Matthew Pinsker

Faculty

Get the books, and read and study them till, you understand them in their principal features; and that is the main thing. It is of no consequence to be in a large town while you are reading. I read at New-Salem, which never had three hundred people living in it. The books, and your capacity for understanding them, are just the same in all places.... Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing. - Abraham Lincoln, November 5, 1855

Matthew Pinsker holds the Brian Pohanka Chair of Civil War History at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and serves as Director of the House Divided Project, an innovative effort to build digital resources on the Civil War era.

Additional Background

Graduated from Harvard College and received a doctoral degree from the University of Oxford
A fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington DC
Previously held visiting fellowships at the U.S. Army War College and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia
Author of two books: Abraham Lincoln – a volume in the American Presidents Reference Series from Congressional Quarterly Press (2002) and Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers’ Home (Oxford University Press, 2003)
Matt’s next book is coming soon from W.W. Norton & Co., entitled, Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Leadership of Abraham Lincoln
Published widely in the history of American politics, contributing to academic journals as well as to newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today
Appears regularly on TV channels such as C-SPAN and A&E’s History
Sits on the advisory boards of several historic organizations - Ford’s Theatre Society, Gettysburg Foundation, National Civil War Museum, and President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home

Faculty

Our faculty is made up of instructors and guides, many of whom are licensed battlefield guides. Instructors and guides are chosen for each session based upon the identified goals of the group.