Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8314 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-22
• Released on: 1999-02-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Amazon.com Review
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz returned from years of traipsing through war zones as a foreign correspondent only to find that his childhood obsession with the Civil War had caught up with him. Near his house in Virginia, he happened to encounter people who reenact the Civil War--men who dress up in period costumes and live as Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks. Intrigued, he wound up having some odd adventures with the "hardcores," the fellows who try to immerse themselves in the war, hoping to get what they lovingly term a "period rush." Horwitz spent two years reporting on why Americans are still so obsessed with the war, and the ways in which it resonates today. In the course of his work, he made a sobering side trip to cover a murder that was provoked by the display of the Confederate flag, and he spoke to a number of people seeking to honor their ancestors who fought for the Confederacy. Horwitz has a flair for odd details that spark insights, and Confederates in the Attic is a thoughtful and entertaining book that does much to explain America's continuing obsession with the Civil War.

From Publishers Weekly
Horowitz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign war correspondent, returned to his native U.S. turf to tackle the subject of our own Civil War and how its history is actively replayed by scores of grown men. He spent time among the hard-core buffs, the groups who put on period clothes and "re-enact" battles. As part of a self-imposed year-long "scheme" to examine the war's contemporary meaning, he does such things as visit a birthday party for Gen. Stonewall Jackson given by the Sons of the Confederacy. He also mulls over his own theories about the lasting legacy of the war, arguing that it was as much a cultural battle between the mores of North and South as a military one. Horowitz's rambling first-person narrative takes constant sidetracks and is made human with its self-effacing descriptions of his own foibles. This is why it works effectively as audio: it comes across more as a personal adventure than a polemical historical analysis. Though the author tells of being a Civil War buff since childhood, he nonetheless retains the freshness of an outsider's perspective (acting as a sort of foreign correspondent at home). Seasoned audio narrator Beck tries to convey this sense of freshness and boyish enthusiasm in his
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-Fascination with the Civil War runs in Horwitz's family. His Russian immigrant great-grandfather continued to pore over books on the subject at age 101 and his father read to the author each night from a 10-volume photographic history. Years later, the author and his wife awoke one morning to the sounds of a mock Civil War battle being filmed in front of their Virginia home. Subsequent conversations with the participants rekindled this enthusiasm and launched Horwitz on a year-long quest to determine why the Civil War continues to enthrall so many Americans. He journeyed throughout the Old South, visiting battlefields and museums. He joined "super hardcores" such as Robert Lee Hodge, learning about "farbs," "spooning," and "period rushes." He conversed with the only living Confederate widow and witnessed both the "Catechism" taught to Children of Confederate Veterans and the attitudes of black teens in Selma, AL. While his encounters ran the gamut from amusing to infuriating to positively frightening, this Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter relates them all with clarity and honesty. Read Confederates simply for the engrossing, well-written account of contemporary American culture that it is or choose any chapter to spark or enliven class discussion. Don't miss this one.
Dori DeSpain, Herndon Fortnightly Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Very Compelling Hoot-and-a-Half
Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War

If you've ever wondered why the South can't just get over the whole Civil War thing, this book explains--without being unduly sympathetic. It is also good for more than a few belly laughs--particularly if you are Southern, but even if you are not.

Horowitz is a Northern Jew by birth, whose immigrant European Jewish grandfather was fascinated by the Civil War--a fascination which he explains in a very logical and compelling way.

Similarly, he also explains the very real-life people whom he encounters on his tour of Southern Civil War battlefields in an equally logical and compelling way. I grew up in SC--he didn't--and I think he got it right, both the charming eccentricities and the definitely uncharming racist aspects and everything in between.

I love being a Southerner, even though there are some aspects about the South that I don't love. If you do, you will probably take offense at parts of Confederates in the Attic. If, like me, you love who you are with some meaningful reservations, or if you're interested in understanding more about the Southern thing as a whole, you will thoroughly enjoy this book.

Hilarious, Informative, Riveting
Horwitz is an incredible writer, researcher, realist, and humanitarian. I have not been able to put this book down. Often, it is absolutely HILARIOUS, but at the same time, well, a horror story. I have lived all over the US, but my family hails from the South and that is where my heart has a home (not to mention my heritage is FULL of Confederate veterans). Horwitz hits the nail on the head with the Southern attitude of the War not really being over. What makes this book so special is you get a view of ALL sides. I loved it! Cheers, Tony Horwitz!

BAIT AND SWITCH
I have to agree with the other one star commentors. This book is nothing more than a collection of anecdotes about eccentrics and trivia, sprinkled with disapproving comments about the South by the author. It leads nowhere and you learn nothing. The author's lack of knowledge about the war shows also. This book had an interesting premise, but the author failed to follow through. At least now I know I can make a quick buck writing about all the eccentric kooks I met while living up North. Don't waste your money or your time y'all.