James M. McPherson
Professor Emeritus, Princeton University, & winner of the Pulitzer Prize

One of today’s best-known American historians, Professor McPherson has achieved that rare combination of a spectacularly successful scholarly career and widespread popularity with the general public. He has written more than a dozen books, primarily on the American Civil War and Reconstruction. His most famous book, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, won the Pulitzer Prize in History for 1989. Wrote Amy Lifson of the National Endowment for the Humanities, "McPherson's book broke ground in combining the complexities of the war while maintaining the narrative that made it appealing to the American public. . . . Battle Cry of Freedom helped launch an unprecedented national renaissance of interest in the Civil War."

His first book, The Struggle for Equality: Abolitionists and the Negro in the Civil War and Reconstruction, won the Anisfield-Wolf Award in Race Relations for 1965. For Causes and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, won the Lincoln Prize for 1998. His most recent book is Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam 1862.

McPherson is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of American History at Princeton University. He holds a B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.