Education
B.A. Princeton University; Ph.D., John Hopkins University
"Traditional historians, who tend to assume that history is driven by the pursuit of rational self-interest, often underestimate the role of irrational, unconscious forces in shaping events. History was once regarded as 'philosophy teaching by examples,' I view it as 'psychology teaching by examples'." Michael A. Burlingame
May Buckley Sadowski '19 Professor Emeritus of History
With Connecticut College: 1968-2001
Specialization:
- U.S. History
- The Civil War
- Abraham Lincoln
- Psychohistory
As a psychohistorian, Professor Burlingame tried to apply the insights of depth psychologists like Freud and Carl Jung to the study of the past. His view that history is "psychology teaching by examples" informed his writings and his teaching, especially his course on "Psychohistory and the American Presidency." He also taught a course on The Civil War and Reconstruction, a seminar on Abraham Lincoln, and "Eugene O'Neill and His America," with Professor Linda Herr of the theater studies department.
A former Woodrow Wilson Fellow and Fulbright Scholar, Professor Burlingame devoted his scholarly energies to investigating the life and times of Lincoln, about whom he has published six books. The first, titled The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln (University of Illinois Press, 1994), has been described by reviewers as "a revelation," "a triumph," "the most convincing portrait of Lincoln's personality to date," based on an "incredibly diverse range of sources," and "perhaps the most important piece of Lincoln biography" to appear in the last forty years. His second book, An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln (Southern Illinois University Press, 1996) won the Abraham Lincoln Association Award.
Professor Burlingame has completed work on six other books including the first installment of a multi-volume biography of Lincoln (John Hopkins University Press.) In 1997, he published Inside Lincoln's White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay (Southern Illinois University Press) In 1998, he published Lincoln Observed: Civil War Dispatches of Noah Brooks (Johns Hopkins University Press), Lincoln's Journalist: John Hay's Anonymous Writings for the Press 1860-1864 (Southern Illinois University Press) and an expanded edition of Walter B. Stevens' A Reporter's Lincoln (University of Nebraska Press.) He edited other books, including Ida Tarbell's interviews with people who knew Lincoln.
Burlingame is treasurer of the Connecticut Association of Scholars, an affiliate of the National Association of Scholars, which is devoted to the reform of higher education. He is also on the board of directors of the Abraham Lincoln Association (Springfield, IL), the Abraham Lincoln Institute of the Mid-Atlantic (Washington, DC) and The Historical Society. He also serves on the board of advisors for the Abraham Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College (Galesburg, IL.)
In 1997, he received an honorary degree from Lincoln Memorial University.
View the history department site.