Analysis Of Confederates In The Attic By Tony Horwitz

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Recommended: American civil war reconstruction of the south

If I were to summarize my experiences reading Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz, I’d say that they challenged by basic understanding of history. The author and narrator, Tony Horwitz, recounts his time researching the American Civil War through a his witty experiences. The book follows Horwitz’s journey across much of the South and traditionally Confederate areas. Horwitz’s initial goal was to explore the resounding Southern interest in a war from the 19th Century. As he ventures on his quest for answers, Horwitz meets Robert Lee Hodge, a Confederate “hardcore” reenactor, whom Horwitz befriends and joins on a journey visiting historical monuments and battlefields across eastern America. The book’s fifteen chapters are divided by Horwitz’s …show more content…

Horwitz’s journey initially leads him to various historical events and locations in the Carolinas, such as Lee-Jackson Day in North Carolina, Fort Sumter in South Carolina, a Union Soldier monument in Kingstree, South Carolina. At each location, Horwitz sets the tone by detailing the history of the location and the people he meets on his travels in a very descriptive, yet nonchalant manner. His tangential experiences set the story in motion and captivates the reader. Horwitz’s developments in Kingstree intrigued me especially, considering my proximity to such historic locations. Much of Horwitz’s experiences were shrouded in mystery, which he details to a great extent. After his experiences in the Carolinas, Horwitz journeyed to the border of Kentucky and Tennessee, a hotbed of racial tensions over the recent Michael Westerman shooting. Horwitz lengthily discusses the polarization of the views in the locations he visits and begins to compare them to the locations he previously visited. Next Horwitz journeys to various battle sites, meeting with famed historian Shelby Foote in the

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