Pulitzer Prize-winning historian to deliver Lincoln Lecture at Law School

CHICAGO - Gordon S. Wood, Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University, will deliver the third annual Abraham Lincoln Lecture on Constitutional Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law on Wednesday, Oct. 10.

Held at the Law School at noon in Lincoln Hall, 357 E. Chicago Ave., Wood’s talk, “The Revolutionary Origins of the Civil War,” will pull from his prolific and impactful scholarship over the last five decades.

Wood was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for History for his 1993 book “The Radicalism of the American Revolution.” He is the author of a number of other books including, most recently “Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson” and “The Idea of America: Reflections on the Birth of the United States.”  

Of his work, the New York Times once wrote: “Gordon S. Wood is more than an American historian. He is almost an American institution. Of all the many teachers and writers of history in this Republic, few are held in such high esteem.” Wood was awarded the 2010 National Humanities Medal by President Obama.

The Abraham Lincoln Lecture on Constitutional Law was established in 2016 by Northwestern Law Professor Steven G. Calabresi. This lecture series honors President Lincoln’s extraordinary work as a lawyer and as the leader who ended slavery and recognizes his personal connection to the Law School.