Book description
Edited by Edward L. Ayers, America's War is an anthology of Civil War
writing originally published between 1852 and 2008. Co-published by the
American Library Association and the National Endowment for the
Humanities, America's War was created in support of a national reading
and discussion program for libraries called “Let's Talk About It: Making
Sense of the American Civil War.” The selections in America's War
include works of historical fiction and interpretation, speeches,
diaries, memoirs, biographies, and short stories. Together, these
readings provide a glimpse of the vast sweep and profound breadth of
Americans' war among and against themselves, adding crucial voices to
our understanding of the war and its meaning. Edward L. Ayers assumed
the presidency of the University of Richmond in July, 2007. 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 ten 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. 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. 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. He currently serves as the national project scholar for “Let's
Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War,” a reading and
discussion program for public audiences, developed in cooperation with
the American Library Association's Public Programs Office, with funding
from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
