War between Neighbors: The Coming of the Civil War

Edward L. Ayers is Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia where he is also the Hugh P. Kelly Professor of History. Here he looks at the Civil War’s impact on the lives of people in two communities divided by the Mason-Dixon line, based on his book In the Presence of Mine Enemies, which was awarded the 2004 Bancroft Prize.