Mark E. Neely Jr.


Mark E. Neely Jr. is an American historian best known as an authority on the U.S. Civil War in general and Abraham Lincoln in particular.

Biography

Neely was born in Texas. He earned his BA in American Studies and PhD in history at Yale University in 1966 and 1973. Yale's Graduate School awarded him a Wilbur Cross Medal in 1995.
In 1971–1972 Neely was a visiting instructor at Iowa State University. In 1972 he was named director of the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a position he held for 20 years.
In 1992 Dr. Neely was named the John Francis Bannon Professor of History and American Studies at Saint Louis University. In 1998 he was named the McCabe Greer Professor of Civil War History at Pennsylvania State University.
Neely is best known for his 1991 book , which won both the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for History and the 1992 Bell I. Wiley Prize. In March 1991 he published an article in the magazine Civil War History entitled "Was the Civil War a Total War?", which is considered one of the top three most influential articles on the war written in the last half of the 20th Century.

Works