Eric Foner

Eric Foner, a member of The Nation's editorial board, is the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, specializing in the Civil War and Reconstruction, slavery and nineteenth-century America. He received his BA from Columbia in 1963 and his PhD from Columbia in 1969. His publications include Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War (1970), Tom Paine and Revolutionary America (1976), Politics and Ideology in the Age of the Civil War (1980), Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (1983), Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (1988), Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction (1993), The Story of American Freedom (1998) and a survey textbook, Give Me Liberty! An American History (2004). In 2000, he served as President of the American Historical Association.

Currently

  • Our Lincoln

    January 7, 2009

    As a politician, Lincoln's greatness lay in his capacity for growth. Can Obama follow suit?

2008

  • Rooted in Reconstruction

    October 15, 2008

    Without the courage of the forgotten black legislators of the Reconstruction era, it would be impossible for a black man today to run for president.

  • Reconstruction Lessons

    January 17, 2008 Subscribe

    Advocates of African-Americans and women achieve more by working together than by fighting.

  • Battle Pieces

    January 10, 2008

    In This Republic of Suffering, historian Drew Gilpin Faust strips from the Civil War any purpose beyond massive slaughter.

2007

  • Reading Lincoln in Pakistan

    November 8, 2007

    Pervez Musharraf wraps himself in Lincoln's mantle, but no one is fooled.

  • Lincoln's Antiwar Record

    February 27, 2007 Subscribe

    Looking for a model lawmaker who called a President to account for launching a war on fabricated grounds? Consider Illinois Representative Abraham Lincoln's rebuke of James Polk.

  • The President and the Prophet

    January 18, 2007 Subscribe

    The Radical and the Republican traces the antislavery politics of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

2005

  • Rosa Parks: A Woman of Substance

    October 26, 2005

    Frozen in memory as the simple woman who helped to bring down segregation, Rosa Parks was far more complex and formidable than the popular imagination makes her out to be . A fuller picture of her life should make us also remember the many unsung heroes and heroines who came before and after her.

  • The American Political Tradition

    October 12, 2005

    The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln expertly balances the roots of a political revolution: the impact of a few key leaders and the lives and aspirations of ordinary citizens engaging with the government for the first time.

  • Bread, Roses and the Flood

    September 15, 2005 Subscribe

    The only bright spot in this man-made disaster has been the wave of public outrage at the Administration's failure to provide aid to the most vulnerable.

  • The Power of Outrage

    September 6, 2005

    A nation's conscience is stirred by the abandonment of the poor and the frail: This may be the one bright spot of the man-made disaster on the Gulf Coast. Eric Foner gives a history lesson.

  • 'Freedom' Belongs to All

    January 27, 2005 Subscribe

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Blogs

» The Beat

Jimmy Carter on "An Unnecessary War" | "The devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided."
John Nichols

» State of Change

Torture Prosecutor Tops 70,000 Questions for Obama on Change.Gov | We just put torture prosecutions on top of Change.gov -- will Obama answer before Eric Holder's nomination hearing?
Ari Melber

» Capitolism

Things You Learn in Washington | Why are congressional Democrats "negotiating" with Citigroup?
Christopher Hayes

» Altercation

Altercation 3.0 | Altercation takes up residence today at The Nation. In this incarnation, expect more music and movies and maybe a little less politics. But first, a word about Cass Sunstein.
Eric Alterman

» Editor's Cut

Obama Must Get Afghanistan Right | If he doesn't, the US will be stuck in another military catastrophe.
Katrina vanden Heuvel

» The Dreyfuss Report

Panetta? Ummmmm... Well..... | Could Obama have made a weirder choice for CIA director? Here's why Panetta is doomed.
Robert Dreyfuss

» Act Now!

Allow Media into Gaza | Israel is encouraging abuses by preventing foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip.
Peter Rothberg

» The Notion

Hard Times Without Studs | One of Terkel’s former book editors considers a Studs-less world.
Tom Engelhardt

» And Another Thing

Bill Ayers Whitewashes History, Again | The Weathermen were not just a bunch of idealistic young people.
Katha Pollitt