Book

Mrs. Lincoln : a life / Catherine Clinton.

Clinton, Catherine, 1952- (Author).

Summary:

Historian Catherine Clinton draws on important new research to illuminate the remarkable life of Mary Lincoln. Her story is inextricably tied with her husband's presidency, yet her life is an extraordinary chronicle on its own. From an aristocratic Kentucky family, she was an educated, well-connected Southern daughter, and when she married a Springfield lawyer she became a Northern wife--an experience mirrored by thousands of her countrywomen. The Lincolns endured many personal setbacks, including the death of a child and defeats in two Senate races. Mrs. Lincoln herself suffered scorching press attacks. The assassination of her husband haunted her for the rest of her life. Her downward spiral resulted in a brief but traumatizing involuntary incarceration in an asylum and exile in Europe during her later years. One of the most tragic and mysterious of nineteenth-century figures, Mary Lincoln and her story symbolize the pain and loss of Civil War America.--From publisher description.

Record details

ISBN: 9780060760403
ISBN: 0060760400
Physical Description: viii, 415 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York, NY : Harper, [2009]
Copyright: ©2009

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-394) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Kentucky homes -- Making her own hoops to jump through -- Athens of the West -- "Crimes of matrimony" -- "Profound wonders" -- Playing for keeps -- Enlarging our borders -- Hope that all will yet be well -- Dashed hopes -- Grand designs gone awry -- Struggling against sorrows -- Gloomy anniversaries -- Divided houses -- With victory in view -- Waking nightmares -- Widow of the martyr president -- Rising from the ashes -- Smoldering embers.