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Eric Foner

Bylines

Book
Our Fragile Freedoms: Essays
Eric Foner
2025
Book
The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution
Eric Foner
2019
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Related Excerpts

Collage of scenes celebrating the passage of the 15th amendment.

Eric Foner’s Story of American Freedom

Eric Foner has helped us better understand the ambiguous consequences of what were almost always only partial victories.
by Michael Kazin via The Nation
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on December 2, 2019
BackStory
Podcast
BackStory

Civil War 150th: The Road to War

This is the first of a three-part reflection on the Civil War at its sesquicentennial. It explores Lincoln’s election, secession fears, slavery’s role in the conflict, and how Americans have misjudged the war’s devastating impact.
March 24, 2011
Thaddeus Stevens

The Radicalism of Thaddeus Stevens

Thaddeus Stevens understood far better than most that fully uprooting slavery meant overthrowing the South’s economic system and challenging property rights.
by Matthew E. Stanley via Jacobin
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on March 1, 2021

A Disputed Election, a Constitutional Crisis, Polarisation… Welcome to 1876

Eric Foner sees parallels with our own time but warns that yesterday’s solution would be a disaster.
by Martin Pengelly via The Guardian on August 23, 2020
Military parade on the cover of Eric Foner's book "The Second Founding."

Racist Litter

A review of Eric Foner's The Second Founding.
by Randall Kennedy via London Review of Books
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on July 30, 2020

An Unfinished Revolution

A new three-part PBS documentary explores the failure of Reconstruction and the Redemption of the South.
by James Oakes via New York Review of Books
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on November 21, 2019
African American troops and people who escaped slavery gathered at an army camp to hear an announcement.

The Achievements, and Compromises, of Two Reconstruction-era Amendments

While they advanced African American rights, they had serious flaws, Eric Foner writes.
by John Fabian Witt via Washington Post
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on October 31, 2019

Why We Need a New Civil War Documentary

The success and brilliance of the new PBS series on Reconstruction is a reminder of the missed opportunity facing the nation.
by Keri Leigh Merritt via Smithsonian Magazine on April 23, 2019

Welcome to the Second Redemption

The accomplishments of the first black president will be erased by a man who rose to power on slandering him.
by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on November 10, 2016

A Topic Best Avoided

After the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln faced the issue of sorting out a nation divided over the issue of freed slaves. But what were his views on it?
by Nicholas Guyatt via London Review of Books
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on December 1, 2011
Bust of Thomas Paine

Tom Paine’s Fight

The pamphleteer’s insistence that America live up to its revolutionary vows still rings true 250 years later.
by John Nichols via The Nation
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on June 9, 2026
The "We The People" of the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

No Right Is Ever Safe – But Progress Is Possible

The outrageous assault on birthright citizenship should prompt us to reflect on the fragility of democratic progress - and our own responsibility to defend it.
by Thomas Zimmer via Democracy Americana on April 4, 2026
Enslaved Africans on a dock, having disembarked a ship guarded by their captors.

Looking Back at 1619 in 2019–2021, and Beyond

1619 Project reignited debate over slavery’s origins, exposing tensions between continuity vs change in U.S. history and competing “origin stories.”
by David Waldstreicher via Reviews In American History
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on March 16, 2026
Illustration showing Black education, skilled work, and military service, as results of the 15th amendment.
partner

The Fifteenth Amendment: Annotated

The brevity of the Fifteenth Amendment of the US Constitution belies its impact on American voting rights.
by Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on October 24, 2025
Constitutional convention painting blurred as if being spun in circles.

Remake America

If we want democracy to survive, we need a vision that’s going to be more compelling than the one the authoritarians are offering.
by Aziz Rana, Osita Nwanevu via The Baffler
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on August 19, 2025
A collage of the United States Constitution, seal, and a hand holding two small American flags.

The Attack on Birthright Citizenship Is a Big Test for the Constitution

Does the text mean what it plainly says?
by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on January 22, 2025
Kamala Harris stands in front of a crowd of voters holidng "Freedom" signs.

Kamala Harris’s “Freedom” Campaign

Democrats’ years-long efforts to reclaim the word are cresting in this year’s Presidential race.
by Peter Slevin via The New Yorker
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on August 23, 2024
Book cover of "The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920."

Expanding the Boundaries of Reconstruction: Abolitionist Democracy from 1865-1919

Sinha enlarges the temporal boundaries students are accustomed to by covering the end of the 19th century into the Progressive era with the 19th Amendment.
by Erik J. Chaput, Russell J. DeSimone via Commonplace on July 16, 2024
W.E.B. Du Bois

When Did Black Voters Shift to Democrats? Earlier Than You Might Think

A look at how and why African Americans first started to abandon the GOP for the Democratic Party.
by Blake Wilson via Retropolis
This publication restricts nonsubscriber access to some or all of its articles.
on June 30, 2024
A photograph of Billie Holiday singing.

The Perfectionist Tradition

The African American perfectionists offered “faith” instead of “hope”—emphasizing the struggle to realize a vision of justice.
by William P. Jones via Dissent on February 6, 2024
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