Thomas R. Turner is a historian and professor at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts. He is also the editor-in-chief of the quarterly journal Lincoln Herald, the oldest continuously published journal devoted to the study of Abraham Lincoln which includes articles examining all facets of Lincoln's life and the Civil War.

Turner has also written "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln," a meticulously-researched analysis of the Civil War and the motivations of assassin John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators. Turner is considered one of the foremost authorities of the Lincoln assassination and is known for his encyclopedic knowledge on the subject.

Turner is also a specialist on Civil War and post-Civil War trial procedure and lectured about the assassination at Gettysburg College Civil War Institute.