Synopses & Reviews
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. 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.
Review
Ayers unfolds this historical process with penetrating analysis and relevant quotations, emphasizing the anxiety, excitement, and misery...the war provoked. (Booklist starred review, Gilbert Taylor, 1 July 2003)
Review
A fantastic, glittering jewel of a book. (Civil War Book Review, Paul Christopher Anderson, 6 November 2003)
Review
This original and gracefully written work, based on exhaustive primary research, should be required reading for Civil War enthusiass and scholars alike. (Library Journal starred review, John Carver, 15 June 2003)
Review
Well researched and fast-paced. (News & Observer, John David Smith, 28 September 2003)