tonight it's my honor to join you to present the 2020 lincoln prize on behalf of nick gilder and lou man. established in 1990 the gilder lehrman lincoln prize is awarded annually for the finest scholarly work in english on abraham lincoln, the american civil war soldier or the american civil war hero. tonight the 2020 lincoln prize is awarded to elizabeth varon for her exceptional book "armies of deliverance" a new history of the civil war. liz is one of the leading historians of the civil war era and we are very fortunate to have her leadership and intellect at the nau center. it had an interest in the study of the civil war since i was a young boy. all started with civil war battlefield tours on family trips. as a young undergraduate starting at uva in the fall of 1964 i was surprised when registering for classes that there were no history classes on this 19th century america. over the years i've made up my mind that if i ever had the capacity i would work to establish a 19 system -- i'm very proud of the work of the nau center at uva in the world that it's played in the study of th