James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of

United States History The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...

at Princeton University. He received the 1989

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

for '' Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era''. McPherson was the president of the American Historical Association in 2003.

Early life and education

Born in Valley City, North Dakota, McPherson graduated from St. Peter High School, and he received his Bachelor of Arts at

Gustavus Adolphus College Gustavus Adolphus College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota. It was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans led by Eric Norelius and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavus gets its nam ...

(

St. Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

, Minnesota) in 1958 (from which he graduated ''magna cum laude''), and his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University in 1963 where he studied under

C. Vann Woodward Comer Vann Woodward (November 13, 1908 – December 17, 1999) was an American historian who focused primarily on the American South and race relations. He was long a supporter of the approach of Charles A. Beard, stressing the influence of un ...

Career

McPherson joined the faculty of Princeton in 1962. His works include ''The Struggle for Equality'', awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Award in 1965. In 1988, he published his Pulitzer-winning book, ''Battle Cry of Freedom''. His 1990 book, ''Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution'' argues that the emancipation of slaves amounts to a second American Revolution. McPherson's 1998 book, '' For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War'', received the Lincoln Prize. In 2002, he published both a scholarly book, ''Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam 1862,'' and a history of the American Civil War for children, ''Fields of Fury''. McPherson published ''This Mighty Scourge'' in 2007, a series of essays about the American Civil War. One essay describes the huge difficulty of negotiation when regime change is a war aim on either side of a conflict. "For at least the past two centuries, nations have usually found it harder to end a war than to start one. Americans learned that bitter lesson in Vietnam, and apparently having forgotten it, we're forced to learn it all over again in Iraq." One of McPherson's examples is the American Civil War, in which both the Union and the Confederacy sought regime change. It took four years to end the war. McPherson was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1991. In 1995, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member David McCullough. McPherson was named the 2000 Jefferson Lecturer in the humanities by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In making the announcement of McPherson's selection, NEH Chairman

William R. Ferris William Reynolds Ferris (born February 5, 1942) is an American author and scholar and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. With Judy Peiser he co-founded the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis, Tennessee; he was the fou ...

said:

James M. McPherson has helped millions of Americans better understand the meaning and legacy of the American Civil War. By establishing the highest standards for scholarship and public education about the Civil War and by providing leadership in the movement to protect the nation's battlefields, he has made an exceptional contribution to historical awareness in America.

In 2007, he was awarded the $100,000 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for lifetime achievement in military history and was the first recipient of the prize. In 2007, he was awarded the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize for lifetime achievement in military history given by the Society for Military History. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. In 2009, he was the co-winner of the Lincoln Prize for '' Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief''.

Personal life

McPherson is married and has one child.

Activism

McPherson is known for his outspokenness on contemporary issues and for his activism, such as his work on behalf of the preservation of Civil War battlefields. As president in 1993–1994 of

Protect Historic America Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although t ...

, he lobbied against the construction of a

Disney theme park Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...

near Manassas battlefield. He has also served on the boards of the Civil War Trust as well as the

Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites The American Battlefield Trust is a charitable organization (501(c)#501(c)(3), 501(c)(3)) whose primary focus is in the preservation of battlefields of the American Civil War, the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 ...

, a predecessor to the Civil War Trust. From 1990 to 1993, he sat on the

Civil War Sites Advisory Commission The American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) is a United States federal government program created by the Secretary of the Interior in 1991, with the aim of preserving historic battlefields in the United States. In 1996, Congress signed int ...

. Along with several other historians, McPherson signed a May 2009 petition asking U.S. President Barack Obama not to lay a wreath at the Confederate Monument Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. The petition stated: President Obama himself never addressed the issue. Instead, Obama sent a wreath not only to the Confederate Memorial but also instituted a new tradition of sending a presidential wreath to the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C. He also won the praise of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Filmography

References

External links

Barnes & Noble - Meet the WritersPrinceton University BiographyGeorge W. Bush and the Confederacy: Where Does He Stand?
'' Democracy Now'' November 3, 1999
Presentation
on the Civil War
''A Conversation with James McPherson'' Interview
at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was founded in 2003, and its spe ...

from October 5, 2007
Lifetime Literature Award Announcement
at the

Audio interview
with ''

National Review Online ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...

''
Interview by Kim Nagy
'' Wild River Review''
McPherson archive
from '' The New York Review of Books''
James M. McPherson ''No Peace without Victory, 1861–1865,'' AHA Presidential Address
Retrieved April 18, 2010 * *
Interview with McPherson on ''What They Fought For, 1861–1865''
'' Booknotes'' May 22, 1994
Interview with McPherson
''

In Depth ''In Depth'' is a program that airs monthly on C-SPAN 2 as part of their Book TV programming, and features a different writer each month. Each interview covers the breadth of that author's writing career, and incorporates viewer calls and e-mails ...

'' March 4, 2001 * "Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief
Lecture
at the

on March 13, 2008 * "150 Years After the Emancipation Proclamation
Discussion
at the

on September 28, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:McPherson, James M. 1936 births 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Gustavus Adolphus College alumni Historians of Abraham Lincoln Historians of the American Civil War Historians of the United States Johns Hopkins University alumni Living people MacArthur Fellows Members of the American Philosophical Society People from Valley City, North Dakota Presidents of the American Historical Association Princeton University faculty Pulitzer Prize for History winners Lincoln Prize winners Writers from New Jersey Writers from North Dakota