Confederates in the Attic

Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War

By: Tony Horwitz

Narrated by: Arthur Addison

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. The result is an adventure into the soul of the unvanquished South, where the ghosts of the Lost Cause are resurrected through ritual and remembrance.
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 new ones 'classrooms, courts, country bars' where the past and the present collide, often in explosive ways. Poignant and picaresque, haunting and hilarious, it speaks to anyone who has ever felt drawn to the mythic South and to the dark romance of the Civil War.

Critic reviews

"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."
--Roy Blount Jr., New York Times Book Review

"In this sparkling book Horwitz explores some of our culture's myths with the irreverent glee of a small boy hurling snowballs at a beaver hat. . . . An important contribution to understanding how echoes of the Civil War have never stopped."
--USA Today

Horwitz's chronicle of his odyssey through the nether and ethereal worlds of Confederatemania is by turns amusing, chilling, poignant, and always fascinating. He has found the Lost Cause and lived to tell the tale a wonderfully piquant tale of hard-core reenactors, Scarlett O'Hara look-alikes, and people who reshape Civil War history to suit the way they wish it had come out. If you want to know why the war isn't over yet in the South, read Confederates in the Attic to find out.
--James McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom

Humeroous but deadly serious account of the American schism

Compare this to some of the books published after Trump’s election such as JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy. Horowitz is a much more gifted writer who foretells the fracture that was exhibited in Trump’s Presidency. Perhaps Faulkner was correct about history never having receded. Entertaining and poignant. Well worth the read.

Good book

Very interesting read. A different take on then and now with lots of unique information.

Great listen

A great listen and well-researched critic on various viewpoints of the Civil War (aka War Between the States) and its impact on future generations. Very relevant given the importance of ongoing discussions about race, reparations, DEI programs, CRT, federalism, and other issues that can trace their roots back to the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.

Insightful read

like the author, I have always wondered why there are still Civil War reenactments. he threw himself into his question, not just the books but the real meaty centers of all things civil war. he reached some great insights and some scary, sad truths about how we view, and forget, important facts about our very young country's history. he says a lot of things that will incite and inspire but the clearest reason I see now is the one he gives: of all the wars the US has been part of, this is one of the very few we can actually visit and touch with our own hands, no matter where we live. Great book!

Well-written, illuminating, depressing

Other than a few time cues -- Arthur Ashe recently dying, a visit with Shelby Foote -- this books reads like it was written today. And not over twenty years ago. I gather every book about the South is, in some way, about the Civil War. But this one is overtly so. Horowitz tours battlegrounds and meets with people whose affiliation with the war goes beyond history buff level. Alas, the views some people have -- about the game being rigged against them in favor of other groups; and how they don't have to back up beliefs with evidence -- are depressing. I don't want to be political, but MAGA existed long before Trump ever thought of running for president.

It's depressing, but also important to know how many people in our country think. And this book does a great job of showing that.