Michael Burlingame, one of the nation’s foremost Lincoln scholars, is the author of Abraham Lincoln: A Life, a monumental two-volume biography that has been hailed as a definitive work. Awarded the prestigious Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize in 2010, the biography was recognized for significantly advancing public understanding of America’s 16th president. The Atlantic named it one of the five best books of the year, and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson described Burlingame as someone who “knows more about Lincoln than any other living person.”
Christopher Hitchens praised the biography as “magnificent,” noting that no review could fully capture the scope of its achievement. Drawing from decades of research, Burlingame paints an intimate, unvarnished portrait of Lincoln, combining scholarly rigor with deeply human insight.
A graduate of Phillips Academy Andover, Princeton, and Johns Hopkins, Burlingame taught at Connecticut College for over 30 years before becoming the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield. In addition to Abraham Lincoln: A Life, his recent works include An American Marriage: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd and The Black Man’s President: Abraham Lincoln, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Equality.
Through his writing and editorial work, Burlingame has made Lincoln’s world more accessible to scholars and general readers alike, offering new perspectives on one of America’s most enduring figures.
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