| In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America 1859-1863 Contributor(s): Ayers, Edward L. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0393326012 ISBN-13: 9780393326017 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company OUR PRICE: $17.96 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2004 Annotation: Ayers gives readers the Civil War on an intimate scale. His masterful narrative conveys the coming of war and its bloody encounters through the eyes of those who sacrificed, fought, and died. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877) |
| Dewey: 973.7 |
| LCCN: 2002015989 |
| Series: Valley of the Shadow Project |
| Physical Information: 1.17" H x 5.62" W x 8.2" (0.98 lbs) 472 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Geographic Orientation - Pennsylvania - Geographic Orientation - Virginia - Topical - Civil War |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Our standard Civil War histories tell a reassuring story of the triumph, in an inevitable conflict, of the dynamic, free-labor North over the traditional, slave-based South, vindicating the freedom principles built into the nation's foundations. But at the time, on the borderlands of Pennsylvania and Virginia, no one expected war, and no one knew how it would turn out. The one certainty was that any war between the states would be fought in their fields and streets. Edward L. Ayers gives us a different Civil War, built on an intimate scale. He charts the descent into war in the Great Valley spanning Pennsylvania and Virginia. Connected by strong ties of every kind, including the tendrils of slavery, the people of this borderland sought alternatives to secession and war. When none remained, they took up war with startling intensity. As this book relays with a vivid immediacy, it came to their doorsteps in hunger, disease, and measureless death. Ayers's Civil War emerges from the lives of everyday people as well as those who helped shape history--John Brown and Frederick Douglass, Lincoln, Jackson, and Lee. His story ends with the valley ravaged, Lincoln's support fragmenting, and Confederate forces massing for a battle at Gettysburg. |
Contributor Bio(s): Ayers, Edward L.: - Edward L. Ayers's The Thin Light of Freedom completes his prize-winning history of the Civil War and its aftermath in the Great Valley that began with In the Presence of Mine Enemies. Ayers' superb history has been awarded the Bancroft Prize, the Lincoln Prize, and the Avery O. Craven Award of the Organization of American Historians. A recipient of the National Humanities Medal from President Obama, Ayers is the Tucker-Boatwright Professor of the Humanities and president emeritus of the University of Richmond. |