2008 Lincoln Symposium, Feb. 11-12, Springfield, IL

The Abraham Lincoln Association has announced the lineup for the 2008 Lincoln Symposium and, I must say, it is quite impressive!

This year, the event has been expanded to two days. As always, however, the program remains free of charge and is open to the public. Here is the lineup:

Monday, February 11, 2008, 1-4 pm, Old State Capitol in Springfield:

Jean H. Baker, "Finding Abe: The Elusive Mr. Lincoln"

Jean H. Baker is Elizabeth Todd Professor of History at Goucher College. A specialist in nineteenth century political and cultural history, Baker is best known for her innovative look at cultural politics, Affairs of Party, and her definitive biography, Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. She wrote the introduction to C. A. Tripp's The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln. Her current interest in in exploring the suffragist movement resulting in Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists.

Mark E. Neely, Jr., "A Life in Politics: Lincoln and the American Party Systems"

Mark E. Neely, Jr., is McCabe-Greer Professor of Civil War History at Pennsylvania State University. A prolific writer on Lincoln and the Civil War era, Neely is best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties. His recent research has explored party organization and behavior in the Civil War, as reflected in The Union Divided: Party Conflict in the Civil War North and The Boundaries of American Political Culture in the Civil War Era.

Douglas L. Wilson, "Lincoln's Rhetoric"

Douglas L. Wilson taught English and American Literature for 33 years at Knox College, where he is now co-director of the Lincoln Studies Center. His work on Abraham Lincoln has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, American Heritage, Time, and The American Scholar. He has written or edited six books on Lincoln, including three in which he collaborated with Rodney O. Davis—Herndon’s Informants: Letters and Interviews about Abraham Lincoln, Herndon’s Lincoln, and The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (forthcoming). Two of his books, Honor’s Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln’s Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words, won both the Abraham Lincoln Institute Prize and the Lincoln Prize.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008, 1-4 pm, Old State Capitol in Springfield:

Brian R. Dirck, "Abraham Lincoln's Ethic of Distance"

Brian R. Dirck is an Associate Professor of History at Anderson University. His special areas of interest are Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War era, and American political and legal history. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Lincoln and Davis: Imagining America, 1809-1865, and Lincoln the Lawyer. He is currently working on a study of Lincoln and American race relations, which will be published sometime in 2009. Dirk is the publisher of the informative A. Lincoln Blog (http://alincolnblog.blogspot.com/) containing commentary on Lincoln appearances in contemporary media as well as historical controversies.

Brooks D. Simpson, "Abraham Lincoln: Commander-in-Chief"

Brooks D. Simpson is Professor of History and Humanities at Arizona State University. He is author of several books on the Civil War and Reconstruction era including Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868, The Political Education of Henry Adams, America’s Civil War, The Reconstruction Presidents, and Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865. Simpson has edited a volume of Abraham Lincoln’s letters and speeches, a volume of letters of advice to Andrew Johnson, and a volume of William T. Sherman’s letters. He is currently working on the second and final volume of his biography of Ulysses S. Grant.

Michael Vorenberg, "Lincoln the Citizen--Or Lincoln the Anti-Citizen?"

Michael Vorenberg is an Associate Professor of History at Brown University. His interests are in the intersection of three topics: Civil War and Reconstruction; Legal and Constitutional History; and Slavery, Emancipation, and Race. His first book, Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment, was widely acclaimed. His current book project is Reconstructing the People: The Invention of Citizenship During the American Civil War.