The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America by Edward L. Ayers

This book is a real tour-de-force. It compares the impact of the Civil War and emancipation in two valley counties about 150 miles apart on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line: Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania. The county seats are Staunton, Virginia and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.  The author, Edward L. Ayers, was born in the North Carolina mountains and raised in East Tennessee, the son of a textile mill worker and used car salesman who became a fifth grade teacher. Ayers graduated from the University of Tennessee Summa Cum Laude and received his masters and doctorate at Yale where he took the last class that C. Vann Woodward taught.  After a career as a history professor and administrator at the University of Virginia, he served as President of the University of Richmond from 2007 until 2015. President Obama bestowed the National Humanities Medal on  Ayers in 2013. This is the 5th book he has authored along with seven books he has edited. His previous book