In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Apr. 15th, 2025 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerYears ago I read and really liked Edward L. Ayers’ The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America, so I was pleased to have a chance to read his earlier book In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863, not least because this solved the mystery of Ayers’ otherwise puzzling decision to start The Thin Light of Freedom smack dab in the middle of the war.
But either Ayers really grew as a historian between the two books, or I’ve gained a lot of Civil War knowledge since I read The Thin Light of Freedom, or possibly both. I found In the Presence of Mine Enemies much less interesting and insightful than The Thin Light of Freedom.
However, it did spark off a number of thoughts, none of which are things that the book exactly explores in itself, so this is not so much a review as a couple of things that it made me think about.
1. The beginning of a popular war apparently feels just terrific. I’ve read this sort of thing about the beginning of World War I, too (or America’s entry into World War I), where you’ve had months of lead-up, ages of aching tension, furious argument on all sides, and suddenly the war is declared and everything seems clean and clear and unanimous and everyone is running through the streets waving flags and singing patriotic songs and throwing tomatoes at the windows of the few old windbags who are muttering “This isn’t going to be as much fun as you think.”
This lasts until the first defeat (if that long), at which point everyone realizes that the war is indeed NOT going to be as fun as they think, and also all those political divisions that it seemed like the war had transcended are back! and more furious than ever! and somehow we have to deal with that while also fighting a war! Because of course you are still stuck with the war after the first euphoric glow wears off.
2. Every war is different, and presumably there have been wars where crusty old geezers send innocent young men to die for fun and profit, but in the Civil War at least the young men were wildly in favor of going to war while the old men were, overall, the ones going “But have we considered NOT going to war.”
I say this because there seems to be something of a canard that young men go to war because they have been duped by old ones, and in this case if they were duped by anyone it was by themselves and their own conviction that they could whip Those Dirty Whosits by Christmas.
But either Ayers really grew as a historian between the two books, or I’ve gained a lot of Civil War knowledge since I read The Thin Light of Freedom, or possibly both. I found In the Presence of Mine Enemies much less interesting and insightful than The Thin Light of Freedom.
However, it did spark off a number of thoughts, none of which are things that the book exactly explores in itself, so this is not so much a review as a couple of things that it made me think about.
1. The beginning of a popular war apparently feels just terrific. I’ve read this sort of thing about the beginning of World War I, too (or America’s entry into World War I), where you’ve had months of lead-up, ages of aching tension, furious argument on all sides, and suddenly the war is declared and everything seems clean and clear and unanimous and everyone is running through the streets waving flags and singing patriotic songs and throwing tomatoes at the windows of the few old windbags who are muttering “This isn’t going to be as much fun as you think.”
This lasts until the first defeat (if that long), at which point everyone realizes that the war is indeed NOT going to be as fun as they think, and also all those political divisions that it seemed like the war had transcended are back! and more furious than ever! and somehow we have to deal with that while also fighting a war! Because of course you are still stuck with the war after the first euphoric glow wears off.
2. Every war is different, and presumably there have been wars where crusty old geezers send innocent young men to die for fun and profit, but in the Civil War at least the young men were wildly in favor of going to war while the old men were, overall, the ones going “But have we considered NOT going to war.”
I say this because there seems to be something of a canard that young men go to war because they have been duped by old ones, and in this case if they were duped by anyone it was by themselves and their own conviction that they could whip Those Dirty Whosits by Christmas.
