Confederates In The Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War - Tony Horwitz

[Bern]

A road trip through a near-contemporary USA (it was published in 1998) that would appeal to readers of travel books by Paul Theroux, Bill Bryson and even Michael Palin.

Like them, the author is able to map deep fissures in the national psyche - north versus south, rich versus poor, black versus white - by letting some ordinary and extraordinary people tell their story. Truth is stranger than fiction and often funnier.

Even if you don't have a particular interest in the Civil War, this book will enlighten and entertain. Good holiday reading.

[Jane B]

I enjoyed this book too - it is an entertaining look at the north versus the south in the USA and how the Civil War still colours the way the states view each other.