Eric Foner

Eric Foner is the DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University and is recognized for his expertise in the Civil War, Reconstruction, slavery, and 19th-century American history. Foner writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early Republican Party, African American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstruction, and historiography. According to the Open Syllabus Project, Foner is the most frequently cited author on college syllabi for history courses.

Foner began his academic journey at Columbia University, where a course on the Civil War and Reconstruction influenced his career path. Under the mentorship of Richard Hofstadter, Foner wrote a senior thesis on the Free Soil Party of 1848 and received the Kellett Fellowship to study at Oriel College, Oxford University. After graduating from Oxford, Foner returned to Columbia and earned his doctoral degree under Hofstadter's supervision. His first book, "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War," established him as a significant voice in American historical scholarship.

Foner's scholarship has contributed to a deeper understanding of the Civil War era. His book "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877" received the Bancroft, Parkman, and Los Angeles Times Book prizes and remains a standard history of the period. His subsequent book, "The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery," earned the Pulitzer Prize in history and a second Bancroft Prize. Foner also authored "Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad" and "Battles for Freedom: The Use and Abuse of American History." His work "The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution" explores the constitutional changes of the era.

Foner has appeared on television and radio programs including Charlie Rose, Book Notes, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Bill Moyers Journal, Fresh Air, and All Things Considered, as well as in historical documentaries on PBS and History Channel. He served as the on-camera historian for "Freedom: A History of Us" on PBS and was the chief historical advisor for the PBS documentary series on Reconstruction. Foner has also co-curated exhibitions such as "A House Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln" and "America's Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War."

Foner has served as president of the Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association, and Society of American Historians, and is among the few to have won the Bancroft and Pulitzer Prizes in the same year. He received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Roy Rosenzweig Distinguished Service Award from the Organization of American Historians. Former student Eric Holder, who served as Attorney General, has cited Foner's classes as highly influential. As a public intellectual, historian, and educator, Foner has shaped the understanding of the politics and ideas that defined the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, influencing both scholarly and public perspectives on American history.