A Civil Conversation: James McPherson and Louis Masur

Lincoln & the Legacy of Conflict Series
Program 1

On the eve of the 150^th anniversary of the assassination of President Lincoln, two eminent Civil War historians will discuss the cause of the war, the abolition of slavery, how the aftermath of the war weighed on Lincoln, and what the Civil War means to America today. Their conversation will spring, in part, from their new books, McPherson’s The War that Forged a Nation and Masur’s Lincoln’s Last Speech.

James M. McPherson is a renowned historian of the American Civil War, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He is the author of many works of history, including Battle Cry of Freedom, which won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize and has sold over half a million copies.

Louis P. Masur is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. He is the author of many books, including The Civil War: A Concise History and Lincoln's Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union. Masur’s essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times. 

Lincoln and the Legacy of Conflict Series

The MHS will commemorate the sesquicentennial of the end of the Civil War and the assassination of Pres. Abraham Lincoln with a series of programs. Renowned authors and historians will explore the war, the president, and the legacy this conflict has left. A Civil Conversation with James McPherson and Louis Masur is the first program in the series. Founders' Son: A Life of Abraham Lincoln with Richard Brookhiser will take place on Wednesday, 1 April. Mourning Lincoln with Martha Hodes will take place on Wednesday, 8 April. Mourning Lincoln & Racial Equality with John Stauffer will take place on Wednesday, 15 April.