Historian Eric Foner to Speak at SUNY Purchase

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Eric Foner, one of the country’s most distinguished historians and author of the new book The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, gives the Burt Sachs Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 19. His talk sheds light on Lincoln’s views on slavery and how they evolved over the course of his life.  The free program takes place at the Performing Arts Center’s (PAC) Recital Hall.

In The Fiery Trial, Professor Foner, the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, cites Lincoln’s writings and speeches as he traces Lincoln’s own emancipation and the changes in his views on slavery. Foner takes us down Lincoln’s own path, from the perceptions of slavery he carried with him through early life, to his views as a member of the Illinois legislature and United States Congress, his emergence as a leader of the Republican party in the 1850s, and, finally, to his presidency. “Because of his broad-ranging knowledge of the 19th century, Foner is able to provide the most thorough and judicious account of Lincoln’s attitudes toward slavery that we have to date,” wrote The New York Times Book Review.  

In addition to The Fiery Trial, Professor Foner authored several award-winning books, including Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War (1970; reissued 1995), Tom Paine and Revolutionary America (1976), and Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877 (1988).  He is the winner of the Bancroft Prize, the Pulitzer Prize for History, and the Lincoln Prize, and is one of only two people to have served as president of three major professional organizations:  the Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association, and Society of American Historians.

There will be a Q & A with Professor Foner, followed by a book signing and reception in the Upper Lobby of the PAC.

The Burt Sachs Memorial Lecture is sponsored by the School of Humanities, with generous support from The Friends of Humanities and from contributions by the family and friends of Burt Sachs, long-time chair of the Friends of Humanities Steering Committee. Burt Sachs, who had a long and successful career in business, was passionate about the humanities and was a stalwart supporter of the School of Humanities at Purchase.