BOOK REVIEWS
Confederates In The Attic – Tony Horwitz (391 pages)
Summary: And you thought the past was lost when Confederate monuments across the country were torn down in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing. Though this account of “hardcore” Confederate reenactors took place primarily twenty years beforehand, it is proof that the past (in this case the tragic and extremely bloody combat between American northern and southern brothers that took place in the early to mid 1860s) may be literally shattered in its still, statuesque memoriae but reenacted just the same live and in black and white. Once the smoke clears and the shots cease ringing out, Civil War reenactors ditch their historic garb and return to the “real” world. On their way home, they may very well drive by standing or since-torn down monuments of their “heroes.” Nevertheless, weeks and months go by before they are right back it.
Locale: Southern states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama)
Characters: Hardcore Civil War Confederate reenactors.
Author Bio: Tony Horwitz, winner of the Pulitzer Prize; former writer for The Wall Street Journal and staff writer for The New Yorker.
Screenplay: No.
Salient Quote: “Farb” was the worst insult in the hardcore vocabulary. It referred to reenactors who approached the past with a lack of verisimilitude. The word’s etymology was obscure. (Young) guessed that “farb” was short for “far-be-it-from authentic” or possibly a respelling of “barf.”
Chance-That-I Read-The-Whole-Book-O-Meter: 10
Credit: Horwitz, Tony. Confederates In the Attic. Vintage Books, 1998.
The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam – Jerry Lembcke (216 pages)
Summary: Whether the saliva actually flew through the air and landed on a Vietnam veteran or not, you get the picture. When Vietnam War veterans returned home to their native soil, they faced another whole and different hostility entirely from what they left behind fighting against the Viet Cong. Anti-Vietnam War activists may not be pointing a gun at them, setting booby traps, or launching ballistic artillery from afar, but their ire which had transformed over that veteran’s absence from the U.S. had taken a life all its own. Perhaps this concept is the only possible thing which might make a said Vietnam vet question his excitement and previous dreams of returning “home.”
Locale: The United States of America (Vietnam War era)
Characters: American Vietnam War veterans; Vietnam era anti-war activists
Author Bio: Jerry Lembcke, associate professor of sociology at Holy Cross College.
Screenplay: No.
Salient Quote: “Myths are made of something, and in the homecoming experiences of Vietnam veterans we can find plenty of grist for mythmaking. To begin with, soldiers returning from Vietnam were not the most welcomed war veterans in history.”
Chance-That-I Read-The-Whole-Book-O-Meter: 10
Credit: Lembcke, Jerry. The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam. New York University Press, 1998.
Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography – Jimmy McDonough (786 pages)
Summary: You may not know that Neil Young’s nickname at one time was “Shakey,” a pointed and altogether derogatory moniker signifying Young’s early bouts with seizures, unfortunately both private and on stage while performing. Fans of rock and roll and Young would hardly know it today. This biography takes the reader from Young’s childhood, his budding career as a musician, his time with The Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and all the way to his equally successful career as a solo recording artist and live performer.
Locale: Toronto, Canada; the United States of America
Characters: Neil Young: Buffalo Springfield members; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young members; et al.
Author Bio: Jimmy McDonough is a biographer and journalist. He is best known for his biographies of Russ Meyer, Andy Milligan, Tammy Wynette, Al Green, and Neil Young.
Screenplay: No.
Salient Quote: “Cradled in a stand in front of the amps is the fuse for the dynamite, Young’s trademark ax – Old Black, a ’53 Gold Top Les Paul some knothead daubed with black paint eons ago. Old Black’s features include a Bigsby wang bar, which pulls strings and bends notes and a Firebird pickup so sensitive you can talk through it. It’s a demonic instrument.”
Chance-That-I Read-The-Whole-Book-O-Meter: 10
Credit: McDonough, Jimmy. Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography. Anchor Books, a Division of Random House, Inc., 2003.
The English Companion: The “How to…” Book – Patrick F. Bassett, Malcolm Moore (296 pages)
* a Compedium Of Many Pertinent And Noteworthy Items Of Necessity
Summary: A one-time veritable English “bible” for third through sixth form students at a Virginia boarding school, The English Companion takes a student completely and wholly through three major tenets of the study of the English language: Preparing for English; Writing Papers and Speaking; and Analysing Literature. For a further explanation, see the “Salient Quote” below.
Locale: Woodberry Forest, Virginia.
Characters: None.
Author Bio(s): Pat Bassett and Mac Moore, esteemed Masters of English in the English Department at Woodberry Forest School in Virginia.
Screenplay: No.
Salient Quote: Introduction: “The English Companion is a “How To…” book. Its basic premise may come as a shock to those students who operate under the assumption that English class is a time of respite and comic relief from the more sober aspects of disciplines such as math, science, and history that demand an accounting of acquired knowledge from the student. The Companion is designed to assist the student when he confronts an English program and a world that rigorously test his competence in writing, in speaking, and in analysis, his mastery of words, and his effectiveness in retrieving, organizing, and producing information. Thus, The Companion reflects a presupposition that there is a quantifiable set of knowledge that an English student needs to know, and The Companion presents guides to confronting that set of knowledge. With some fortitude, a sense of humor, patience, perseverance, and panache, the student may well master The Companion as a preliminary step to mastering the cosmos.”
Chance-That-I Read-The-Whole-Book-O-Meter: “10” as told to teacher; “5” as known by me
Credit: Bassett, Patrick F. and Moore, Mac. The English Companion: The “How To…” Book. English Department at Woodberry Forest School, 1979.