Mrs. Lincoln: A Life

by Catherine Clinton

Book Overview

"This engaging, wonderfully written narrative provides fresh insight into this complex woman. It is a triumph." --Doris Kearns Goodwin Catherine Clinton, author of the award-winning Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom, returns with Mr s. Lincoln , the first new biography in almost 20 years of Mary Todd Lincoln, one of the most enigmatic First Ladies in American history. Called "fascinating" by Ken Burns and "spirited and fast-paced" by the Boston...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060760400
• ISBN13: 9780060760403
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Enjoyed it very much

After watching Catherine Clinton on Booknotes TV, I couldn't wait to read her book. She went into detail about her research and I felt that I could trust that the book would be accurate. I was not disappointed. I am a Mary Todd Lincoln reader and this was the best.

Both interesting and informative

Just in time for the bicentennial celebration of the birth of Abraham Lincoln comes MRS. LINCOLN, Catherine Clinton's examination of the life and times of the troubled wife of America's venerated president. The book's introduction begins on that fateful day in April 1865, when Mary Todd Lincoln witnesses the shooting of her husband at Ford's Theater. During the chaos that follows, her prolonged shrieking and hysterical reaction cause those trying to maintain calm to banish her from President Lincoln's deathbed. They also deny Mary the honor of being present for her husband's last breath. This unkind treatment by men with power is a harbinger of what she can expect in her life as a widow. Clinton's biography tells about Mary's upbringing as a refined, educated and ambitious lady of the South who marries an Illinois lawyer with Northern sympathies. During their marriage, the Lincolns endure hardship and sorrow, including several political setbacks and the loss of their young son, Edward. Years later, while Abraham Lincoln is president and the country is embroiled in the Civil War, the loss of beloved son Willie plunges both husband and wife into severe states of depression. While the President busies himself with the work of the nation to be distracted from his profound grief, Mary dwells on her sorrow, and her mental condition deteriorates. During her years in the political spotlight, Mary is the object of vicious gossip and criticized mercilessly by the press, although some of the criticism is brought on by her own behavior. In MRS. LINCOLN, Mary Todd Lincoln is portrayed as a strong-willed and forceful lady with extravagant tastes, as well as being one who doesn't shun the limelight. She is articulate and better educated than her husband and won't take a back seat to anyone, including the President himself. She comes across as unsympathetic and unpopular --- a tragic and complicated individual; a jealous wife; a paranoid, self-absorbed woman who is morbidly obsessed with grief; and a scheming and greedy widow. Clinton lifts the widow's veil for a personal look at the woman behind one of the most revered figures in the history of the United States. Like its subject, MRS. LINCOLN is both fascinating and frustrating. The text, while appealing and easy to follow, repeats the same facts in slightly different words in different parts of the book. Despite that minor annoyance, I found this biography both interesting and informative. --- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt

Avid Reader Paul

Catherine Clinton's recently published biography, Mrs. Lincoln, is a compelling, perceptive and in-depth look into the life of the wife of our greatest President. Her detailed and careful research, her extremely readable style and her reluctance to take sides in the classic debate over whether Mary Todd Lincoln was "incompetent by reason of mental incapacity" or merely troubled make this book a fascinating read. It is the new, definitive work on this historically important woman's life. Clinton's descriptive narrative of the Lincolns' courtship, the events leading up to the Gettysburg Address and the chronicle of Mary's downward spiral are particularly well done and memorable.

Best Book on Mary Todd Lincoln

Once again, Catherine Clinton, the author of a number of fascinating nineteenth-century biographies, has brilliantly retold the history of one of the most neglected figures of the Civil War Era: Mary Todd Lincoln. As in her other writings, Clinton not only provides fresh, compelling, and new evidence about her subject, but she also masterfully manages to tell the broader history of the nineteenth-century. Readers will find Clinton's biography of Mrs. Lincoln as the most comprehensive and best-written book in publication today but they will also learn a great deal about the nineteenth-century. (Clinton is particularly attentive to the racial and gendered contexts in which Mrs. Lincoln lived, and brings new insights and incisive interpretations to many issues that have puzzled previous biographers.). As a historian of the Civil War and Reconstruction, I profited enormously from this book, and as a college professor, I will certainly assign in my courses on the nineteenth century! Jim Downs, PhD. Connecticut College

truly engaging

As a resident of Lexington, Kentucky, Mary Todd Lincoln's home town, I have always been fascinated by the life of this misunderstood woman. I believe that I have read every major work that deals with Mary Todd and/or her marriage. I have spent the last several days reading the engaging new book by Catherine Clinton. Put simply, this book is a delight. In several hundred pages she presents the results of her extensive research in manuscript materials that she examined both in the United States and abroad. Her discussion of Mrs. Lincoln's years abroad, especially in southern France, is particularly strong. As we observe the Lincoln bicentennial, a welter of new books on the sixteenth president is appearing. We can be grateful that Clinton recognized that Mrs. Lincoln merited attention as well. She brings fresh eyes and new perspectives to her challenging subject.