Noted historian and scholar Harold Holzer, a leading authority on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era, has been awarded this year’s Rye Free Reading Room Mayor’s Award.

In an interview with the library’s director, Chris Shoemaker, on Feb. 15 when he received the honor, Holzer ranged widely through key subjects in his latest book: “Brought Forth on This Continent-Abraham Lincoln and Immigration.”

The library’s mayor’s award “celebrates the literary legacy of Rye and recognizes a local individual for significant contributions to advancing the Literary Arts.”  

Holzer, winner of the 2015 Gilder-Lehrman Lincoln Prize, was a Rye resident for many years before recently moving back to New York City. He received the Mayor’s Award during the library’s annual meeting, which coincided with the publication of his new book.

In his interview with Shoemaker and in his book, Holzer gave examples of how Lincoln evolved on immigration, just as he did on the issues of Black freedom and rights.

“In the three decades before the Civil War, some 10 million foreign born people settled in the United States, forever altering the nation’s demographics, culture, and perhaps most significantly, voting patterns,” he wrote. Holzer noted that by far the largest number of immigrants to the U.S. came from Ireland, driven by famine, followed by Germany. 

As Holzer wrote in his book, “The Civil War could not have been won without Lincoln’s leadership, but it could not have been fought without the immigrant soldiers who served and, by the tens of thousands, died that the ‘nation might live.’”

Early in his book, Holzer acknowledged, “While this book will fault Lincoln for too often, and for too long, dallying with deplorable nativists for political advantage, it will also acknowledge one of his signal moral achievements:  maintaining and expressing consistent revulsion for the hatred of Catholics and foreigners….” 

At the library meeting, Holzer also observed that before Lincoln became the “Great Emancipator,” he supported the American Colonization Society’s program of sending free Blacks to Africa, if they voluntarily chose to go. In Holzer’s view, it was another example of Lincoln’s canny ability to gain the political support he needed from time to time.

Although written in an engaging style, Holzer’s book is scholarly, containing copious notes and an extensive bibliography for those interested in digging deeper. As shown on the back cover, Holzer’s latest book has garnered great praise from such distinguished historians as Jon Meacham, Doris Kearns Goodwin, James M. McPherson, and Eric Foner.

Holzer has authored, co-authored, or edited 56 books, and written more than 600 articles and reviews for both popular magazines and scholarly journals. 

With immigration a major issue in this year’s presidential election, the timing of Holzer’s book publication was brilliantly planned. Copies of the book are available for purchase at Arcade Bookstore in downtown Rye.

Paul Hicks, the author of this article, was the recipient of the Mayor’s Award in 2021.