![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Reviews in the Attic
Jul. 23rd, 2015 12:21 pmHey,
Since apparently I'm doing Civil War stuff this year, I recently finished Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. Given the current controversy around Confederate flags and symbols, it's interesting to read a book discussing these issues over 15 years in the past.
Mr. Horwitz's grandfather bought a lavishly illustrated book on the Civil War when he emigrated to America. Young Tony grew up with a fascination for the Civil War but it fell away as he became an adult and traveled the world as a journalist. But shortly after he returns to settle down in America with his wife, he sees a bunch of Civil War reenactors passing outside his door. Like any good journalist, he gets into a conversation and that reignites his interest in the War and get him interested in travelling around the South to various Civil War battlefields to see how things have changed and how they haven't.
For the most part, people seem to have a deep sense of connection with their ancestors. If those ancestors fought in the War, then remembering their actions is important and provides a connection to them even if they fought on the losing side. Of course, no one wants to see themselves as a loser. America is big on underdogs and so people bend the narrative a bit to make their ancestors look a bit better. To some extent that's natural, but it's obvious some people invest a lot of energy in re-shaping the narrative of what happened.
The writing is good. I think his question of why people hang onto the idea of the South gets answered pretty early on and everything else is variation on a theme. It is interesting to see a few profiles of people who want to remember the war not as a gallant Lost Cause but as a national tragedy. Those are pretty far and few between, unfortunately.
Mr. Horwitz recently wrote about the controversy surrounding the Confederate flag and it offers a good summary of his book, but without the interesting descriptions of people and places.
later
Tom
Since apparently I'm doing Civil War stuff this year, I recently finished Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. Given the current controversy around Confederate flags and symbols, it's interesting to read a book discussing these issues over 15 years in the past.
Mr. Horwitz's grandfather bought a lavishly illustrated book on the Civil War when he emigrated to America. Young Tony grew up with a fascination for the Civil War but it fell away as he became an adult and traveled the world as a journalist. But shortly after he returns to settle down in America with his wife, he sees a bunch of Civil War reenactors passing outside his door. Like any good journalist, he gets into a conversation and that reignites his interest in the War and get him interested in travelling around the South to various Civil War battlefields to see how things have changed and how they haven't.
For the most part, people seem to have a deep sense of connection with their ancestors. If those ancestors fought in the War, then remembering their actions is important and provides a connection to them even if they fought on the losing side. Of course, no one wants to see themselves as a loser. America is big on underdogs and so people bend the narrative a bit to make their ancestors look a bit better. To some extent that's natural, but it's obvious some people invest a lot of energy in re-shaping the narrative of what happened.
The writing is good. I think his question of why people hang onto the idea of the South gets answered pretty early on and everything else is variation on a theme. It is interesting to see a few profiles of people who want to remember the war not as a gallant Lost Cause but as a national tragedy. Those are pretty far and few between, unfortunately.
Mr. Horwitz recently wrote about the controversy surrounding the Confederate flag and it offers a good summary of his book, but without the interesting descriptions of people and places.
later
Tom
