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Summary: AT LAST!! THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SOUTH!!
Review: finally a book has been written that accurately portrays life in the south and southerners in all their splendor! this book paints a vivid yet true impression of redneckia at its best...inbred, drunk, backward and stuck in a mixed up fabricated "memory" of a war they had nothing to do with. Two thumbs up!! i laughed so hard. No wonder they lost the civil war!! if that idiot bobby lee was as educated as the folks in this book i can see why he ordered picketts charge. what a rube!
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Summary: Can we ever be "all one country now?"
Review: Tony Horwitz's excellent book, "Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War" reminded me of an encounter I had a few years ago. At the wedding (held - appropriately - in northern Virginia, not far from the Bull Run/Manassas battlefields) of the son of my boss (a native South Carolinian), I was confronted with the starkly differing, and emotionally charged, Northern and Southern views of the Civil War (as well as the often awkward attempts at reconciliation), which persist to this day. While talking with one of my boss's aunts (a native of Charleston, and seemingly a nice old lady), I mentioned, in an attempt at polite conversation, that my wife and I had found Charleston's pre-Civil War mansions to be beautiful. The response, which startled me, was a sharp, "there was nothing CIVIL about it...it was the War of Northern Aggression!!!" An hour or so later, as everyone prepared to leave, I once again ran into my boss's aunt, who this time apologized to me for her previous comment, stating that "the war was a long time ago...we're all one country now."As I read Horwitz's book, with its highly appropriate subtitle referring to "the Unfinished Civil War," I kept hearing echoes of this schizophrenic wedding conversation, with its conflicting themes -- of anger and reconciliation, past and future, remembering and letting go, mythology and "fact" -- in the author's encounters and conversations. What was the Civil War exactly, and why do so many people continue to care so much about it nearly 140 years after it ended? In "Confederates in the Attic," Tony Horwitz - a Pulitzer Prize winner for his writings on other war zones -- hits the road (and the library) in an attempt to find out. In my opinion, he does a great job in helping us to think through these questions. Two more points on "Confederates in the Attic." First, if you think that Tony Horwitz overdoes things in his portrayal of stark differences between Northerners and Southerners, Whites and Blacks, urban and rural dwellers, then I suggest you look at a color-coded, county-by-county map of the last Presidential election. If you do, you will see that vast swaths of this country (the rural South, the sparsely settled Rocky Mountain West, the agricultural Plains states, the white, evangelical "Bible Belt") are largely in one color (Republican), while much smaller (but far more densely populated) areas of the country (the diverse big cities, the Northeast, the Pacific coast, and the industrial Midwest) are largely in another color (Democrat). This electoral map reflects some real - and deep - divides in America today, on issues like "big government" vs. "states rights," guns, race, property rights, regional differences, etc. In other words, many of the same nasty, complex issues which ultimately sparked the Civil War. Notice also that the electoral map divides fairly neatly along Union/Confederacy lines. So, how much has changed in America over the past 135 years? Well, depending upon who you talk to (and Tony Horwitz talks to everyone!), you'll get diametrically different answers. Second, these differences are directly mirrored in Americans' differing views of the Civil War - even when they know little (or nothing) about that war (and Horwitz finds that ignorance is rampant). I found Horwitz's recounting of the story of Michael Westerman particularly revealing in this regard. Here we have a seemingly clearcut case of a young white man flying the rebel flag from his truck being shot to death by a young black man, apparently enraged by this (and supposedly by someone in Westerman's truck yelling "Niggers" and shaking the flag with his hand). Dig a little deeper, however (as Horwitz does), and you find that the black man (Freddie Morrow) apparently had no idea what the flag stood for (he thought it was ''just the 'Dukes of Hazzard' sign"), while the white man (Westerman), apparently just thought the flag looked "sharp' and matched his red truck. Of course, many people - white and black - chose NOT to dig deeper, but instead to immediately line up on one side or the other based on their preconceived belief systems. Thus, the Sons of Confederate Veterans hailed Westerman as a "Confederate Martyr" and hero, while Freddie's mother blamed "the flag and the '...'-calling," which in her view, is bound to "blow up" if "you keep putting it on people." Here we have a classic example of WHAT the Civil War was about, and WHY people still care. For a thoughtful examination of, among other things, whether or not - to quote my boss's aunt - we truly are "all one country now," I strongly recommend Tony Horwitz's book, "Confederates in the Attic."
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Summary: The Civil War lives on!
Review: Confederates in the Attic is a book I just re-read, and it gave me a huge interest in the Civil War as a whole. Horowitz explores how the war and its issues continue to resonate with many people. By far the most interesting part of the book is the "Civil Wargasm", with the appropriately named Confederate "hardcore" re-enactor Robert Lee Hodge. The fascinating tales of the war are juxtaposed with the housing developments and fast food strips which have overrun many historical areas. Horowitz examines the attitudes of people who are still touched by the war, whether it be the debate over the Confederate flag or the current racial divisions in modern America. I pegged Horowitz as a typical northeastern liberal writer at the start, but he surprised me with his evenhanded portayals. In the hands of someone else this book could have been dogmatic and politically correct, but Horowitz lets the various characters in the book speak for themselves. Humorous at times, serious as well, Horowitz does a great job captivating the reader. It awakened my interest in the Civil War itself, and the volumes of Shelby Foote especially.
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Summary: Hillarious Funny
Review: This book is amazingly funny, yet poignant. It is a genius acount of the modern south, and the unforgettable haunting shadows of the past.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I've been a Civil War buff for many years, and this book eloquently and fascinatingly bridges the gap between then and now. There are some disturbing portraits of people who seem trapped by the war's issues and conflicts even 140 years later, as well as people who simply enjoy this time in our history. This trip through time and the American South makes you feel as though you are there with the author, and even perhaps a bit of what the re-enactors call the "period rush". A great read!
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Summary: Fantastic Farbs!
Review: "Farbs" is a Civil War re-enactor who wimps out by wearing modern clothes or details such as modern zippers, machine-sewed pants etc... The intriguing book is full of many similar funny details, peculiar to the American South. I picked up because I am a native Midwesterner and was studying in North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I wanted to understand the whole "Southern" thing. This book was exactly the ticket...explaining the fascination with the Civil War and "Southernness." Howortz gave realistic views of prejudice and comprehensive first-hand accounts from Southern "characters" who add flavor to the tales. After breezing through Horwitz's book, I convinced my UNC classmates in "The American South" class to read it for discussion. My fellow students (who were also non-Southerners) really enjoyed it. I've since become a dedicated fan of Horwitz, enjoying his other journalistic style books. If you want to understand that bizarre geographic entity called the "South" which actually covers most of the Southeast, than try this tome. You don't have to be a history buff to love it.
Rating:
Summary: Just loved it
Review: History lives and Tony Horwitz shows it does in this witty, funny, and touching book. I wish I had written it. I used to live in the Shenandoah Valley and had many of the same questions he had about the people who kept history alive. Horwitz listens to all sides and presents a compelling case for why history matters. It shapes everything about today...even when students (and their parents) shrug it off. I couldn't put it down.
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Summary: Lady Horwitz Travelogue
Review: Hullo, my name is Traveller. I was Marse Robert's most reliable mount throughout that Uncivil War (Richmond of course would fight me on that statement, but Lucy Long would certainly agree). And I just hate to be PC'd (PC standing for politically correct, dear reader) by one Tony Horwitz who set out to write a quickie to sell. Yes, it's obvious, just look at the National Geographic travellogue style it's written in. Well, I need to state here, clearly and for all of you more enlightened souls to see: I, Traveller, am a gelding (and I should know, shouldn't I?), not a mare, as Horwitz states. On page 283. Look it up if you don't believe me. I'm not really that riled about this misrepresentation. But after reading the book, I realize that it is symptomatic of others ... and a horribly superficial, arrogant, and essentially ignorant attitude on LADY Horwitz' part. I'm sure she believes also that Massa Liccoren was genuinely interested in the welfare of the slaves, so genuinely so that he freed those he couldn't touch, and not those he (personally, by family relation, and as head politico of the North) held in bondage himself ... check the Todd plantation, or the 3000 'servants' in DC. 'employed' by 2 percent of the population. In closing, I'll let you in on a definition issue which clarifies this little inconsistency in the holier-than-thou attitude of the North: Yankees did not have slaves, they merely had servants with a life term. Thank you then, for allowing me to point this out to you. Oh, and yes, Marse Robert emancipated his darkies in the 50s, before the war. Some Southerners are at least as human as everyone else. Whiiiiiiie.
Rating: 
Summary: Yet More Rebel-Bashing
Review: Horowitz gets two stars instead of one for one reason, the man knows how to write! Even I had difficulty putting the book down. Insofar as its content is concerned, "one-sided" would be a good description for a start. At the end of the book, Horowitz "thanks" a number of people who helped him with "research". Among them is the infamous "Crawfish", an internet entity who is all-consumed with eradicating all things Confederate. You won't pick up on that fact unless you've been following the "Confederate Flag Flap" as long as I have. Horowitz relates a variety of experiences in his travels through the South. In one instance, he's almost mauled when he strolls into an outlaw-biker bar, sits down and proceeds to write his memoirs!? Somehow we are left with the impression that this only happens in the South. If Mr Horowitz would come up to my neck of the woods, (New York), I could happily show him several such places here where the same thing would occur. Most disturbing is his portrayal of the killer of Michael Westerman, a 19 year old who was killed because he was flying a Confederate flag from his truck. The nauseatingly sympathetic portrayal of Westerman's killer will be one for the history books, assuming that the history books all don't get re-written. Save your money. Wait until Horowitz writes another book. Just make sure he categorizes it under "Fiction".
Rating:
Summary: Humorous/Thoughtful Look at Modern Views of the Civil War
Review: "Confederates in the Attic" is the first hand account of the author's attempt to understand our modern (c. 1998) views of the Civil War, and how they stack up against the actual war. This is done in a well-written, very humorous, fast-paced travel log style that is highly entertaining and difficult to put down. It is written in the same spirit as Bill Bryson's books, a light hearted, honest description of the events the author, Mr. Horwitz manages to get himself into, portrayed alongside honest factual histories of the Civil War. This couldn't be a better book. The author wanders through the South, mainly because that is where all of the battles were fought, interviewing authors of well-known Civil War books, re-enactors, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, pro-Rebel Flag supporters, and participants in the civil rights movement. This is all interwoven to a tell a gripping story of our interpretation of the past, modern American race relations, motivations behind the war, and how many of the issues behind the war remain bitter to this day. I particularly enjoyed the sections with Mr. Robert Lee Hodge, a re-enactor who provides the author with some of his best material, both humorous, dramatic and touching. Also, as I currently live in Atlanta, the chapter on the "Capital of the South" was very interesting, providing a surprisingly accurate and pointed description of the way which the war is viewed. Amid all of these descriptions the author inserts just the right amount of actual Civil War history, allowing even those who aren't up to speed on the activities of the war to reflect on what it has become. This book is very well written and I could not recommend it more.
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