Michael F. Holt is the Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia, where he specializes in 19th Century and political history. He is the author of six books, including the award-winning The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party and By One Vote: The Disputed Presidential Election of 1876.
Holt earned his B.A. from Princeton University and his Ph.D. Johns Hopkins. He has held fellowships with the National Endowment for the Humanities (1976-77), the National Humanities Center (1987-88), and the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. In 2000 he was a finalist for the Lincoln Prize.