https://www.edwardayers.com/current-projects-gallery daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859643670-RPF377Q75QWVOIPMJ1F0/Episode+1.jpg Current projects gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859643670-RPF377Q75QWVOIPMJ1F0/Episode+1.jpg Current projects gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859644015-FFUWZ9NKOMIWOO3GEWDD/Episode+2.jpg Current projects gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486842512853-O1YWB10UTUYH2LTMCAG9/bunk-trans-logo-black.png Current projects gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859645034-92FIPCI99VU6H0CLZGR5/Episode+3.jpg Current projects gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859645291-PH2S1SXYGQGWROWKFLOH/Episode+4.jpg Current projects gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859646217-DACGBLDAPQAUY7QOZG8V/Episode+5.jpg Current projects gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1580490800153-WD4IKC5FEPKJA2MIAIF9/192956872.png Current projects gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1690916331580-RY5VB6TVL465GEPNW4YJ/Visions+jacket.png Current projects gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486842512853-O1YWB10UTUYH2LTMCAG9/bunk-trans-logo-black.png Current projects gallery https://www.edwardayers.com/books-gallery daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1690916331580-RY5VB6TVL465GEPNW4YJ/Visions+jacket.png Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1690916331580-RY5VB6TVL465GEPNW4YJ/Visions+jacket.png Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1690916331580-RY5VB6TVL465GEPNW4YJ/Visions+jacket.png Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1588702168981-FZH6ENPLGRMUFTHXTPZ6/Southern+Journey+book+cover+by+Ed+Ayers+high+resolution.jpg Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844497036-SPKZYALSGQDC4S0VE2UH/Thn+Light+cover.jpeg Books gallery - The Thin Light of Freedom: Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America This book tells the story of the American Civil War, emancipation, and Reconstruction from Gettysburg through the ratification of the 15th Amendment. It puts the reader in the middle of the action, on the ground and day by day, on the battlefield and on the home front, capturing the suspense and uncertainty of those years. The narrative focuses on a diverse cast of characters from a Northern community and a Southern community, one in Pennsylvania and one in Virginia, both in the Great Valley that cuts across the Mason Dixon Line. Soldiers from the two counties fought in the defining battles of the Eastern Theater of the war and their homes and farms were burned in raids by invading enemy troops. Though the two communities shared common soil, climate, crops, ethnicities, political cultures, and religious faiths, one fundamental difference divided them: slavery. About a quarter of the Virginia county was enslaved, a proportion characteristic of the Confederacy as a whole, and slavery’s presence shaped all the fundamental decisions made by the white people of the county. African American people’s position and experiences occupy center stage throughout, from enslavement to enlistment, from being property to owning property, from being the object of politics to voting for themselves. Thanks to a remarkable array of sources gathered in a pioneering digital archive, the Valley of the Shadow, this story can be told with a range, detail, and immediacy seen in no previous book on the Civil War or Reconstruction. The book completes a story begun in In the Presence of Mine Enemies, published by W.W. Norton in 2003, telling the story of the great American crisis from 1859 through 1870. This book is for people who don’t know they’re interested in the Civil War and for those who think they know all they need to know about the subject but will be surprised. My goal is for the book to attract the audiences who have enjoyed Shelby Foote’s Civil War trilogy and James McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom, both of which offer overviews of the war in traditional formats and interpretations. Unlike those books, mine extends deep into the social order to include black people and white, women and men, civilians and soldiers, and I hope to reach readers interested in that more inclusive cast of characters. My story offers stirring accounts of military events but goes beyond them into homes, camps, and political rallies. Unlike previous popular books on the war, too, mine reaches beyond Appomattox into the consequences of the war and emancipation through Reconstruction, topics of continuing resonance and importance. In this regard, my book complements another classic, Eric Foner’s Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, though it ties the war and Reconstruction together more tightly and offers a ground-level narrative that makes those years more comprehensible. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1580489083684-YWXMFCXZBT6EZUIZC831/thin_light_lincoln_prize.png Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844721696-0PK66VF121J29EFO9P9M/Books-Presence.jpg Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844721637-HH59M2FLDPF8K4CZJ0HI/Books-AW.jpg Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844958591-NB9LJZ2DKWCQYZ7ZFDA3/Books-WCTCW.jpg Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486940200477-7FDUIRZDP9WIC8ERVFMO/Books-Promise2.jpg Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486845066132-2VWI234ISPNCIE0W51LQ/Books-Oxford.jpg Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844721842-P4WTDHYRM5ES1UTTTSVO/Books-SC.jpg Books gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844721886-ZGOJLYW8WPW1Z1LFANTT/Books-Vengeance.jpg Books gallery https://www.edwardayers.com/public-history-video-gallery daily 0.75 2023-08-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1510082625705-EK1107BDJI4Q56PTBMR2/image-asset.jpeg Public History video gallery - "The Thin Light of Freedom" adapted by the American Civil War Museum https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1510082625705-EK1107BDJI4Q56PTBMR2/image-asset.jpeg Public History video gallery - "The Thin Light of Freedom" adapted by the American Civil War Museum https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1499776446964-F63LI9RKVPYELE36W13Y/image-asset.jpeg Public History video gallery - The Roots of Segregation in Virginia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1499776603924-0XVDLZME7DS5X7J5JZRA/image-asset.jpeg Public History video gallery - What Caused the Civil War? https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/5964c5a4be659459b41cb7c2/5964c5bef7d1ffc4d386e478/1499776440459/ Public History video gallery https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1499776630639-KCLQ4Z5TC5BWDDINAVUK/image-asset.jpeg Public History video gallery - TEDxRVA: Getting our Bearings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1691419556878-M4DBD7T434S1UEMAIS1U/image-asset.jpeg Public History video gallery - National Humanities Center, "Reclaiming Richmond" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1691419670027-6NQMXPNNU16EPXR7TNPB/image-asset.jpeg Public History video gallery - Apple TV+, The Evolution of Abraham Lincoln's Thinking https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1691419704530-0LYYXX32PUY01PY37KWU/image-asset.jpeg Public History video gallery - Gilder Lehrman, Book Talk - Southern Journey: The Migrations of the American South, 1790-2020 https://www.edwardayers.com/new-gallery daily 0.75 2017-11-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1510090932940-SHEXRNIRA1S0RGECKMIE/21462802_10157259031199988_1229587299287187488_n.jpg Recent Appearances - Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1510090932940-SHEXRNIRA1S0RGECKMIE/21462802_10157259031199988_1229587299287187488_n.jpg Recent Appearances - Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1510090976784-2U8TVEPXAM5G46DY2KEB/ncc.jpg Recent Appearances - National Constitution Center https://www.edwardayers.com/presidential-address daily 0.75 2018-05-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1525227979787-XNSLHCRUBWBST3Y5TQFQ/image-asset.jpeg Presidential Address - 2018 OAH Presidential Address | "Everyone Their Own Historian" Historian Edward L. Ayers served as President of the Organization of American Historians during the 2017-18 term. Watch his Presidential Address delivered at the OAH Annual Meeting in April 2018. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1525227979787-XNSLHCRUBWBST3Y5TQFQ/image-asset.jpeg Presidential Address - 2018 OAH Presidential Address | "Everyone Their Own Historian" Historian Edward L. Ayers served as President of the Organization of American Historians during the 2017-18 term. Watch his Presidential Address delivered at the OAH Annual Meeting in April 2018. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/5ae921b803ce640346c7e3f5/5ae921c7ddff699eb7e0b87e/1525227975394/ Presidential Address https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1525227975784-JO156IS2925B124895XV/image-asset.jpeg Presidential Address - 2018 OAH Presidential Address | "Everyone Their Own Historian" https://www.edwardayers.com/welcome daily 1.0 2023-08-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1487781915644-1QYPB4MM35II3EHURJ26/Ed+Ayers+color+compressed.jpg Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/2f982879-0aa7-47a6-8b30-24cdb6ba63c1/Ayers+exterior+copy.jpg Welcome Photo by Avery Meredith https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859643670-RPF377Q75QWVOIPMJ1F0/Episode+1.jpg Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859644015-FFUWZ9NKOMIWOO3GEWDD/Episode+2.jpg Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859645034-92FIPCI99VU6H0CLZGR5/Episode+3.jpg Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859645291-PH2S1SXYGQGWROWKFLOH/Episode+4.jpg Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1771859646217-DACGBLDAPQAUY7QOZG8V/Episode+5.jpg Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1580490800153-WD4IKC5FEPKJA2MIAIF9/192956872.png Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486842512853-O1YWB10UTUYH2LTMCAG9/bunk-trans-logo-black.png Welcome https://www.edwardayers.com/about daily 0.75 2023-08-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1487783101052-0BBF2Z0D7Z0HCGIQ0QKI/Ed+Ayers+color+compressed.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486831088562-EE8RKVC65IFQL1BC1GGG/image-asset.jpeg About https://www.edwardayers.com/books daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1487783176955-4RHPZBBGZ40B6XUFTVF8/Ed+Ayers+color+compressed.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1690916331580-RY5VB6TVL465GEPNW4YJ/Visions+jacket.png Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1588702168981-FZH6ENPLGRMUFTHXTPZ6/Southern+Journey+book+cover+by+Ed+Ayers+high+resolution.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1580489083684-YWXMFCXZBT6EZUIZC831/thin_light_lincoln_prize.png Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844721696-0PK66VF121J29EFO9P9M/Books-Presence.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844721637-HH59M2FLDPF8K4CZJ0HI/Books-AW.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844958591-NB9LJZ2DKWCQYZ7ZFDA3/Books-WCTCW.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486940200477-7FDUIRZDP9WIC8ERVFMO/Books-Promise2.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486845066132-2VWI234ISPNCIE0W51LQ/Books-Oxford.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844721842-P4WTDHYRM5ES1UTTTSVO/Books-SC.jpg Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486844721886-ZGOJLYW8WPW1Z1LFANTT/Books-Vengeance.jpg Books https://www.edwardayers.com/higher-education daily 0.75 2023-08-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1487784563560-199QPONJ41VLHNT8ZZLV/Ed+Ayers+color+compressed.jpg Higher Education https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486999203208-0MGAS6JELKUQW5SLZPQ5/image-asset.png Higher Education https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486999225701-8L4Q0LCBL5SQNO0SEP7K/image-asset.png Higher Education https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486999244855-6UD8ZLJGF80P7HL6SIRD/image-asset.png Higher Education https://www.edwardayers.com/books-the-thin-light-of-freedom daily 0.75 2020-01-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1580489046293-8VTVVIG0CTBBKYL33GD3/thin_light_lincoln_prize.png Books: The Thin Light of Freedom - Forthcoming from W.W. Norton, fall 2017. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1510090932940-SHEXRNIRA1S0RGECKMIE/21462802_10157259031199988_1229587299287187488_n.jpg Books: The Thin Light of Freedom - Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1510090976784-2U8TVEPXAM5G46DY2KEB/ncc.jpg Books: The Thin Light of Freedom - National Constitution Center https://www.edwardayers.com/books-the-oxford-book-of-the-american-south daily 0.75 2017-02-14 https://www.edwardayers.com/books-americas-war daily 0.75 2017-02-14 https://www.edwardayers.com/books-the-promise-of-the-new-south daily 0.75 2017-02-14 https://www.edwardayers.com/books-what-caused-the-civil-war daily 0.75 2017-02-14 https://www.edwardayers.com/books-vengeance-and-justice daily 0.75 2017-02-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486995750150-EK79FVWBOSUGC7KK4A76/image-asset.jpeg Books: Vengeance and Justice https://www.edwardayers.com/contact daily 0.75 2020-05-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1487784580531-GD8PYG97A2FXJG9U3HQG/Ed+Ayers+color+compressed.jpg Contact https://www.edwardayers.com/books-southern-crossing daily 0.75 2017-02-14 https://www.edwardayers.com/public-history daily 0.75 2023-10-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1487783535209-YF3BAE94WQII1YBM4DNO/public-history-compressed.jpg Public History https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/29f9fe5e-dae6-4392-94d7-0adc3dee4a38/Future_of_Americas_Past_thumbnail_PBS.jpg Public History https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1487000670480-14L5DGORV6Z75G03VOC2/image-asset.png Public History https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1532533766495-CQ4TFZ32D0XXI1QCNVZW/Ed-Ayers-National-Governors-Association.jpg Public History - "I vote for innovation and openness. I vote for teachers. And I vote for a renewed dedication to our past as the only true way to our future." —Ed Ayers at the 2018 Summer Meeting of the National Governors Assocation https://www.edwardayers.com/books-in-the-presence-of-mine-enemies daily 0.75 2017-02-14 https://www.edwardayers.com/digital-scholarship daily 0.75 2023-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1487783318316-W1CGNIP1APGR8G49K8UO/DSL-globe.jpg Digital Scholarship https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/35b16255-5777-405a-be77-36e9793fc362/Bunk+Color+Logo.png Digital Scholarship - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1582211791421-O214L6LN2H9CC6LGD2HJ/NAH_logo_stacked_blue.png Digital Scholarship https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1487772901939-0CN7F762B855MXD1GJLN/image-asset.jpeg Digital Scholarship https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/6ab98033-952a-49fd-af32-e3884c1fdc87/southern+journey+storymap.png Digital Scholarship - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1487772375605-I5U9EKF7HL62HOP4KPKC/image-asset.png Digital Scholarship https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/582f22f1-41fb-47b6-b926-370f51c6dc6a/valley+of+the+shadow.png Digital Scholarship https://www.edwardayers.com/higher-education-university-of-richmond daily 0.75 2017-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1486999554676-FD36A2ZR7RH5LOQFIQ97/image-asset.png Higher Education: University of Richmond https://www.edwardayers.com/books-southern-journey daily 0.75 2020-12-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1588702168981-FZH6ENPLGRMUFTHXTPZ6/Southern+Journey+book+cover+by+Ed+Ayers+high+resolution.jpg Books: Southern Journey https://www.edwardayers.com/endorsements-books-american-visions-the-united-states-18001860 daily 0.75 2024-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1690916331580-RY5VB6TVL465GEPNW4YJ/Visions+jacket.png Endorsements: Books: American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860 https://www.edwardayers.com/books-american-visions daily 0.75 2024-01-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1690916331580-RY5VB6TVL465GEPNW4YJ/Visions+jacket.png Books: American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860 https://www.edwardayers.com/reviews-books-american-visions-the-united-states-18001860-copy daily 0.75 2024-07-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5626501be4b0e89b63f21995/1690916331580-RY5VB6TVL465GEPNW4YJ/Visions+jacket.png Reviews: Books: American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860 (Copy)