James B. Conroy is the author of OUR ONE COMMON COUNTRY: Abraham Lincoln and the Hampton Roads Peace Conference of 1865, published by Lyons Press in 2014. In a starred review, Kirkus called Our One Common Country “a brilliant account of the doomed effort to end the Civil War through diplomacy.” Publisher’s Weekly praised its “fascinating insight into the war’s major players.” The leading Lincoln historian Harold Holzer said “Conroy shows that it is possible to write exciting prose with scholarly integrity intact.” Bob Schieffer of CBS News called him “a terrific writer.” The book resulted in Conroy’s election as a fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and he is now at work on a second book, Lincoln’s White House. Enhanced by a striking collection of computer-colorized Civil War photography that brings the past to life, Conroy has made presentations on OUR ONE COMMON COUNTRY at the Museum of the Confederacy, Harvard Law School, the Boston Athenaeum, and many other venues.

In addition to his historical research and writing, Conroy has practiced law as a commercial litigator in Boston for 33 years. He earned his law degree, magna cum laude, at Georgetown after receiving a B.A. degree from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in international affairs from George Washington University. He has taught at the Suffolk University School of Law as an adjunct faculty member and has been named a “Massachusetts Super Lawyer,” a peer-generated designation, for many consecutive years.

Before joining the bar, Conroy served as Press Secretary for the United States Senate Committee on the Budget and wrote speeches delivered by its successive Chairmen, Senator Edmund S. Muskie (D. Me.) and Senator Ernest F. Hollings (D. S. C.) to the Senate, the National Press Club, and many other distinguished audiences. Conroy subsequently served as Administrative Assistant (chief of staff) to Congressman James Scheuer (D. N. Y.).

From 1971 to 1977, Conroy served in the United States Navy Reserve in antisubmarine aviation units as a Navy photographer and journalist. He lives in Hingham, Massachusetts, where he has coached youth sports teams and has chaired the Town’s Advisory Committee, its Government Study Committee, and its Task Force on Affordability and has served as Assistant Moderator of the Hingham Town Meeting, a New England institution through which the Town has governed itself since 1635, well before Conroy’s time.