Eric Foner
Eric Foner has taught American history at Columbia University since 1982. The author of 22 books on American history, Foner has served as the president of the American Historical Association and as a historical consultant for the National Park Service, the Public Broadcasting Service and Walt Disney World. In 2011, Foner won the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes for his most recent work, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery
Books by Eric Foner
“It’s a brilliant book by one of the most brilliant historians writing about nineteenth century America. The Fiery Trial is a study of a subject that has been much debated over recent years, which is how fervently Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery and how he came to the determination to end slavery, after a life of not being so forward-leaning on the question.” Read more...
The Best Books on the American Civil War
Drew Gilpin Faust, Historian
The Story of American Freedom
by Eric Foner
I think liberals have a strong canon and in my own historical writing I’ve tried to suggest what that canon is or ought to be. I wrote a book called The Story of American Freedom, which, in a way, is a history of the origins of modern liberalism. It’s a history of social movements that have contributed to the expansion of liberty in our country, including abolitionism, feminism, populism and the labour movement. These movements form the foundations of modern liberalism.
As I argue in The Story of American Freedom, the idea of freedom is the central concept in American political culture. Yet the concept of freedom has changed over time – different groups attribute different meanings to freedom. Throughout our history, there have been conflicts over not only what freedom means but also who is entitled to freedom. Modern liberals adopted the cause of expanding freedom to groups who were denied its full benefit.
Interviews with Eric Foner
The best books on The Evolution of Liberalism, recommended by Eric Foner
Historian Eric Foner chooses five books illustrating how concepts of American liberalism have changed over the past 50 years, and about the tension that lies at the heart of liberalism today.
Interviews where books by Eric Foner were recommended
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1
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
by David McCullough -
2
Wilderness At Dawn: The Settling of the North American Continent
by Ted Morgan -
3
The Story of American Freedom
by Eric Foner -
4
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
by Drew Gilpin Faust -
5
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette
by Hampton Sides
The best books on American History, recommended by Brent Glass
The best books on American History, recommended by Brent Glass
Which are the best books on American history? Brent Glass, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the world’s largest museum devoted to telling the story of America, chooses five standout books in a crowded field.
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1
Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory
by David Blight -
2
The Fiery Trial
by Eric Foner -
3
Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South
by Stephanie McCurry -
4
Absalom, Absalom
by William Faulkner -
5
The Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
by Ulysses S Grant and Elizabeth Samet (editor), Mark Bramhall (narrator)
The Best Books on the American Civil War, recommended by Drew Gilpin Faust
The Best Books on the American Civil War, recommended by Drew Gilpin Faust
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” wrote William Faulkner. Here, Drew Gilpin Faust, a leading historian of the American Civil War and former President of Harvard, recommends the best books to read about the conflict between North and South that tore the United States apart from 1861 till 1865 – and beyond.
