Kenneth W. Noe is an American historian whose primary interests are the American Civil War, Appalachia and the American South. He has most recently published Abraham Lincoln and the Heroic Legend: Reconsidering Lincoln as Commander in Chief.
Born in Richmond, Virginia in 1957, he grew up in Elliston, Virginia. He received his B.A. from Emory & Henry College in 1979, M.A. from Virginia Tech in 1981, M.S.L.S. from the University of Kentucky in 1983 and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1990. He was a finalist for the Lincoln Prize, and twice a Pulitzer Prize entrant, for his books Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, and The Howling Storm. He taught at the University of West Georgia from 1990 until 2000, and moved to Auburn University. In 2021 he retired from Auburn as the Draughon Professor of Southern History.