Reg Ankrom

Reg Ankrom says Abraham Lincoln introduced him to Stephen A. Douglas. A newfound interest in Lincoln led to interest in the men and women who influenced him, Douglas among them. The discovery that Douglas landed in Jacksonville, Illinois, Ankrom's hometown, developed the interest that led to our author's first book, Stephen A. Douglas: The Political Apprenticeship, 1833-1843, the first of three he intends in his study of Douglas. Ankrom earned his bachelor's degree at Illinois College in Jacksonville, which as the oldest continuous college in Illinois was known to both Douglas and Lincoln. He earned his master's degree from the University of Kansas at Lawrence, where events stirred by Douglas jarred to action the spirit of Lincoln. Ankrom is a frequent speaker and lecturer on Douglas and Lincoln and antebellum America.