A man working for wages his whole life is not really free. That is why Jefferson said, you have to own land. Southerners said, - and they weren't bei…

- Eric Foner

Whenever you think of Lincoln as a historian, in his own mind, he becomes the Great Emancipator. This is his role in history henceforth. He was an am…

- Eric Foner

Look, Mrs. McGillicuddy, it's not my fault your son jumped out a dorm room window on Christmas eve. I've written over fifty books as a Columbia profe…

- Eric Foner

For historians, hindsight can be a treacherous ally. Enabling us to trace the hidden patterns of past events, it beguiles us with the mirage of inevi…

- Eric Foner

Freedom has been privatized - it is how you dress, what your sexual orientation is, choosing your own life. That's fine. But that is not what Thomas …

- Eric Foner

A new future requires a new past.

- Eric Foner

If you are going to abolish slavery, that opens up all these other questions: what system of labor is going to replace slave labor? What system of ra…

- Eric Foner

Who owns history? Everyone and no one--which is why the study of the past is a constantly evolving, never-ending journey of discovery.

- Eric Foner

In the Shadow of Slavery covers two and a half centuries of black life in New York City, and skillfully interweaves the categories of race and class …

- Eric Foner