The Thin Light of Freedom
The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America
21 November 2017
Description
Amid the devastation of war rise the first stirrings of freedom in this absorbing, ground-level narrative by an acclaimed historian.
Virginia’s Great Valley, prosperous in peace, invited destruction in war. Voracious Union and Confederate armies ground up the valley, consuming crops, livestock, fences and human life. Pitched battles at Gettysburg, Lynchburg and Cedar Creek punctuated a cycle of vicious attacks and reprisals in which armies burned whole towns for retribution.
North of the Mason-Dixon line, free black families sent husbands and sons to fight with the US Colored Troops. In letters home, even as Lincoln commemorated the dead at Gettysburg, they spoke movingly of a war for emancipation. As defeat and the end of slavery descended on Virginia, with the drama of Reconstruction unfolding in Washington, the classrooms of the Freedmen’s Bureau schools spoke of a new society struggling to emerge. Here is history at its best: powerful, insightful and grounded in human detail.
Awards
Winner — Lincoln Prize, 2018
Shortlisted — Mark Lynton History Prize, 2018
Also By: Edward L. Ayers 
American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860
Hardback, 2023
A leading historian’s absorbing narrative of America’s formative period, when voices of dissent and innovation challenged the nation
What Caused the Civil War?: Reflections on the South and Southern History
E Book, 2016
“An extremely good writer, [Ayers] is well worth reading . . . on the South and Southern history.”—Stephen Sears, Boston Globe
In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1864
E Book, 2014
Winner of the Bancroft Prize: Through a gripping narrative based on massive new research, a leading historian reshapes our understanding of the Civil War.
What Caused the Civil War?: Reflections on the South and Southern History
Paperback, 2006
“An extremely good writer, [Ayers] is well worth reading . . . on the South and Southern history.”—Stephen Sears, Boston Globe
In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1864
Paperback, 2004
Winner of the Bancroft Prize: Through a gripping narrative based on massive new research, a leading historian reshapes our understanding of the Civil War.
