Our Fragile Freedoms
by Eric Foner
W.W. Norton and Company, 2025
[Publication date: September 2, 2025]
by Eric Foner
W.W. Norton and Company, 2025
[Publication date: September 2, 2025]
From one of the most acclaimed and influential historians of the United States, an insightful guide to our history and why it matters.
Eric Foner has done more to shape the public and professional understanding of American history than any other scholar. The preeminent historian of the Civil War era, Foner’s keynote has been American freedom and the recurring battles over its meanings and boundaries. His award-winning works show that freedom has been a birthright for some and a struggle for others, that rights gained can also be lost, and that they must always be tended with knowledge and vigilance. The present political moment makes the importance of these themes abundantly clear.
This collection of Foner’s recent reviews and commentaries demonstrates the range of his interests and expertise, running from slavery and antislavery, through the disunion and remaking of the United States in the nineteenth century, Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, and into our current politics. Each piece shows a master at work, melding historical knowledge and balanced judgment with crystalline prose. Foner takes up towering figures from Washington to Lincoln, Douglass, and Rosa Parks, pivotal events such as the Fugitive Slave Act and the Tulsa Race Massacre, and the fragility of constitutional guarantees to civil liberties, due process, and birthright citizenship, whether in times of war or peace. He also explores recent controversies over how to commemorate, and how to teach, our history.
REVIEWS:
Eric Foner has done more to shape the public and professional understanding of American history than any other scholar. The preeminent historian of the Civil War era, Foner’s keynote has been American freedom and the recurring battles over its meanings and boundaries. His award-winning works show that freedom has been a birthright for some and a struggle for others, that rights gained can also be lost, and that they must always be tended with knowledge and vigilance. The present political moment makes the importance of these themes abundantly clear.
This collection of Foner’s recent reviews and commentaries demonstrates the range of his interests and expertise, running from slavery and antislavery, through the disunion and remaking of the United States in the nineteenth century, Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, and into our current politics. Each piece shows a master at work, melding historical knowledge and balanced judgment with crystalline prose. Foner takes up towering figures from Washington to Lincoln, Douglass, and Rosa Parks, pivotal events such as the Fugitive Slave Act and the Tulsa Race Massacre, and the fragility of constitutional guarantees to civil liberties, due process, and birthright citizenship, whether in times of war or peace. He also explores recent controversies over how to commemorate, and how to teach, our history.
REVIEWS:
"Eric Foner’s essays, old and new, feel utterly fresh. With a rare combination of authority and generosity, he writes from deep conviction yet with a spirit of openness toward ideas and arguments with which he sharply disagrees. By illuminating the past in light of the present, he confirms his standing as the leading American historian of his generation."
― Andrew Delbanco, author of The War Before the War
"Our greatest historian, Eric Foner offers engaging, insightful, and sobering reflections on our contested history and imperiled republic. I would feel more confident about keeping our freedoms if every citizen could read Foner's calm and lucid reflections on our past, present, and future."
― Alan Taylor, author of American Civil Wars
Our Fragile Freedoms is a necessary read for our troubled times, but also a delightful read for anyone who savors the pleasure of seeing history come alive in the work of a contemporary master of the historical profession."
― Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of The Black Box
"Eric Foner's new collection is as fierce, brilliant, and insightful as all of his work. Unsentimental and clear-eyed, these essays are a reminder that even in bleak times, thinking about history can give us hope for the future."
― Kim Phillips-Fein, author of Fear City
"At a moment when the classroom is under threat from politicians insisting on 'pro-American' lesson plans, Foner’s lifetime of scholarship is the most powerful evidence as to why we need to keep engaging our past through honest and clear-eyed analysis. A tour-de-force showcasing the career of one of the most influential historians of our times."
― Julian E. Zelizer, author of In Defense of Partisanship
― Julian E. Zelizer, author of In Defense of Partisanship
"With characteristic rigor, empathy, and wisdom, Foner demonstrates why history is not merely a study of the past but a vital tool for navigating our present struggles for justice and equality. This book is a stirring call to action and a profound affirmation of our shared humanity."
― Elizabeth Hinton, author of America on Fire
― Elizabeth Hinton, author of America on Fire
"It is hard to imagine a subject more pressing today than the history of the country's 'fragile freedoms'―or to imagine a historian better equipped than Eric Foner to tell us what we need to know."
― Beverly Gage, author of G-Man
"A remarkable survey of American history and history writing, and a powerful set of reflections on the importance of historical study and thinking, Our Fragile Freedoms couldn't be more timely and essential. As much as any book it helps us recognize the centrality of history in our efforts to understand the present. And it demonstrates why Eric Foner is one of this country's greatest historians."
― Steven Hahn, author of Illiberal America
"Eric Foner is the foremost chronicler of our nation’s past. In this timely book, he reminds us that democracy and freedom have always been contested. An urgent call to continue our freedom struggles, this book is required reading for our times."
― Lisa McGirr, author of The War on Alcohol
"Eric Foner is that rare historian who makes history speak to important contemporary issues while maintaining the highest standards of historical scholarship. These essays―as readable as they are insightful―are a fitting capstone to Foner’s illustrious career."
― James Oakes, author of The Crooked Path to Abolition
― James Oakes, author of The Crooked Path to Abolition
"Whether this book is your introduction to Eric Foner or a reminder of the depth and breadth of his contributions to the study of U.S. history, you can find no better guide to American democracy."
― Kathleen DuVal, author of Native Nations
"Our Fragile Freedoms shows why Eric Foner is the ‘go to’ author for readers seeking incisive commentary steeped in deep historical knowledge about current and past controversies."
― Randall Kennedy, author of Say It Loud!
"No other historian has shaped our current understanding of the United States as much as Eric Foner. A must-read not only for scholars but also every American citizen."
― Manisha Sinha, author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic
― Manisha Sinha, author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Eric Foner's indelible works include the landmark history, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution; a bestselling study of Lincoln and slavery, The Fiery Trial, winner of the Pulitzer, Bancroft, and Lincoln Prizes; and an influential history of the Reconstruction amendments, The Second Founding. The DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, Foner continues to write frequently for The Nation and other publications.
The Story Of the League of Revolutionary Workers
by Jerome Scott and Walda Katz-Fishman
The University of Georgia Press, 2025
[Publication date: September 1, 2025]
