Join us on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, at 7 p.m. CT for an exciting conversation with author Dr. Matthew Pinsker on his latest book Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln.

An eye-opening portrait of Lincoln behind the scenes: Here is the career-long party politician whose brilliant coalition-building during the Civil War set the political foundation for emancipation and Union victory.

We know Lincoln as the eloquent, compassionate leader of a nation torn by civil war. But he had another, less visible side, equally central to his character and leadership: Lincoln was a master of party politics. Schooled as a Whig in the rough-and-tumble of Illinois electioneering in the 1830s, Lincoln skillfully navigated treacherous partisan crosscurrents and helped build the Republican party into a viable force. His decades of experience as a party leader proved invaluable to him as president and commander in chief during the Civil War.

Matthew Pinsker’s groundbreaking history draws extensively on Lincoln’s private correspondence to move beyond the marble icon and realize a flesh-and-blood character in Boss Lincoln. Behind closed doors, he was shrewd and insistent, capable of deft manipulation, blunt intimidation, or thoughtful argument as needed. As a decision-maker, he was attentive to detail but kept his own counsel and trusted his own acumen. His aides noted that in cabinet meetings, Lincoln had the final say, and “there is no cavil.” Devoted to elections, he kept careful, handwritten tallies of party turnout, even gifting one to Mary Todd, another partisan, during their courtship. His hymn to democracy at Gettysburg in 1863 carried a partisan message to the political leaders gathered there: The fight for the Union would take place at the polls as well as on the battlefield. Boss Lincoln often sacrificed candor for purpose. He used his White House meeting with Frederick Douglass in 1864, ostensibly about emancipation, to send a message to radicals about his need for their support.

With emancipation and the war’s outcome at stake, facing withering criticism from all sides, Lincoln won reelection by building a new political coalition through the Union party. Here was Boss Lincoln at his height, captured in absorbing detail in this indelible portrait of our greatest president.

Matthew Pinkser holds the Brian Pohanka Chair of Civil War History at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and serves as Director of the House Divided Project, one of the nation's most popular educational initiatives on nineteenth-century US history.  Matt has held visiting fellowships at the New America Foundation, U.S. Army War College, and the National Constitution Center.  He graduated from Harvard College and received a doctorate from the University of Oxford. He is the author of three books, including most recently, Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln (W.W. Norton, 2026), which the Wall Street Journal has labeled a "landmark book" and "Team of Rivals on steroids."  He also produces a popular Substack series called: What Would Lincoln Do?  Matt appears regularly on TV channels such as C-SPAN, PBS, and A&E’s History. His online series for the History Channel, called "Sound Smart," has become a mainstay in social studies classrooms.   Matt has been recognized by the Organization of American Historians (OAH) as a “Distinguished Lecturer.” And finally, he serves on the advisory boards of several historic organizations, such as Ford’s Theatre Society, Gettysburg Foundation, National Civil War Museum, President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home, and the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History & Democracy.

Register HERE.