Richard Carwardine wins the 2026 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize

The RAI extends its warmest congratulations to Rhodes Professor Emeritus and RAI Distinguished Fellow Richard Carwardine for winning the prestigious Lincoln Prize for 2026 for his book Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Union (Knopf). The prize is awarded annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History for the book that best enhances the public understanding of Lincoln or the Civil War Era. Richard’s book is a tour de force that locates the driving force of Civil War-era Unionism in a powerful religious nationalism. Richard launched Righteous Strife at the RAI last year. This is the second time he has won the Lincoln Prize. The first occasion, in 2004, was for his biography of Lincoln.