In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863 [Hardcover]

Edward L. Ayers (Author)

Book Description

Series: Valley of the Shadow Project | Publication Date: September 2003

Many histories of the American Civil War tell of the triumph of the dynamic, free-labour North over the traditional, slave-based South, vindicating the freedom principles built on the nation's foundations. Edward L. Ayers tells a different story of the war on an intimate scale. He charts the descent into war in the Great Valleyt spanning Pennsylvania and Virginia. Connected by strong ties of every kind, the people of this borderland sought alternatives to secession and war. It came to their doorsteps in hunger, disease and death. It ends with the valley ravaged, Lincoln's support fragmenting and Confederate forces massing at Gettysburg.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two counties, one in Virginia and one in Pennsylvania, are united by the vast Shenandoah Valley, but divided by the Mason-Dixon line. As late as 1859, these border counties, and by extension their respective states, saw themselves not on opposite sides of a divided nation but as the historic and contemporary heart of a country where such forces as a shared history and a common language made civil war inconceivable. The inhabitants of both counties initially prided themselves on resisting provocation by fire-eaters in the far North and the deep South. Ironically, they eventually committed themselves fully, sacrificing blood and wealth unstintingly to a conflict few of them welcomed. That process, however, was by no means straightforward, as Ayers (The Promise of the New South) brilliantly shows. If Confederate supporters in Augusta County, Va., ultimately accepted slavery as the touchstone of their social order, they also insisted they were fighting for the right to be left alone, free of a Northern influence perceived as increasingly alien. Their counterparts in Pennsylvania's Franklin County went to war not to destroy slavery but to prevent the South from destroying the Union by leaving it. Emancipation grew from the contingencies of war-and not the least of these was the increasing determination of black Americans to take charge of their own destinies, thereby challenging at its roots the social contract established by the revolution of 1776. Ayers tells his complex story with a master's touch, shifting smoothly between North and South, and between the lesser worlds of his two counties and the wider events of the war that changed them both utterly. He pauses with Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania in 1863, just before the Battle of Gettysburg-a decision both intellectually and aesthetically satisfying. This volume lays the groundwork; we are left to anticipate the climax and the denouement to be presented in its successor.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Two towns--Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and Staunton, Virginia, at opposite ends of the Shenandoah Valley, itself bisected by the Mason-Dixon Line--are historian Ayers' settings for his exploration of how sectionalism burst into civil war. The cities' urbane citizens--lawyers, editors, preachers--thought of themselves as sane Unionists in the intensifying crisis that ensued from John Brown's raid of 1859, yet they became, with the onset of fighting at Fort Sumter in 1861, as uncompromising as abolitionists of the North or fire-eaters of the South. Complexity collapsed into simplicity overnight; local newspapers fulminated against the enemy's iniquities; and exulted or despaired, as the results of battles warranted, in the fates of local boys gone soldiering. Ayers unfolds this historical process with penetrating analysis and relevant quotations, emphasizing the anxiety, excitement, and misery that the war provoked. He suspends his narrative (pending a sequel) with Staunton lawyer and now Confederate general John Imboden occupying Chambersburg and enslaving any black person, fugitive or free, his men could capture. Certain to absorb the Civil War set, Ayers' comparison of two towns reverberates with the local manifestations of the war's origins and direction. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393057860
• ISBN-13: 978-0393057867
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #375,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life in time of war., December 14, 2003

By 

James W. Durney (Tampa Bay area) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863 (Hardcover)

This is the first book from The Valley of the Shadow Project and may become the classic Civil War home front book. Two counties, one in Pennsylvania one in Virginia were selected and life during the war closely documented. Very few of the people in this book are even minor players in the war, which is the books greatest strength. Without "important" figures, the story concentrates on what's in the newspapers, changes in prices and local problems, in other words the normal daily life of the people living in the counties.

An excellent introduction tells us about counties and the people free, slave, white, black, rich, middle class or poor. We learn how they make a living, farmers for the most part, what industry and jobs are open to them. How they learned of the events beyond the county and how they reacted to them. We are taken through the election of 1860 and into war.

We gain an understanding of a war that isn't generals and battles but separation, death and sadness. Battles are reported in terms of local men killed, wounded or missing and in letters that are printed in the paper or passed from house to house. Fear of the enemy army and invasion is very real and happens. Politics is very important and the divisions in the North contrast with the solidarity in the South. As Pennsylvania's Democrats and Republicans fight for power and over emancipation. While in Virginia, the papers report the problems as evidence the North's war effort is failing.

This is a book for the serious student of the war and for a person who wants to learn about life in America 140 years ago. This is one of the most informative books on the Civil War that I've read and recommend it to you.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic compare and contrast..., May 4, 2004

By 

Charles C. DiVincenti Jr. "Carlo" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863 (Hardcover)

Ayers offers a near flawless account of the initial years of the War for Southern Independence though a unique spotlight on two counties -Franklin (PA) and Augusta (VA). The "everyman" of each county is the focus of this tale -from the local newpaper editor to the local merchant to the nearby free-man-of-color. From the late 1850's to the opening of what would become the Gettysburg Campaign, Ayers examines, warts and all, the hopes, dreams and fears of Americans soon to be caught up in this dreadful conflict. Ayers is very adept at the many framing sequences which put the "smaller picture" of these respective counties into the "large" picture. This account is very reader friendly -Ayers assists the novice Civil War student with his framing sequences, yet those more versed in the history of the conflict will enjoy the micro-examination of Franklin County, PA, and Augusta County, VA. The focus is not Lee, or Grant, or Jackson -the interest is in the loves, the lives, and the sense of loss felt by the "little guy". This is not necessarily a story of war, but a story of "people". Well done, indeed.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Social history at its best, October 31, 2005

By 

Thomas W. Robinson (Dayton, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863 (Hardcover)

Ayers is a well respected writer of Southern history, but I had not read any of his works until I came across this one at a local bookstore. I was not disappointed. Ayers' writing style is very readable and entertaining. I am usually a slow reader, but I made my way through this book relatively quickly because it was so interesting.

The subject of the book are two bordering counties--one in Virginia and one in Pennsylvania. Ayers details the differing points of view of these counties as the sectional crisis unfold and as it devolves into Civil War. He uses countless letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, and other primary source materials that really bring this book to life. Ayers adds some of his own commentary, but so much of the book is primary sources that you really feel as if you just picked up a newspaper in 1859 or you are reading someone's diary, not a book. The book truly is social history at its best as it is well written, highly readable, and features some very interesting people. Highly recommended for casual students of history and Civil War buffs alike.