America on the Eve of the Civil War

by Edward L. Ayers (Editor), Carolyn R. Martin (Editor)

"This remarkable publication provides a captivating and brilliantly executed series of conversations among seventeen most impressive historians. These participants in a daylong conference focusing on the extraordinary years leading to the Civil War provide an incredible range of historical information that is both educational and exciting. Here is an opportunity to draw on a lively exchange between a substantial number of knowledgeable and entertaining scholars."―James Oliver Horton, author of Landmarks of African American History

Genres: Civil War

147 pages, Hardcover

First published August 27, 2010

About the author

Edward 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

Reviews

[Miles Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of panels held at a conference in Richmond designed to begin commemorations of the 150th Anniversary of the US Civil War. Worth reading, largely because it features some of the best historians of this era speaking candidly and unscripted. They're pithy, clever, and honest about how they view the United States in the late 1850s. Ed Ayers's clever format, which made participants reference only events that occurred in 1859 and earlier, was especially innovative.

[Matthew William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! The historians gathered are all household names and extremely engaging. Dr. Ayers is amazing!!