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The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War - The Eve of War
Through searchable censuses, newspapers, diaries, military records, maps, images, and other sources this program tells the story of the Civil War as seen by the people of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and Augusta County, Virginia. Details week by week and household by household, the differences and commonalities of the North and South.Examines the Civil War from the perspective of two communities, separated by only a few hundred miles, but on opposite sides of the conflict
103 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2000
27 people want to read
About the author
Edward L. Ayers
107 books48 followersEdward Ayers is President Emeritus of the University of Richmond, where he now serves as Tucker-Boatwright Professor of the Humanities. Previously Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia, where he began teaching in 1980, Ayers was named the National Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2003.
A historian of the American South, Ayers has written and edited 10 books. The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Civil War in the Heart of America won the Bancroft Prize for distinguished writing in American history and the Beveridge Prize for the best book in English on the history of the Americas since 1492. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2013.
A pioneer in digital history, Ayers created "The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War," a website that has attracted millions of users and won major prizes in the teaching of history. He serves as co-editor of the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States at the University of Richmond's Digital Scholarship Lab and is a co-host of BackStory with the American History Guys, a nationally syndicated radio show and podcast.
Ayers has received a presidential appointment to the National Council on the Humanities, served as a Fulbright professor in the Netherlands, and been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
A historian of the American South, Ayers has written and edited 10 books. The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Civil War in the Heart of America won the Bancroft Prize for distinguished writing in American history and the Beveridge Prize for the best book in English on the history of the Americas since 1492. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2013.
A pioneer in digital history, Ayers created "The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War," a website that has attracted millions of users and won major prizes in the teaching of history. He serves as co-editor of the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States at the University of Richmond's Digital Scholarship Lab and is a co-host of BackStory with the American History Guys, a nationally syndicated radio show and podcast.
Ayers has received a presidential appointment to the National Council on the Humanities, served as a Fulbright professor in the Netherlands, and been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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October 8, 2020
Quotable:
Early 1861, words of a young southern man, " We seem to be on the very eve of Civil War - upon the very brink of destruction. It seems that the prosperity of America is about to end. Her sun seems to be setting in clouds and darkness - ruin - ruin - ruin! stares us in the face. But I have never believed that this union is to be disolved; and I do not believe it now. . . We have become the wonder and pride of the world and now shall we become a 'proverb and a reproach' a scorn and a bye-word?"
The people of Agusta (VA) and Franklin (PA), like so many people in the young nation, found themselves hating people who lived not far away, spoke the same language, worshiped at the same churches, and claimed the same political legacy and Founding Fathers.
On the Founding Fathers - Abraham Lincoln "Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, or none but Anglo-Saxon white men, were entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence, and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began." Lincoln did not believe in intellectual or social equality between blacks and whites and wouold not grant black men the right to intermarry with whites, serve on juries, or vote; but he did believe that black men had the right no to be slaves.
Early 1861, words of a young southern man, " We seem to be on the very eve of Civil War - upon the very brink of destruction. It seems that the prosperity of America is about to end. Her sun seems to be setting in clouds and darkness - ruin - ruin - ruin! stares us in the face. But I have never believed that this union is to be disolved; and I do not believe it now. . . We have become the wonder and pride of the world and now shall we become a 'proverb and a reproach' a scorn and a bye-word?"
The people of Agusta (VA) and Franklin (PA), like so many people in the young nation, found themselves hating people who lived not far away, spoke the same language, worshiped at the same churches, and claimed the same political legacy and Founding Fathers.
On the Founding Fathers - Abraham Lincoln "Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, or none but Anglo-Saxon white men, were entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence, and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began." Lincoln did not believe in intellectual or social equality between blacks and whites and wouold not grant black men the right to intermarry with whites, serve on juries, or vote; but he did believe that black men had the right no to be slaves.
Displaying 1 of 1 review