Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War

Tony Horwitz

Aug 2010 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent takes us on an explosive adventure into the soul of the unvanquished South, where Civil War reenactors, battlefield visitors, and fans of history resurrect the ghosts of the Lost Cause through ritual and remembrance.  

"The freshest book about divisiveness in America that I have read in some time. This splendid commemoration of the war and its legacy ... is an eyes–open, humorously no–nonsense survey of complicated Americans." —The New York Times Book Review

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. 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 the new 'classrooms, courts, country bars' where the past and the present collide, often in explosive ways.

Ratings and reviews

im sorry but whoever wrote the initial review really missed something. the book in its purist sense is to point out that the modern beliefs about the civil war differ from place to place and from person to person. the reviewer claims that its simply racism. " Horwitz's reflective odyssey uncovers a profoundly disaffected nation, where battles over the Confederate flag, virulent antigovernment sentiment, and enduring ignorance and bigotry invite some dispiriting conclusions about the prospects for black/white rapprochement." ugh.... the point of the book is to point out that the flag itself is seen as many different symbols some see it as racism yes but the majority of those who still fly it generally see it as a sign of defiance or as a symbol of honor, family ties, history, etc. the point of the book is to show that all of those differing beliefs about a single symbol are valid. the book is a quest to find out what the different beliefs are and what keeps them alive. the book is not about what keeps America divided but how a single symbol can be misinterpreted many ways and even acted upon no matter how the symbol is seen by the other group (the murder of the teen in the pickup which had a rebel flag for example). also if the reviewer had bothered to read the book he would have remembered that the biggest region in the us for racist groups tends to be the midwest (Indiana in the lead, if i remember correctly Illinois was number 2). "enduring ignorance"... sigh. the south grew up. when will the rest of the country realize it? im so tired of this stigma. btw since i have to write a little about my impressions of the book. im giving it four and 3/4 stars because Horwitz stayed out of Florida and Texas. as a Texan born Floridian i find this offensive so he looses one fourth of a star.

go KKK and white lives matter Keep defending southern white culture and heritage and whipping racist bigot hypocrite darky niggro thug bum panther supporter trash!

What great read. Not only does it she'd light on the history of the war but how it still shapes America's thinking. The humor also adds a great touch.

About the author

Tony Horwitz is the author of One for the Road and of the best-selling Baghdad Without a Map. A senior writer for The Wall Street Journal and winner of the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, he has also written for The New Yorker and Harper's, among other publications. He lives with his wife and son in Virginia.