In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863

New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2004. 4th Printing. Trade Paperback. Very Good. 5x1x8. Signed by author. Fourth printing. Signed by author on dedication page with inscription, "For David, fellow student of the past, with best wishes." Minor wear to corners. Binding tight and square, pages clean, bright, and unmarked. 2004 Trade Paperback. xxi, 471 pp. 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.