Lincoln scholar and author Stephen Berry, described as a “rising star” among historians, will speak at three area colleges March 6-8. All three of his talks are free and open to the public.

On March 6, Berry will speak on “President Lincoln’s Private War: Mary Todd Lincoln and Her Siblings” at Monmouth College at 7 p.m. at Wells Theater. On March 7, he will give a lecture titled “Abraham Lincoln’s Cooper Union Address and the Future of American Slavery” at Western Illinois University at 5 p.m. in Room 307 of Morgan Hall. He will conclude his three-day tour on March 8 at Knox College with a 4 p.m. talk in the Alumni Room at Old Main. The title of his talk there will be “Divided We Fall: Lincoln, the Todd Family and the Civil War.”

The Gregory Professor of the Civil War Era at the University of Georgia, Berry is the author of “House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by War” (2008).