Analysis Of Confederates In The Attic By Tony Horwitz

838 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

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

Show More
Related

  • Analysis of Braving the Fire by John B. Severance

    1253 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...as nice to know what the book was talking about when it mentioned places, people, and battles like Cold Harbor, the Battle of Manassas, the Wilderness, Sergeant Evans, General Grant, “Bobby Lee”, etc. I liked the way the author ended the book, the fact that both his friend, Hank, and his father died, made it more realistic. If I were in his shoes, I probably would’ve run away to the army also. It’s sad how their barn house was burned by the Confederates. He must’ve thought there to be a lot of glory in the war to have run away instead of do chores at the farm. I’m sure a lot of young men at that time wanted to be a part of the war just like Jem and Hank. I admire how Jem loved his father so much, and wanted to follow him to the war. He didn’t want to only go into the war for the glory like his friend Hank, but he believed that the slaves should be set free. His family had their share of slaves, but in the book they were treated well. The details of Jem’s daily life as a soldier are interwoven with vivid depictions of actual battles and historical figures in this taut, fast-paced story. And that’s what I like about this book. It brings alive the realities of war and its aftermath.

    Read More

  • Book Analysis of Stephen W. Sears’ Landscape Turned Red

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stephen W. Sears’ Landscape Turned Red is an account of political and military plans. Especially General Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign as well as the Battle of Antietam. Sears frames his work around the pending support of Great Britain and France to the Confederate cause due to cotton. Landscape Turned Red covers the battle of Antietam. It offers a vivid account of both armies, the soldiers and officers, and the bloody campaign. It analyzes the impact of Antietam on the Civil War as a whole. Sears' use of diaries, dispatches, and letters recreate the Battle of Antietam. You experience the battle not only from its leaders but also by its soldiers, both Union and Confederate. Sears attempts to examine the tactical moves of both Lee and General George McClellan. He also talks about the foolish decisions that troubled both the Federal and Confederate forces. Sears' use of traits, political pursuits, and tactical preferences, explain the thoughts of many. Some of these include President Lincoln, General Halleck and General McClellan, and their subordinates. Stephen Ward Sears is an American historian specializing in the American Civil War. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and an attendant to a journalism seminar at Radcliffe-Harvard. As an author he has concentrated on the military history of the American Civil War. Such as the battles and leaders of the Army of the Potomac. He was an editor for the Educational Department at American Heritage Publishing Company. American Heritage Publishing two of his ten books.

    Read More

  • Summary Of A Concise History Of Kentucky

    507 Words  | 2 Pages

    Elijah Marrs is a former slave who leads African-American troops into battle for the North and later speaks out for black rights. But later on, we don’t hear of his struggles after the war, in which he joined black union leagues in order to resist the white on black violence of Reconstruction Era Kentucky. Sam Hawkins, a coal miner, struggles to provide for his family in Depression-era eastern Kentucky, but there is no mention to the unionization struggles in 1930’s eastern Kentucky coalfields. From Louisville, Muhammad Ali refuses to enlist into the army. But he is justified by the Supreme Court, and then goes on to win his heavyweight title again. But the context of the anti-Vietnam war movement and black resistance is not mentioned here. Writer, Wendell Berry is called the “greatest living Kentucky writer”, in the text, and appears as a force who pleads with Kentuckians to protect their environment. But Berry's activism of the environment is grounded in an established grassroots movement that is not mentioned by the

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Michael F. Holt's The Political Divisions That Contributed To Civil War

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    Michael F. Holt, in his article The Political Divisions That Contributed to Civil War, argued the American Civil War was caused by the breakdown of the two-party political system, which generated a local loss of faith in the entire political system, justifying the creation of a new political system in the South. It was the agency of individuals attempting to solve their political grievances. While Bruce Levine, in his article The Economic Divisions That Contributed to Civil War, maintained unresolvable economic divisions between North and South made the Civil War inevitable, as the two different economies could not indefinitely coexist. While the conflicting economies of the North and the South played a major role in fashioning the war,

    Read More

  • Tony Horwitz Midnight Rising Sparknotes

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tony Horwitz’s book titled, “Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War” is about the crucial invasion in U.S. history that resulted the start of the Civil War and describes how John Brown helped plan the invasion of Virginia. At the start of the book, Horwitz begins with depicting John Brown’s early life including childhood to adulthood. John Brown was born on May 9, 1800 in the unfriendly peaks of Torrington, Connecticut. When he was eight years old, his mother passed away which made him go through a drastic trauma such as feeling nervous and awkward towards other women.

    Read More

  • Killer Angels Analysis

    629 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book opens with a Confederate spy as he made his way through the Union lines on the night of June 29, 1863 toward Confederate General Robert E. Lee bearing news of the Army of the Potomac as they crossed paths in the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The days after follow the various Union and Confederate regiments as they regained their wits about them after the previous Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Marching onward toward Gettysburg, where the most deciding battle of the Civil War would take place.

    Read More

  • Andersonville Prison

    951 Words  | 2 Pages

    Turner, Thomas R. 101 Things You Didn’t Know about the Civil War. Avon: Adams, 2007.

    Read More

  • Battle of Fort Sumter

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    McPherson, James M.; The Atlas of the Civil War. Macmillan: 15 Columbus Circle New York, NY. 1994.

    Read More

  • What They Fought For by James McPherson's

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    In James McPherson’s novel, What They Fought For, a variety of Civil War soldier documents are examined to show the diverse personal beliefs and motives for being involved in the war. McPherson’s sample, “is biased toward genuine fighting soldiers” (McPherson, 17) meaning he discusses what the ordinary soldier fought for. The Confederacy was often viewed as the favorable side because their life style relied on the war; Confederates surrounded their lives with practices like slavery and agriculture, and these practices were at stake during the war. On the other hand, Northerners fought to keep the country together. Although the Civil War was brutal, McPherson presents his research to show the dedication and patriotism of the soldiers that fought and died for a cause.

    Read More

  • Themes Of Redemption The Last Battle Of The Civil War

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    On Easter of 1873 the city of Colfax experienced what is considered to be the last, but bloodiest battle of the Civil War and the end of the Reconstruction Era. This devastating event is known as the Colfax Massacre. In hopes of intimidating African Americans to keep them from voting, the Colfax Massacre resulted in the deaths of hundreds of black men. All of the incidents that occurred in the narrative were a result of the racism whites had against African-Americans which makes this one of the major themes of the book. The prevalence of racism in Colfax leads to many violent outbreaks, thus making violence a reoccurring theme in the narrative. In Nicholas Lemann’s work, Redemption: The Last Battle of The Civil War, Lemann illustrates the themes of racism, and the

    Read More

  • A Stillness at Appomattox

    1344 Words  | 3 Pages

    “All up and down the lines the men blinked at one another, unable to realize that the hour they had waited for so long was actually at hand. There was a truce…” Bruce Catton’s Pulitzer prize winning book A Stillness at Appomattox chronicles the final year of the American Civil War. This book taught me a lot more about the Civil War than I ever learned through the public school system. Bruce Catton brought to life the real day to day life of the soldiers and the generals who led them into battle.

    Read More

  • Battle Of Gettysburg Research Paper

    1660 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Civil War is one of the defining wars in the history of this great nation. The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in American history, and a turning point in the four year war. At the time, Gettysburg was a small, quiet town generally unaffected by the war. General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate States of America and General George Meade of the Union converged in Gettysburg, and a conflict quickly arose. After three long days of battle the Union pulled away with a victory, though not an easy one. This essay will outline the six themes of history; in essence the who, what, when, where, why, and who cares of this infamous battle.

    Read More

  • Anti-Semitism In The Plot Against America By Philip Roth

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    While at the Lincoln Memorial, Philip’s father took issue when an elderly woman had compared Lincoln to Lindbergh. After a brief confrontation between Mr. Roth and a man in the same tour group as the woman, the man called Mr. Roth “a loudmouth Jew.” Even though this was a small instance of anti-Semitism, it was a foreshadowing of what was soon to come. This first occurrence of prejudice to the Roth family sets the theme of anti-Semitism for the rest of the novel. If there could be hate and discrimination in front of the Lincoln Memorial, a place honoring the same man who effectively freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation and one of the greatest symbols of equality and freedom in the United States, there could be discrimination

    Read More

  • Miss Gates Foreshadowing

    434 Words  | 1 Pages

    ‘“Hitler is the government,”’ said Miss Gates, and seizing the opportunity to make education dynamic… ”(328). The class discussion about Hitler is a peculiar moment in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Yet Harper Lee would never add this to the story without a purpose. Setting, diction, syntax, static characters and irony used in this passage creates Scout’s coming of age moment in realizing the prejudicial conception towards black people in Maycomb.

    Read More

  • Failure of Mission Command by General McClellan

    2308 Words  | 5 Pages

    Heidler, David Stephen, and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: a

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Confederates In The Attic By Tony Horwitz

Open Document