Mrs. Lincoln

基本介紹

• 中文名稱：Mrs. Lincoln
• 定價：213.00元
• 作者：Clinton Catherine
• 出版日期：2009-1
• ISBN：9780060760403
• 副標題：ALife

​編輯推薦

Book Description

Abraham Lincoln is the most revered president in American history, but the woman at the center of his life, his wife, Mary, has remained a historical enigma. In this definitive, magisterial biography, Catherine Clinton draws on important new research to illuminate the remarkable life of Mary Lincoln, and at a time when the nation was being tested as never before.

名人推薦

Any biographer of Mary Lincoln has a tough act to follow in Jean H. Baker's groundbreaking and definitive Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography, published two decades ago and reissued in paperback in 2008. Queens University (Belfast) history professor Clinton (Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom) fails to rise to the occasion. For starters, the book seems to have no raison d'être: Clinton offers no revisionist interpretation and has uncovered no new sources. Add to this Clinton's annoying style, such as a penchant for ESP, narrating Mary Lincoln's thoughts through various key moments in her life, such as this upon the day in April, 1865, when her husband triumphantly visited the Confederate capital of Richmond: "Mary found a sense of serenity that was distinctly new and uncharacteristic ... she imagined that she might be reconciled with those alienated...." The author also too frequently paraphrases the contents of diaries and letters, without quoting them directly. Although Clinton's book provides an adequate summary of an important life, readers can find a far more than adequate rendition elsewhere. B&w illus.

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*Starred Review* This biography of the wife of the sixteenth president is perfectly timed: it will bepublished in the first month of the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth.It is certainlynot a rush job—Clinton’s careful research and thoughtful presentation result inthe best treatment of the troubled life of Mary Lincoln in recent memory. It is important to approach Mrs. Lincoln with not only respect but also balance, to not only understand her eccentricities but also sympathize with them whilemaking no unwarranted excuses for her.This Clinton doesbrilliantly. Mary Lincoln’s mercurial, insecure personality and “crimes”—namely, overspending on clothes and White House improvements—were hot fodder for journalists during her husband’s administration and even during her peripatetic widowhood. Clinton sees Mary making many wrong choices in behavior that simply fueled the smear campaign against her and gives witness to Mary’s “deteriorating mental condition” after the shock of her husband’s assassination played havoc with her already fragile stability. The issue of whether she went insane—her only living child, Robert, had her committed for a while to an asylum to stop her waywardness—is sensitivelyanalyzed. She was, and continues to be, controversial, but, as Clinton submits, she remains afigureof great color, worthy of continued interest. --Brad Hooper

媒體推薦

“Noted historian Catherine Clinton manages to enlighten readers, confirm some well-documented stories, question others and offer additional insights into one of the most complicated fist ladies in American history. . . . Clinton has allowed history to make a more fair-minded appraisal of Mary Lincoln’s life.” (The Courier-Journal )

“Clinton’s portrait is distinctive for its abiding sanity, its deft and in-depth handling of the White House years, and for the consistent quality of its prose.” (Joseph Ellis )

“As wife and widow of America’s greatest president, Mary Lincoln was the focus of cruel controversies in her lifetime and among historians ever since. With sensitivity and empathy, Catherine Clinton brings us the real Mary Lincoln—a tragic yet compelling figure.” (James McPherson )

“We can never get enough of Lincoln, and we can never get enough of his family. Catherine Clinton’s fascinating book feeds that hunger.” (Ken Burns )

“Our most controversial first lady, Mary Lincoln was reviled by her critics and few historians have treated her kindly. Lively and entertaining, Mrs. Lincoln will cause readers to rethink the stereotypes about Mary—and perhaps to question some of their beliefs about her husband as well.” (David Herbert Donald, author of Lincoln )

“Clinton’s careful research and thoughtful presentation result in the best treatment of the troubled life of Mary Lincoln in recent memory. . . . Mary was, and continues to be, controversial, but, as Clinton submits, she remains a figure of great color, worthy of continued interest.” (Booklist (starred review) )

“In this remarkable book, Catherine Clinton displays an emotional depth in her understanding of Mary Lincoln that has rarely been revealed in the Lincoln literature. This engaging, wonderfully written narrative provides fresh insight into this complex woman whose intelligence and loving capacities were continually beset by insecurities.” (Doris Kearns Goodwin )

作者簡介

Catherine Clinton is the author of Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom and Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars. Educated at Harvard, Sussex, and Princeton, she is a member of the advisory committee to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and holds a chair in U.S. history at Queen's University Belfast.