In his introduction, Tony Horwitz recalls the very unusual time when his sleep is crudely terminated by the fierce crackling gunfire (Horwitz, 1999). The sound emanated from stage civil war replication that was being recorded outside his house. Tony was once been a young child who used to spend substantial time perusing an old, huge book of civil conflict drawing, fascinated by images of Dixie combatants and Yankee in battle (Horwitz, 1999). Nonetheless, notwithstanding his long career as a war reporter, it was this impromptu meeting with the militants that instigated Tony focus on explore his nation’s persistent preoccupation with the deadly civil war that transpired between 1861 and 1865.

This piece of art entails an entertaining and enlightening content of the extensive journey that Tony made through the Confederate region of the United States to explore how people, and in particular the southerners still recall the conflict, and to make sense of that unusual and long-lasting confederate pleasure (Horwitz, 1999). During this journey, Tony gets to know several interesting individuals. His interaction with war enthusiast from all parts of the country stimulates the chronicle along. Among the civil war enthusiast is a renowned historian Foote Shelby, a female member of the daughters of the Confederacy who dedicated substantial time and efforts to trace Dixie servicemen in family trees and bands of the present-day ‘hard-core’ war commenters; factory laborers that dedicated most of their energy, time, and finances to commemorating the experiences of 19th century confederate servicemen as authentically as possible (Horwitz, 1999). Further, Tony introduces his audience to perhaps the most interesting men, who were perceived to be rough and ever-ready, exhibiting the kind of conditions they endured, including sewing their own uniform, trekking for extensive distances through wild regions in worn-out boots, and sleeping in open, extremely cold nights under light blankets.

Seemingly, race is not excluded in this post-civil war book. Tony does not encounter any civil conflict-enthusiastic blacks in his entire journey (Horwitz, 1999). Thus, he deduces via his multiple interactions with white Confederates who appreciate the remembrance of the confederacy that slavery has been entirely eliminated and forgotten in the prevalent perception of why the southerners abandoned the union and resolved to pick arms against it. Trading notes with park rangers, Tony recognizes that much of what he knows is more prejudiced than the actual facts and that historical misrepresentation at federally maintained combat zones are usually abetted by local keen promotion (Horwitz, 1999). Also, Tony discovers that the tension between past and present is more raw and divisive in Richmond than any other place in the Confederate heartland. Here, a proposition to respect and commemorate Arthur Ashe on Monument Avenue triggers protests from blacks and whites alike, exhibiting how much strong the memories of the civil war still evokes and how explicitly it disintegrated the nation along racial lines (Horwitz, 1999). The author fundamentally offers a comprehensive exposition on the role that memories of civil war contributes in the contemporary racial ferocity. He recalls the pretentious exhibition of the confederate flag in 1995 could have prompted one youthful man to murder his counterpart, and how the Klan is usually in the vicinity.

In this book, Tony exhibits that the memory of civil conflict is still fresh the minds of many citizens and it guides the way in which many individuals view themselves and the country they inhabit. I agree with Bruce J. Noble who notes that The Confederates in the Attic is an interesting and informative book that anyone pursuing the American Civil War and present-day U.S history, or memory and history should read (Noble, 2000). It similarly a magnificent resource for educators who want to instill knowledge and induce excitement among their students about the history of the U.S. and its persistent influence on the present. However, as Noble (2000) highlights, the book suggests limited prospects for racial harmony in the South. Racial discords that sometimes span to extreme violence can be noted in Horwitz’s work. The author presents an unflattering image of the South. Nevertheless, this is a book that gives great details on the American Civil War.