me to read even more on the war. Anyone interested even remotely in this period of American history will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: This book, though not a political biography, or a battle analysis, and not written by McPhearson, Catton, or Freeman, might be one of the greatest Civil War books ever written. Horwitz goes throughout the South, in effect looking for the Civil War. On his way, he meets bikers, living historians, farbs, and Scarlett O'Hara. It reads like a novel, with characters so vivid they have to be real. There is never a dull moment, and it is amazing to see how many people still "fight" a war that ended 137 years ago.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: This book, though not of political biography, or a battle analysis, and not written by McPhearson, Catton, or Freeman, might be opne of the greatest Civil War books ever written. Horwitz goes throughout the South, in effect looking for the Civil War. On his way, he meets bikers, living historians, farbs, and Scarlett O'Hara. It reads like a novel, with characters so vivid they have to be real. There is never a dull moment, and it is amazing to see how many people still "fight" a war that ended 137 years ago.
Rating:
Summary: The Civil War is not over
Review: This is the most eeriely reveling book ever written about the Civil War. The American Civil War is not over. The truth is seemingly hard to swallow. Follow along with Horwitz as he embarks on his own literary Civil Wargasm and find out the lingering history of the Southern involvement in the Civil War. It is beautifull written, very easy to understand, it reads more like a novel than a history book, but you learn just as much history and you do social commentary. Wonerful read, Horwitz is brilliant, but one last thing: The war is over, you lost! This gets my highest recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: "The past is not forgotten, it is not even past"
Review: This is a wonderful unfolding of our fascination with the Civil War. Tony Horowitz spends two years crawling around the South after some Civil War re-enactors show up on his lawn one day. He spends time with those re-enactors, and also visits a number of famous, infamous, and obscure Civil War sites. He talks to Civil War historians like Shelby Foote, and also visits small-town museums and memorials. What emerges isn't a single story, but a web of interlaced tales each with its own viewpoint. We're introduced to the revered and the crackpots, the expert and the ignorant. Horowitz' journey is something we might all daydream of doing after stopping at a roadside attraction or an historical marker that piques our interest about something. The story that emerges is complex yet fascinating. He explores the emotional as well as the factual side to people, places, and events associated with the war. Sometimes humorous, sometime tragic, the result is a fascinating book that may provoke more questions than it supplies answers but leaves the reader with a deeper understanding of the mark the Civil War left on us all.
Rating:
Summary: A balanced encounter with castle-strong Southern pride...
Review: A fantastic book with great pace. (What some call "highly readable.") The Civil War is still a proud rebel moment for many if not most Southerners, and the Amazon customer reviews of this book reflect that. To paraphrase Dixie boy Jeff Foxworthy, it's not that all Southerners are prejudiced and hateful - they just can't keep the most ignorant among them off the TV. While I truly love Southern Hospitality and the respect for tradition, I often find it exasperating and pointless. Tony Horwitz's book is NOT an unfair tabloid of cross-burning redneck fools - it's a balanced and subtle document of the conflicted feeling the South lives with even today. Horwitz spends much time with truly charming Civil War recreators. Those weekend "soldiers" certainly have views on the war, but they're so obsessed with recreating every detail - fasting, applying urine as a buckle shine, sneaking into Civil War parks after dark - they'd barely find time to be racist. Just playing boy games that are 100-times cooler than any Star Wars geek. They view the War as a valiant agrarian dignified David against the mean factory-obsessed Goliath. A war less about slavery and more about principle and romance. But many Southerners distrust, fear, or just plain hate blacks. They rarely admit it in this book, but that nasty vibe is definitely here. (Racists in general are getting adept at promoting their views with less violence and more sneaky words.) Tony Horwitz moves beyond the Boys with Toy Guns and interviews a life-sentence black delinquent who fatally shot a mean white teenager with a huge rebel flag on his pickup. (Was it a random killing or a hate crime against whites and the Rebel Flag?) Horwitz interviews leaders of the Selma Alabama '60s Civil Rights movement, recording their own ambiguities about black progress, where it happened, where it did not, and what it may mean. Ambiguious stuff - and never boring. This book has great pacing, and like any good exploration, raises so many more questions then it answers. It's strong enough to make me want to see a Dixie War buff Sunday recreation, and great enough for me to dive into Civil War books - a history I've paid little attention to until now. Excellent history, I'm just sorry America itself has never quite escaped it.
Rating: 
Summary: HORWITZ ACCENTUATES THE NEGATIVE
Review: Horwitz apparently went looking for the negative extremes in his journey into the world of Confederate reenacting. In addition, he painted inaccurate portraits of some of the 'characters' he encountered. I personally know one of the men that Horwitz interviewed and commented about. Horwitz did a great disservice to this individual in completely misrepresenting him and his motives and activities in the hobby. Instead of presenting him as the calm, thoughtful, introspective individual I know him to be, Horwitz presented him as a rabid extremist. While the writing was mildly entertaining at times, the representations of fact in the text have to be called into question due to what I know he was untruthful about. The inclusion of Rob Hodge as the 'star' of the book was a critical error on Horwitz' part. There are certainly hundreds, if not thousands, of more knowledgeable and much better uniformed and equipped living historians than he.
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