Confederates in the attic summary. Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz 2022-12-15

Confederates in the attic summary Rating: 5,9/10 906 reviews

Confederates in the Attic is a book written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz, published in 1998. It tells the story of Horwitz's journey through the American South as he investigates the enduring fascination and mythos surrounding the Confederacy and the Civil War.

One of the main themes of the book is the way in which the Confederacy and its symbols are still revered and celebrated in the modern South. Horwitz visits historical reenactments and living history museums, and meets with modern-day Confederates who are passionate about preserving the legacy of the South and the Confederacy. He also explores the ways in which the Confederate flag and other symbols of the Confederacy have been used as a means of white supremacy and racial segregation.

Another theme of the book is the way in which the Civil War and the Confederacy are remembered and interpreted by different groups of people. Horwitz meets with historians, museum curators, and everyday people who have different perspectives on the war and its legacy. He also examines the role that historical memory and myth-making have played in shaping the way that the Civil War and the Confederacy are remembered and understood.

Throughout the book, Horwitz grapples with his own feelings and ambivalence about the Confederacy and its symbols. He recognizes the complicated and often troubling history of the South and the Confederacy, but also acknowledges the deep emotional attachment that many people have to these symbols and their history.

In the end, Confed erates in the Attic is a thought-provoking and nuanced exploration of the enduring legacy of the Confederacy and the Civil War. It offers a rich and complex look at the way in which history and memory are shaped and interpreted, and encourages readers to consider the many different perspectives that exist on these important issues.

Confederates In The Attic Chapter 12 Summary

confederates in the attic summary

It's difficult to analyze my ancestors' ideals with my 21st century criteria. He is a liberal northerner from a Jewish family whose ancestors had come to America after the war was over. Tony Horwitz explores this dichotomy and attempts to understand why the Civil War is still such a big deal in the New South by speaking to re-enactors, activists, Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy, and good ol' boys who will defiantly fly the rebel flag 'til they die. To answer this question one must look back and the reason the civil war happened and how it affected America. Afterwards, you can leave the battlefield and grab a Sausage McMuffin, and for a moment, things will be perfect. Horowitz didn't receive the Pulitzer for nothing.

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Confederates In The Attic Chapter 9 Summary

confederates in the attic summary

This is an enlightening book about people living in an alternate reality where fanfiction and wishful thinking trump reality. Is there any sense of a common American history? Nevertheless, Horwitz, whose immigrant great-grandfather became obsessed with Civil War history, also caught the bug, and when they discovered a TV crew shooting a scene in the land next to their house in Maryland, decided to investigate what makes Confederate reenactors they hate to be called that preferr I stumbled across this book by accident. Instead of taking them down, he maintains a certain objectivity, which can be frustrating, especially when you want him to pounce. XCIV, February 1, 1998, p. XXII, Spring, 1998, p. Without even a thank you in the acknowledgments! His great-grandfather had owned and studied a cherished Civil War history text, which he shared with Horwitz. Throughout his journey, Horwitz encounters a profound sense of Southern grievance, a feeling that the region is still looked down on.

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Confederates In The Attic Chapter 1 Summary

confederates in the attic summary

How could people live on so little and what did they do for a living?. Rather, it was a culture war in which the Yankees imposed their imperialist and capitalistic will on the agrarian South, just as the English had done to the Irish and Scots—and as the Americans did the Indians and Mexicans in the name of Manifest Destiny. The Confederate Flag 543 Words 3 Pages The issue of the confederate flag has been an important cultural discussion point for some years now, but has recently taken on even greater importance in light of recent hate crimes in South Carolina, as well as rampant police brutality and shootings across the country. In Confederates in the Upper room, Horwitz obstructs his account into explicit areas, deciding to talk about his whole visit to an individual state in one segment before finishing off and proceeding onward to the following stop along his excursion. L, June 22, 1998, p. And he visited a town in Georgia, where the streets are named after Civil War generals both North and South, and that was founded specifically in the hope of reconciliation and the healing of old wounds. No matter how dark history gets, you know how things turn out, like some kind of god.

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Confederates In The Attic Chapter 10 Summary

confederates in the attic summary

Lots of interesting stories. They have reached the end of their stories. Horowitz also finds white hold outs, even in confederate museums and among the re-enactors. It takes place slightly more west, not so much on the coast, but still, in 2015-16, Horowitz found that not much had changed. Confederates in the Attic is a book, that given our current climate, demands to be acknowledged and analysed.


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Confederates In The Attic Book Summary, by Tony Horwitz

confederates in the attic summary

Horwitz, though not a native Southerner, seems to enjoy the region and its people. After returning to the US after living in another country, Horwitz and his wife moved into a house near the Blue Ridge Mountains. This book shows the war in a whole different perspective by focusing less on quantifying and stating the statistics of the civil war deaths. We must look at all opinions and come up with a platform where events like the Civil War don't continue to divide us as a country. He also recognizes, however, that much of the belief is a myth and that it has been used for despicable purposes.

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Confederates In The Attic Plot Overview

confederates in the attic summary

I would take the pad and turn it upside down, using the cardboard back as a cover, and the blank sides of the forms as pages. That is, a person who denies the pernicious effects of hundreds of years of race-based slavery, followed by a hundred-plus years of discriminatory laws and enforcement, is denying the issues that are happening today, before our eyes — and before the single glass eyes of our cellphones. The Wall Street Journal. 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. And today, we get the added bonus of NOT mowing each other down by the hundreds of thousands on backyard battlefields! The fact that I failed to note this in my first reading is embarrassing. Most of these people appear only once and are gone, but Hodge is the figure that holds the book together. You are alone, in a place that looks like it did 150 years ago.

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Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz

confederates in the attic summary

April 2, 1998, p. Some of the dwellings at roadside were hardly shacks. Since I'm reading this book several years after its writing, those political wars have only gotten nastier. But he finds them, to be sure. CIII, April 5, 1998, p.

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Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War Summary & Study Guide

confederates in the attic summary

Olger, waving to us. A handyman, Westendorff has a side interest of attempting to uncover old toilets to perceive what sorts of fortunes he can run over and compares himself to the great old barricade sprinters of the Common War. Too many blacks dismiss the war as meaningless to them or to their present existence. Like many of the contemporary Southerners he speaks to, his interest in the topic has been passed down through the generations. Horwitz is drawn there not because of Warren but because of a murder, the killing of a young local white, Michael Westerman, by a black teenager from the North who had been sent south to remove him from bad city influences.

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