I just finished Tony Horwitz's Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. While I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, I found it profoundly unsettling. Horwitz spent three years traveling through the 10 states that made up the Confederacy, exploring his childhood obsession with the Civil War as well as the continuing impact of the war on the psyche of the American South. Throughout the book he asks why this war, unlike any other in our history, resonates so forcefully, but he never really finds one definitive answer. He meets many different people along the way -- Civil War scholars, hardcore reenactors, kooks, neo-Confederates, and ordinary people just trying to get by -- and everyone seems to have a different answer.One thing is for certain: what we learn as history is not carved in stone. I appreciate the writers like Horwitz who take the time to dig deeper and look at the whole thing with a sympathetic eye, while still asking hard questions.
I didn't find the book to be "hilarious" as one reviewer wrote. It was certainly amusing in parts. Maybe the unfinished business of the Civil War affects me too; I find it a very compelling subject.
I finished the book feeling rather dispirited. Horwitz wrote this book 12 years ago, and at the time found little to be hopeful about regarding race relations in the U.S. If anything, it seems as if that gap has widened in the ensuing years. As the economy continues to tank people who are suffering need to find someone to blame, and there are plenty of people out there who willingly fan the flames of hatred. Like that country singer whose initials are TK, or any number of media loudmouths.
Still, I recommend it -- highly recommend it, in fact. It is immensely readable and explores some pretty important ideas along the way.
12 comments:
I know I just said that I should lay off the nonfiction, but this would be a perfect read for me. As a midwestern transplant to the Deep South, I think might help me answer some of my questions about why my neighbors are the way they are.
Great book: I highly recommended.
And yeah, it's scary.
I'm southern born and bred and now live in Yankee land. I should read this.
Have you read "Deer Hunting with Jesus"?
Deer Hunting with Jesus? No, but I'm going right over to the library site to put it on hold. BTW, I have The Longest Mile sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read. Thanks for the recommendation, Mr. Crow.
It is most certainly an interesting book. I am a reenactor, though not of the civil war, and as such it raises some interesting points for me.
Sorry about the duplicate comment, there!
Kelsey, what kind of a reeneactor are you? (I guess I'd have to think of myself as an "enactor." I'm just living my life!)
I do several impressions:
French and Indian War: French
Revolutionary War: American, British, Loyalist
WWII: Soviet, American, German
Korean War: American
I actually have a friend who is a long-time reenactor who is also in the military. He has done three tours in Iraq, and at one point I asked him what it was like to be a reenactor at war. He said that while he was overseas, he just thought of himself as an "enactor".
Wow -- You must be fairly knowledgeable about history.
Reasonably knowledgeable, yeah. My boyfriend is better, but one half of his double major was history, so...
I know very little about the Civil War, though. It's a topic I have never really liked.
It interests me more than any other war (except maybe WW2.) I think it's because I read "Across Five Aprils" as a kid. But I liked "Johnny Tremain" too, but the Revolutionary War doesn't interest me in the same way. I DO like reading about history. My older sister was a Korean War orphan.
Yeah, Kidnapped and Johnny Tremain got me pretty early. I think I disliked the Civil War because I grew up in the South, as a liberal, and so the politics were a bit uncomfortable.
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