richard striner

A specialist in intellectual history who writes for general audiences, Richard Striner chose history as his field because the scope of its material is vast.

Since his interests were wide-ranging, the study of history would give him the chance to let his curiosity flourish.

His work is unique because it spans so many fields.  But the principle that guides him is “outside-the-box” thinking.

Striner is a maverick who identifies himself as a political independent and an activist.  He opens up new vistas.  He begins with dissent:  he challenges notions that are widely accepted and reveals how weak they really are.  Then he offers new and different ways of thinking — ideas that make sense because they work.

As a Lincoln scholar, he challenged the debate between those who view Lincoln as idealistic and those who view him as a crafty politician by revealing that Lincoln was both of these things.  His new Lincoln biography is one of the best:  Summoned to Glory:  The Audacious Life of Abraham Lincoln.

Striner brings a new clarity — a new insight — to everything he studies.   He has challenged conventional thinking in one field after another.

Presidential and political history, public affairs, education policy, economics, the study of film, and historic preservation:  all of these fields have been changed by the work of Richard Striner.