Winchester Academy’s final fall series program will examine “Why Abraham Lincoln remains our greatest president.”

Dr. Brett Barker, associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County, will speak about Lincoln at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18, at the Waupaca Area Public Library.

His program’s title, “He is the best of us,” comes from a statement by William Seward, Lincoln’s secretary of state.

Barker reminds us that the Gettysburg Address was given 150 years ago this November, that the war was this nation’s greatest crisis. and that four years of Civil War threatened the nation’s future and left over 620,000 Americans dead.

He also says that in the midst of the maelstrom of the Civil War, our country found its greatest leader. It was Lincoln who guided the Union military effort, managed a tumultuous political system filled with in-fighting, intrigue and corruption, and all the while helped create a blueprint for the economic juggernaut that the U.S. would become after the war.

Ultimately successful in all these areas, according to Barker, Lincoln proved himself the greatest president, and did it with humanity, intelligence, and unsurpassed eloquence.

Barker has presented twice in the past to Winchester Academy audiences on Wisconsin’s involvement in the Civil War, and on the role of women in the Civil War.

Since achieving his doctorate in U.S. history from UW-Madison in 2001, Barker has been teaching American Indian history, Wisconsin history and Civil War history at UW-Marathon County, and upper-level courses in U.S. history for UW-Stevens Point. He is also director of the Marathon County K-8 History Teaching Alliance.

Winchester Academy programs are free and open to the public. Barker’s presentation is sponsored by Vance and Ann Buerger Linden.

Program expenses are funded through program sponsors and through gifts and donations from community members who support the Academy. Donations are tax deductible.

A series flyer announcing the winter-spring series of 2014 will be mailed in January. For more information visit website winchesteracademywaupaca.org or contact executive director Ann Buerger Linden at 715-258-2927.