Michael A. Burlingame is an Americanhistorian noted for his works onAbraham Lincoln. He is theNaomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at theUniversity of Illinois Springfield.^[1][2] Burlingame has written or edited twenty books about Lincoln.^[3]

Burlingame was born inWashington, D.C., and graduated fromPhillips Academy inAndover, Massachusetts, in 1960.^[4] He studied atPrinceton University (BA 1964) where he was aWoodrow Wilson Fellow and aFulbright Scholar. He received a Ph.D. in history fromJohns Hopkins University in 1971.

Burlingame was a member of the history department atConnecticut College inNew London, Connecticut, from 1968 and until 2001.^[5] He joined the faculty of theUniversity of Illinois Springfield in 2009.

Burlingame is a renowned scholar on the life ofAbraham Lincoln. He authoredThe Inner World of Abraham Lincoln (1994) and the two-volumeAbraham Lincoln: A Life (2008). The former was said to have launched a new "'golden age' of Lincoln scholarship."^[6] The latter won the 2010Lincoln Prize, was a co-winner of the annual book prize awarded by theAbraham Lincoln Institute, and won the Russell P. Strange Book Award given annually by the Illinois State Historical Society for the best book on Illinois history. Burlingame has edited over a dozen volumes of Lincoln primary source materials.

Burlingame is a board member and officer of both theAbraham Lincoln Association andAbraham Lincoln Institute. In addition to his awards forAbraham Lincoln: A Life, he has received the Abraham Lincoln Association Book Prize (1996), the Lincoln Diploma of Honor from Lincoln Memorial University (1998), Honorable Mention for the Lincoln Prize, Gettysburg College (2001), and was inducted as a laureate ofThe Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the state's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 2009 as a Bicentennial Laureate.^[7]

Burlingame has charged several Lincoln scholars with plagiarism. In 2000, Burlingame submitted a review toThe Journal of American History alleging plagiarism inJohn C. Waugh's book,Reelecting Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency. In the same review, Burlingame also highlighted errors in citation and transcription inHarold Holzer's book,The Lincoln Mailbag: America Writes to the President, 1861-1896. Holzer responded by charging that Burlingame had "riven the Lincoln field, and made it unpleasant to contribute scholarship. He's theTorquemada of academic journalism."^[8] In 1993, and again in 2002, Burlingame was involved in theStephen B. Oates controversy, maintaining Oates plagiarized in his Lincoln biography,With Malice Toward None.^[9][10]

• The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln. University of Illinois Press. 1994.ISBN 978-0-252-06667-2.
• Michael Burlingame, ed. (1998) [1916]. Stevens, Walter B.,A Reporter's Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
• Michael Burlingame, and Ettlinger, John R. Turner, eds. (1999).Inside Lincoln's White House: The Complete Civil War Diary ofJohn Hay, Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN 978-0809322626
• Michael Burlingame, ed. (2000).With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and other Writings ofJohn G. Nicolay, 1860-1865, Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN 978-0809326839
• Michael Burlingame, ed. (2000) [1890].Stoddard, William O.,Inside the White House in War Times: Memoirs and Reports of Lincoln's Secretary, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
• Michael Burlingame, ed. (2002). Thomas, Benjamin P.,"Lincoln's Humor" and Other Essays, Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois PressISBN 978-0-252-02708-6
• Michael Burlingame, ed. (2002).Lincoln Observed: Civil War Dispatches ofNoah Brooks. Johns Hopkins University Press.ISBN 9780801869150
• Michael Burlingame, ed. (2003) [1922].Weik, Jesse W.,The Real Lincoln: A Portrait, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.ISBN 978-0803298224
• Michael Burlingame, ed. (2006).At Lincoln's Side: John Hay's Civil War Correspondence and Selected Writings. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN 978-0-8093-2711-9.
• Michael Burlingame, ed. (2007).Abraham Lincoln: The Observations ofJohn G. Nicolay andJohn Hay. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN 978-0-8093-3863-4. Includes excerpts fromAbraham Lincoln: A History.
• Lincoln and the Civil War. Concise Lincoln Library. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. 2011.ISBN 978-0-8093-3053-9.Review
• Michael Burlingame, ed. (2018).Sixteenth President-in-Waiting: Abraham Lincoln and the Springfield Dispatches ofHenry Villard, 1860–1861, Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN 978-0809336432
• Abraham Lincoln: A Life. Vol. 1. Johns Hopkins University Press. 2008.ISBN 978-0-8018-8993-6.
• Abraham Lincoln: A Life. Vol. 2. Johns Hopkins University Press. 2008.ISBN 978-1-4214-1058-6.
• Abraham Lincoln: A Life, edited and abridged by Jonathan W. White. Johns Hopkins University Press. 2023.ISBN 9781421445557
• An American Marriage: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln andMary Todd. Berkeley and Oakland, CA: Pegasus Books, 2021.ISBN 978-1643137346
• The Black Man's President: Abraham Lincoln, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Equality. Berkeley and Oakland, CA: Pegasus Books, 2021.ISBN 978-1643138138
• Michael Burlingame, ed. (2025).Whitney, Henry C.Lincoln the Citizen, February 12, 1809 to March 4, 1861: The Complete Version. University of Illinois Press.

• Official website
• Appearances onC-SPAN
• Manuscript edition ofAbraham Lincoln: A Life
• Texts of Burlingame's books published by Southern Illinois University Press
• Texts of Burlingame's books published by the University of Nebraska Press

• Living people
• 21st-century American historians
• 21st-century American male writers
• Connecticut College faculty
• University of Illinois at Springfield faculty
• Phillips Academy alumni
• Johns Hopkins University alumni
• Historians of the United States
• Lincoln Prize winners
• American male non-fiction writers

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• People appearing on C-SPAN
• Year of birth missing (living people)