Ebook: In the presence of mine enemies: war in the heart of America, 1859-1863
Author: Ayers Edward L
- Tags: Amerikaanse burgeroorlog, Sezessionskrieg, War--Causes, History, United States -- History -- Civil War 1861-1865, Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- History -- Civil War 1861-1865, Pennsylvania -- History -- Civil War 1861-1865, Virginia -- History -- Civil War 1861-1865, Franklin County (Pa.) -- History -- 19th century, Augusta County (Va.) -- History -- 19th century, United States -- History -- Causes -- Civil War 1861-1865, Pennsylvania, Virginia, War -- Causes, Pennsylvania -- Franklin Count
- Series: The valley of the shadow project
- Year: 2003
- Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
- City: Augusta County (Va.);Franklin County (Pa.);New York etc;Pennsylvania;Franklin County;Shenandoah Rive
- Edition: 1st ed
- Language: English
- epub
Winner of the Bancroft Prize: Through a gripping narrative based on massive new research, a leading historian reshapes our understanding of the Civil War.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...