Status
Available
Call number
Publication
New York : Pantheon Books, c1998.
Description
National Bestseller For all who remain intrigued by the legacy of the Civil War -- reenactors, battlefield visitors, Confederate descendants and other Southerners, history fans, students of current racial conflicts, and more -- this ten-state adventure is part travelogue, part social commentary and always good-humored. When prize-winning war correspondent Tony Horwitz leaves the battlefields of Bosnia and the Middle East for a peaceful corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains, he thinks he's put war zones behind him. But awakened one morning by the crackle of musket fire, Horwitz starts filing front-line dispatches again this time from a war close to home, and to his own heart. Propelled by his boyhood passion for the Civil War, Horwitz embarks on a search for places and people still held in thrall by America's greatest conflict. The result is an adventure into the soul of the unvanquished South, where the ghosts of the Lost Cause are resurrected through ritual and remembrance. In Virginia, Horwitz joins a band of 'hardcore' reenactors who crash-diet to achieve the hollow-eyed look of starved Confederates; in Kentucky, he witnesses Klan rallies and calls for race war sparked by the killing of a white man who brandishes a rebel flag; at Andersonville, he finds that the prison's commander, executed as a war criminal, is now exalted as a martyr and hero; and in the book's climax, Horwitz takes a marathon trek from Antietam to Gettysburg to Appomattox in the company of Robert Lee Hodge, an eccentric pilgrim who dubs their odyssey the 'Civil Wargasm.' Written with Horwitz's signature blend of humor, history, and hard-nosed journalism, Confederates in the Attic brings alive old battlefields and new ones 'classrooms, courts, country bars' where the past and the present collide, often in explosive ways. Poignant and picaresque, haunting and hilarious, it speaks to anyone who has ever felt drawn to the mythic South and to the dark romance of the Civil War. Tony Horwitz's new book,Spying on the South- An Odyssey Across the American Divide, is availablenow.… (more)
Media reviews
Nostalgia tinges ''Confederates in the Attic'' but seldom. One of the ironies of this book is that Horwitz is clearly a deep-dyed peace seeker. His judiciously balanced sympathies make him uncomfortable at times, caught between two camps fighting over turf. He longs for roots in the land. What he
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has is roots in intellectual honesty. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member iluvvideo
The Civil War never ended for most of the people in this book. Even in 1998 (when the book was written) there exists a sub-culture of die hard supporters of the Confederate States of America (CSA).
Now, we're not just talking about hardcore weirdos,although they populate a lot of the book. North
But there are also people for whom the war may have ended but they do their best to keep its ideals alive. Racial prejudice often going hand in hand with religious intolerance (blacks and Jews mainly) are an accepted cultural reality. A young white man is shot down in cold blood by a carload of black teenagers. Why? He drove his truck, proudly displaying the rebel flag flying in the rear, through a predominantly black neighborhood. Certainly not a reason for murder, but was it an intentional provocation?
A favorite character in the book for me was hardcore re-enactor Robert Lee Hodge, who will do almost anything to experience life as a soldier during the Civil War. Rail thin, unkempt, eating only what the soldiers ate, wearing clothes as close as possibly authentic to reality, he travels the Civil War trails and battlefields experiencing the war, but also answering questions and even recruiting others to the re-enactor cause.
The author accompanies him on a "Civil Wargasm", a week long warp speed trek of the war, from Gettysburg to Antietam to the Shenandoah Valley and dozens of battlefields in between !
I loved the book (although it deeply disturbed me as well), it's filled with Civil War trivia, the correction of many long held war myths, and for the most part a fairly unbiased look at the people who live in the places the war was fought in. It helps to have some idea of the historical context of the war, but the author makes it clear what's going on (now and then). If you are a history buff or just someone interested in southern culture and beliefs, this is just the book for you.
Now, we're not just talking about hardcore weirdos,although they populate a lot of the book. North
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Carolina brings us the Cats of the Confederacy (yes, cats!); South Carolina , where artist Manning Williams toils on a painting that he'll says he'll never complete. The title? "Lincoln in Hell".But there are also people for whom the war may have ended but they do their best to keep its ideals alive. Racial prejudice often going hand in hand with religious intolerance (blacks and Jews mainly) are an accepted cultural reality. A young white man is shot down in cold blood by a carload of black teenagers. Why? He drove his truck, proudly displaying the rebel flag flying in the rear, through a predominantly black neighborhood. Certainly not a reason for murder, but was it an intentional provocation?
A favorite character in the book for me was hardcore re-enactor Robert Lee Hodge, who will do almost anything to experience life as a soldier during the Civil War. Rail thin, unkempt, eating only what the soldiers ate, wearing clothes as close as possibly authentic to reality, he travels the Civil War trails and battlefields experiencing the war, but also answering questions and even recruiting others to the re-enactor cause.
The author accompanies him on a "Civil Wargasm", a week long warp speed trek of the war, from Gettysburg to Antietam to the Shenandoah Valley and dozens of battlefields in between !
I loved the book (although it deeply disturbed me as well), it's filled with Civil War trivia, the correction of many long held war myths, and for the most part a fairly unbiased look at the people who live in the places the war was fought in. It helps to have some idea of the historical context of the war, but the author makes it clear what's going on (now and then). If you are a history buff or just someone interested in southern culture and beliefs, this is just the book for you.
Show Less
LibraryThing member TadAD
This is an account of Tony Horwitz's year-long exploration through the places where the U.S. Civil War was fought, starting in North Carolina and working his way downward. The book is not a history of the Civil War so much as a look at what the Civil War means in the minds of Southerners
Though he admits to having a fascination with the Civil War as a child, he brings to this an outsider's perspective: not well-informed about the events and, since his ancestors were post-war immigrants, with no familial ties to the conflict. Yet, this outsider status does not confer impartiality, nor does he attempt to conceal his personal views—he examines the people he meets through eyes that are clearly those of a liberal Northerner, one shaped and informed by the Civil Rights Movement.
The result works well. Though he rejects, even implicitly derides, some of the extreme Southern stances and revisionisms, you can sense that he comes to feel a certain sympathy for other aspects of the Southern cause, for the people who, as Shelby Foote said to him, put "one's people before one's principles."
Other discussions have made much of the time he spent with the hardcore re-enactors, the individuals who attempt to replicate, in every detail (except killing), the experiences of the soldiers. These discussions have said such things as, "you cannot help but find them absurd." Actually, I didn't find them absurd. While admitting that they derive their enjoyment from an extremism that I find unthinkable, their desire to understand what their ancestors endured, to come to grips with this quintessentially American conflict that created the modern United States is easily understood.
While there are many funny moments in the book, it is not one of unadulterated pleasure. We catch a glimpse of the fact that, despite the century from the Civil War to Civil Rights, the conflict is still being fought in many places, sometimes with guns. In fact, the book implies that it is getting worse and that, once again, the country is starting to consider whether it is really a single nation.
Pleasant at times, funny at times, thought-provoking at times, I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in the Civil War. Look at it as one piece of a jigsaw puzzle of opinions that are still very important to who we are.
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today.Though he admits to having a fascination with the Civil War as a child, he brings to this an outsider's perspective: not well-informed about the events and, since his ancestors were post-war immigrants, with no familial ties to the conflict. Yet, this outsider status does not confer impartiality, nor does he attempt to conceal his personal views—he examines the people he meets through eyes that are clearly those of a liberal Northerner, one shaped and informed by the Civil Rights Movement.
The result works well. Though he rejects, even implicitly derides, some of the extreme Southern stances and revisionisms, you can sense that he comes to feel a certain sympathy for other aspects of the Southern cause, for the people who, as Shelby Foote said to him, put "one's people before one's principles."
Other discussions have made much of the time he spent with the hardcore re-enactors, the individuals who attempt to replicate, in every detail (except killing), the experiences of the soldiers. These discussions have said such things as, "you cannot help but find them absurd." Actually, I didn't find them absurd. While admitting that they derive their enjoyment from an extremism that I find unthinkable, their desire to understand what their ancestors endured, to come to grips with this quintessentially American conflict that created the modern United States is easily understood.
While there are many funny moments in the book, it is not one of unadulterated pleasure. We catch a glimpse of the fact that, despite the century from the Civil War to Civil Rights, the conflict is still being fought in many places, sometimes with guns. In fact, the book implies that it is getting worse and that, once again, the country is starting to consider whether it is really a single nation.
Pleasant at times, funny at times, thought-provoking at times, I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in the Civil War. Look at it as one piece of a jigsaw puzzle of opinions that are still very important to who we are.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jnwelch
In Confederates in the Attic, journalist Tony Horwitz tours many historic southern Civil War battle sites and towns, struck by how alive and important the Civil War remains for so many Southerners. I can't believe it took this long for me to read this one; I loved his Blue Latitudes, about the
Among other things, Horwitz becomes involved in Civil War enactments, where "hardcore" participants will go to great lengths for authenticity:
“Look at these buttons,” one soldier said, fingering his gray wool jacket. “I soaked them overnight in a saucer filled with urine.” Chemicals in the urine oxidized the brass, giving it the patina of buttons from the 1860s. “My wife woke up this morning, sniffed the air and said, ‘Tim, you’ve been peeing on your buttons again.”
No surprise, issues of race remain important. "Vicksburg confirmed the dispiriting pattern I'd seen elsewhere in the South . . . Everywhere, it seemed, I had to explore two pasts and two presents, one white, one black, separate and unreconcilable. The past had poisoned the present and the present, in turn, now poisoned remembrance of things past." Horwitz's sense of humor helps make the sometimes difficult journey companionable, and there are insights galore:
“You asked how I'd define prejudice. That's it. Making assumptions about people you've never met.” (I love this one!)
“The way I see it," King said, "your great-grandfather fought and died because he believed my great-grandfather should stay a slave. I'm supposed to feel all warm inside about that?”
“For Robert Lee Hodge, {participating in Civil War reenactments} was also a way of life. As the Marlon Brando of battlefield bloating, he was often hired for Civil War movies.” (This specialist in battlefield bloating becomes an important traveling companion; I think that's a photo of him on the cover).
Anyway, I can't think of a reason not to give this five stars. It was written in 1998, but feels like he wrote it yesterday. It gave me more insights into how Trump supporters view the world than any other book I've read, including Hillbilly Elegy. A favored few can create page-turning nonfiction, and this guy is one of them. I want to read more of his; probably his A Voyage Long and Strange next.
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voyages of Captain Cook, and I'd thought about this one many times. It took my LT brother Mark singing its praises on the phone to get me in gear.Among other things, Horwitz becomes involved in Civil War enactments, where "hardcore" participants will go to great lengths for authenticity:
“Look at these buttons,” one soldier said, fingering his gray wool jacket. “I soaked them overnight in a saucer filled with urine.” Chemicals in the urine oxidized the brass, giving it the patina of buttons from the 1860s. “My wife woke up this morning, sniffed the air and said, ‘Tim, you’ve been peeing on your buttons again.”
No surprise, issues of race remain important. "Vicksburg confirmed the dispiriting pattern I'd seen elsewhere in the South . . . Everywhere, it seemed, I had to explore two pasts and two presents, one white, one black, separate and unreconcilable. The past had poisoned the present and the present, in turn, now poisoned remembrance of things past." Horwitz's sense of humor helps make the sometimes difficult journey companionable, and there are insights galore:
“You asked how I'd define prejudice. That's it. Making assumptions about people you've never met.” (I love this one!)
“The way I see it," King said, "your great-grandfather fought and died because he believed my great-grandfather should stay a slave. I'm supposed to feel all warm inside about that?”
“For Robert Lee Hodge, {participating in Civil War reenactments} was also a way of life. As the Marlon Brando of battlefield bloating, he was often hired for Civil War movies.” (This specialist in battlefield bloating becomes an important traveling companion; I think that's a photo of him on the cover).
Anyway, I can't think of a reason not to give this five stars. It was written in 1998, but feels like he wrote it yesterday. It gave me more insights into how Trump supporters view the world than any other book I've read, including Hillbilly Elegy. A favored few can create page-turning nonfiction, and this guy is one of them. I want to read more of his; probably his A Voyage Long and Strange next.
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LibraryThing member MusicMom41
In the late 1990s journalist Tony Horwitz spent over a year touring the South (USA), meeting with many people who celebrated the Confederacy including United Daughters of the Confederacy, Sons of the Confederacy, and Children of the Confederacy. He spent much time with reenactors, visited many
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battle sites, museums, and monuments and read much literature about the Civil War. This book gives a fascinating look at the many views held by Southerners, both Black and White, about the Civil War, its aftermath, and even about Civil Rights and the 20th Century battles that have been fought for that. Although his viewpoint is that of a Northerner, he is often moved to compassion and developed some understanding of the Southern viewpoint as well. I read this as my first book in the Civil War category. I think it made a good introduction because he visited so many sites in such a short period of time I have a better idea in my mind the names of events I will be reading about later and a little taste of the history which I will be filling in with more detail as I explore this area more thoroughly. His style is engaging mixing humor as well as pathos into his stories. I suspect someday this book will also be part of the literature of the Civil War, explaining how in the 20th Century, in many ways, the “war” was continuing. Highly recommended. 4 ½ stars Show Less
LibraryThing member mahsdad
Subtitled "Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War". I picked this up thinking it was just about Civil War reenactors and tourists, but its so much more. Horwitz goes on a tour of the Southern states to see how the Civil War and its aftermath are still affecting people. A lot of it exposes deep
We were raised Methodists, but we converted to the Confederacy. There wasn't time for both.
Mostly, though, the fort attracted ordinary tourists, many of whom possessed a muddled grasp of American history. Visitors often asked McGill why he didn't mention the "Star-Spangled Banner". He had to explain that the national anthem was composed during the shelling of a different fort in a different conflict. Others asked whether it was true that John Brown fired the first shot at the fort. "One guy even asked me why so many Civil War battles were fought on national parks." McGill said.
Guthrie exhaled the depleted air of a thousand other towns across the back-country South, bypassed by the interstate and drained of vitality by decades of migration to the city.
Everywhere, it seemed, I had to explore two pasts and two presents; one white, one black, separate and unreconcilable. The past had poisoned the present and the present, in turn, now poisoned remembrance of things past.
I was born in 1921 and was raised up with segregation and separate water fountains. It was stupid now that I think of it. All these signs saying 'white' and 'colored' when most people couldn't even read.
9/10
S: 4/18/19 - 5/8/19 (21 Days)
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seated resentments and institutional racism. It also shows that we are still having the same battles today that we were having 20 years ago when it was written; should the Confederate flag still fly, should statues of Confederate heroes still be on display, what revisionist history is still being taught - do today's (then or now) truly know why the war was fought? Oh and he does go on a crash tour of the war's battle fields with a reenactor who takes reenacting to an extreme bordering on insane. Its well worth your time. I'll let these quotes speak for themselves...We were raised Methodists, but we converted to the Confederacy. There wasn't time for both.
Mostly, though, the fort attracted ordinary tourists, many of whom possessed a muddled grasp of American history. Visitors often asked McGill why he didn't mention the "Star-Spangled Banner". He had to explain that the national anthem was composed during the shelling of a different fort in a different conflict. Others asked whether it was true that John Brown fired the first shot at the fort. "One guy even asked me why so many Civil War battles were fought on national parks." McGill said.
Guthrie exhaled the depleted air of a thousand other towns across the back-country South, bypassed by the interstate and drained of vitality by decades of migration to the city.
Everywhere, it seemed, I had to explore two pasts and two presents; one white, one black, separate and unreconcilable. The past had poisoned the present and the present, in turn, now poisoned remembrance of things past.
I was born in 1921 and was raised up with segregation and separate water fountains. It was stupid now that I think of it. All these signs saying 'white' and 'colored' when most people couldn't even read.
9/10
S: 4/18/19 - 5/8/19 (21 Days)
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LibraryThing member omniavanitas
This is one of my favorite non-fiction books. You'll come away with an enhanced knowledge of Civil War history, and a variety of perspectives on southern culture. Well-written and touching.
LibraryThing member debbiedooper
I really enjoyed this book! What a great slice of life the author presents, one I had little idea about. Also shows the complexity of post-Civil War feelings and attitudes toward racial issues.
LibraryThing member ilovemycat1
What a book! What a writer! I picked up the book after hearing a few people in the bookstore mention this book after I purchased his latest book as a present for my spouse. They said this book was "transformative". What I found most fascinating now, being in the era of Trump, is Horwitz's
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interviews in the mid 1990's with people I would call "pre-Trumpers". It illuminated how the base of 45 was in the making for decades. I didn't know much about the Civil War and the topic was not on my radar, but Horwitz held my attention. He has a unique and engaging way to write about the South, the War, and the cast of characters who make their life's work about keeping the legacy of their forefathers alive. Bravo! Show Less
LibraryThing member atheist_goat
This book is amazing and hilarious and terrifying. Given how much hatred and bigotry Horwitz encounters, it's astonishing that he makes this a fun read.
LibraryThing member msf59
The author , a Civil War buff, traipses through the modern South, exploring battle-sites, hanging with "hardcore" reenactors and interviewing many colorful characters about the affects of the Civil War on our society. In many places the war still rages. Loaded with humor, horror, myth-busting and a
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strong insight. Highlights include: a fascinating visit with Shelby Foote and a surreal detour to Andersonville. What an excellent trip! Show Less
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
The Smithsonian has been referred to as “America’s attic”, but down in the Old South in the mid-1990’s, Tony Horwitz found some artifacts that
a lot of people might wish had not been hauled out into the light. Prowling around the sites of Civil War battles, consorting with "hard core living
a lot of people might wish had not been hauled out into the light. Prowling around the sites of Civil War battles, consorting with "hard core living
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historians", and interviewing ordinary folks from many walks of life, Horwitz discovered that much of what he thought he knew about the Civil War was mythic, that in many small towns and rural communities a sense of separatism is still very strong, and that the "lost cause" maintains a grip on the hearts of many citizens of the former Confederacy. Despite his northern liberal upbringing, Horwitz was able to mingle gently with conservative southerners, some of whom were openly racist or anti-Semitic, and get them talking. I do wonder what might have changed in the last couple decades since the book was written, given that it predates 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the election of an African American President, and such. I would be glad of an update, but nevertheless I give this book an unequivocal thumbs up. Show Less
LibraryThing member LyndaInOregon
If Tony Horwitz’ study of modern echoes of the Civil War fails to meet its goals, it’s not for lack of trying. Horowitz spent more than a year traveling the modern South, talking to educators, historians, re-enactors, heritage groups, leaders in both black and white communities, and general
Battles over displays of the Confederate battle flag (the familiar “stars and bars”), maintenance of public memorials, states’ rights, and de facto segregation continue to fume in the American south, occasionally flaring into open conflagration. There’s both right and wrong on all sides, and it may be that this is what keeps the book from coming to a definitive statement about the issues.
For all of that, it’s an informative read. Horowitz clarifies many misunderstandings and outright falsehoods along the way and notes that neither Union nor Confederate supporters had a patent on mudslinging or exaggeration. Perhaps his very inability to take a stand on either side is what allows the reader to consider viewpoints in opposition to his or her own. And for that quality, if for no other, “Confederates in the Attic” is worth a read.
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good-ole-boys. But the book drags on without ever being able to point to one thing – or even several things – that would explain why so many Americans remain unable to let go of the heritage of the Civil War – or even precisely what that heritage is.Battles over displays of the Confederate battle flag (the familiar “stars and bars”), maintenance of public memorials, states’ rights, and de facto segregation continue to fume in the American south, occasionally flaring into open conflagration. There’s both right and wrong on all sides, and it may be that this is what keeps the book from coming to a definitive statement about the issues.
For all of that, it’s an informative read. Horowitz clarifies many misunderstandings and outright falsehoods along the way and notes that neither Union nor Confederate supporters had a patent on mudslinging or exaggeration. Perhaps his very inability to take a stand on either side is what allows the reader to consider viewpoints in opposition to his or her own. And for that quality, if for no other, “Confederates in the Attic” is worth a read.
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LibraryThing member craso
This book is an exploration of the American South's obsession with the Civil War. The author journeyed from the Carolina low country to the Mississippi delta to the Shenandoah Valley visiting battle fields and war memorials and asking people why they still care so much about the war. He
This was a fasinating read. I learned a lot about the Civil War and about attitudes in the South. The book is slightly dated, it was written in the late 1990's, but these issues still linger especially the controversy over states rights. I can see many right wing policitians and Tea Party members making the same comments as the people in this book. It would be interesting to revisit these people and places to see if the election of a black president has changed views or enhanced them. Besides being informative, this book is a very good sociological study and well worth reading.
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participated in "hardcore" reenactments of battles as well as a trip with the main "character" of the book, Robert Lee Hodge the most "hardcore" reenactor of them all, on a Civil War-gasm which involved dressing in period costume and visiting as many battlefields and memorials as possible within a week. He spoke with members of the Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy, a woman who makes a living dressing up as Scarlett O'Hara for Japanese tourists, and the oldest living Confederate widow. Along the way he learned that predjudice is alive and well in the South along with a good dose of hate for the federal government. In the end the three reasons that stand out are; romance for a lost way of life, a perceived lack of states rights, and racism. The rebel flag was the conerstone of a lot of his visits. It represents the three issues I have stated above, but it also represents for many young men a statement of rebelion.This was a fasinating read. I learned a lot about the Civil War and about attitudes in the South. The book is slightly dated, it was written in the late 1990's, but these issues still linger especially the controversy over states rights. I can see many right wing policitians and Tea Party members making the same comments as the people in this book. It would be interesting to revisit these people and places to see if the election of a black president has changed views or enhanced them. Besides being informative, this book is a very good sociological study and well worth reading.
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LibraryThing member KristySP
I found this book to be both incredibly entertaining and incredibly sad. I was fascinated to learn about how much of a hold the civil war still has on many areas in the south. Horwitz travels extensively and really talks to many different kinds of people about their thoughts. The interview with
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Shelby Foote was interesting and full of suprises. The other thing about this book is how vivid the details of warfare are. I dont know a lot about the civil war, but Horwitz talks about individual battles and the kinds of wounds sustained and the medical practices and you get a real sense of just how many young men were killed, and how terrible and slow and painful their deaths were. It was very sobering. I read about a year ago, and I remember walking around in a very weird mood while I was reading it. Show Less
LibraryThing member lesadee
I LOVE this book, and not just because I lived in Virginia where people are still fighting this war. Tony Horwitz can flat out write. I felt like I was traveling with him as he made his way through the Civil War locales.
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
I remember this book vividly, if for no other reason than what I consider to be one of the most hideous covers of any book that I have read. Fortunately I did not let that stop me and inside I found a delicious mix of cultural history, personal reminiscence and odd, but true (I believe) miscellany
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about people who are fixated on the Civil War era. The book almost reads like a picaresque novel or collection of stories which makes it even more fun. The Civil War reenactors are truly a strange breed, but endlessly interesting in their passion for the era. It was a delight to read. Show Less
LibraryThing member badrabbyt
i dislike history books in general, but i really like this. it's more about people's continued perception of history rather than the history itself. and it's home to one of the best quotes ever.
LibraryThing member bnbookgirl
If you like the Civil War you must read this book. One of my top 10.
LibraryThing member nbmars
Tony Horwitz, a Pulitzer-prize winning reporter, tours the South in an attempt to explore the ongoing obsession with the Civil War. Some of the book is hilarious and some is sobering; all of it makes for a very rewarding read, especially if you are headed for any of the battle sites about which he
For a part of the time, Horwitz accompanies “reenactors,” hardcore Civil War buffs who spend many weekends trying to reenact the war experience. Reenactors fall into two camps: “hardcores” who try to be as totally authentic as possible, and “farbs” or those who are “far-be-it-from-authentic.” Apparently there are over 40,000 reenactors nationwide!
The vivid characters Horwitz meets help him toward an understanding of why the Civil War still has a strong hold on Southerners. He points out that while, for Northerners, the death rate was about one in ten, one-fourth of all Southern men in the war died. Strong family ties in the South mean that genealogical studies have an excellent chance of awakening an interest in the war.
Moreover, Southerners have remained more of a “military people” than Northerners. Importantly, many of them, descendants of the border peoples of Scotland, Ireland and Wales, are still strong believers in freedom from government interference. They tend to be strong adherents of community and “family values” and admit to feeling uncomfortable with what they perceive to be a lack of the same among blacks.
As historian of the South A.V. Huff explained to Horwitz, “The South – the white South – has always had this powerful sense of loss. First , it was the loss of the War and antebellum wealth. Later, as millions of Southerners migrated to cities, it was the loss of a close-knit agrarian society.” The sense of community has deteriorated further as the landscape becomes overrun with faceless strip malls, franchises, and tract housing.
It doesn’t help that many Southerners (as well as Northerners) get their romanticized notions of the glory days of antebellum life (simplicity, community, parties, mint juleps) and contented slaves from Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind.” Horwitz notes, “Gone With the Wind had done more to keep the Civil War alive, and to mold its memory, than any history book or event since Appomattox.”
For anyone with an interest in the Civil War, Horwitz’s tours of major battlefields are not to be missed. And for anyone with a sense of humor, you will sometimes laugh until you cry.
(JAF)
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dispenses much lore and disposes of much myth. His chapter on Shiloh is one of the best, as he learns just how and why most of the “history” about the battle is really fiction.For a part of the time, Horwitz accompanies “reenactors,” hardcore Civil War buffs who spend many weekends trying to reenact the war experience. Reenactors fall into two camps: “hardcores” who try to be as totally authentic as possible, and “farbs” or those who are “far-be-it-from-authentic.” Apparently there are over 40,000 reenactors nationwide!
The vivid characters Horwitz meets help him toward an understanding of why the Civil War still has a strong hold on Southerners. He points out that while, for Northerners, the death rate was about one in ten, one-fourth of all Southern men in the war died. Strong family ties in the South mean that genealogical studies have an excellent chance of awakening an interest in the war.
Moreover, Southerners have remained more of a “military people” than Northerners. Importantly, many of them, descendants of the border peoples of Scotland, Ireland and Wales, are still strong believers in freedom from government interference. They tend to be strong adherents of community and “family values” and admit to feeling uncomfortable with what they perceive to be a lack of the same among blacks.
As historian of the South A.V. Huff explained to Horwitz, “The South – the white South – has always had this powerful sense of loss. First , it was the loss of the War and antebellum wealth. Later, as millions of Southerners migrated to cities, it was the loss of a close-knit agrarian society.” The sense of community has deteriorated further as the landscape becomes overrun with faceless strip malls, franchises, and tract housing.
It doesn’t help that many Southerners (as well as Northerners) get their romanticized notions of the glory days of antebellum life (simplicity, community, parties, mint juleps) and contented slaves from Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind.” Horwitz notes, “Gone With the Wind had done more to keep the Civil War alive, and to mold its memory, than any history book or event since Appomattox.”
For anyone with an interest in the Civil War, Horwitz’s tours of major battlefields are not to be missed. And for anyone with a sense of humor, you will sometimes laugh until you cry.
(JAF)
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LibraryThing member keywestnan
I'm not sure whether this book should be described as narrative nonfiction, historical travelogue, traveling history or social history but I am sure that it's really, really good. Horwitz starts out hanging out with Civil War re-enactors and, from there, examines how the war and its symbols
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(especially the Confederate flag) continue to reverberate in our culture, especially in the South. The stories he reveals here are funny, surprising, and sometimes tragic. This is one of those books I've bought multiple copies of to give friends because I won't let anyone borrow my copy. Show Less
LibraryThing member Othemts
Tony Horwitz travels through the South meeting with people who have a devotion to the Confederacy that borders on insanity at times ("Cats of the Confederacy" is the best). Yet, Horwitz patiently and sympathetically lets the people he meets speak their peace and really allows their humanity to
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shine through. This is a very insightful, funny, and sometimes frightening book about America today. Show Less
LibraryThing member allthesedarnbooks
Tony Horwitz travels through the South, visiting Civil War battle sites and talking to Civil War reenactors, Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy, and many others about why the Civil War is still important to them and what they think of the Confederates. This was very, very interesting, especially
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as a Northerner who had never really understood these attitudes. It's a serious book, with lots of important issues raised, and Horwitz treats everyone involved with dignity and respect. There are also a few lighter, laugh out loud funny parts. Recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member csmirl
Addictive, hilarious, fascinating, bizarre, alive. I loved it. I was thoroughly informed, entertained, and appauled as I learned about civil war soldiers and the modern social eccentricities of those who seek to recreate their lives down to the smallest details.Available at Teton County Library,
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call number 973.7 Horwitz Show Less
LibraryThing member koalamom
This book, while it is not really about the Civil War itself, gives, at time, more history of that great conflagration than many of the books whose sole theme is the war. Here we see the war through the eyes of a man whose ancestry is Eastern Russia and whose grandfather didn't arrive on our shores
Follow Tony Horowitz as he takes us from Petersburg through to Gettysburg and all around the South revisiting places that were touched by that war and how, in many cases, that war is still going on.
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until the 1880s. Yet he seems to have a love and understanding of the Civil War better than that of many of the people who people were here since the Mayflower. And that is sad - and sadder still is the lack of learning of this war and history in general that our kids are getting today as mentioned in the book of teens in southern Alabama, where history now starts in 1877.Follow Tony Horowitz as he takes us from Petersburg through to Gettysburg and all around the South revisiting places that were touched by that war and how, in many cases, that war is still going on.
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LibraryThing member snash
A great history of the Civil War from the Southern perspective of today. In many ways it is depressing in that it illustrates that great tumultuous turning points like the Civil War or the Civil Rights Movement create change that only lasts for a few decades. It then erodes to the point that the
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change is there but very much attenuated. It also illustrates that history is only occasionally interested in the truth, most is embellished one way or another. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Southern Book Prize (Winner — Nonfiction — 1999)
Virginia Literary Awards (Finalist — Nonfiction — 1999)
Language
Original publication date
1998-03-03
Physical description
ix, 406 p.; 25 cm
ISBN
0679439781 / 9780679439783
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