to wipe out William Herndon’s slander and libel. The book was first published in 1953. I’m happy to say I have a first edition copy. Immediately following Abraham Lincoln’s death, Herndon, his former law partner, came out with a biography of Lincoln. Unfortunately, their law partnership gave his book more credence than it deserved. He and Mary did not get along and he never set foot inside their home. How can you know about the lives of a man and wife if you’re never in their presence in private?
Fortunately, Ruth Painter Randall has set the record straight and she did her homework, reading through documents and letters from Mary’s lifetime. Anyone with any knowledge of Mary would know that she never referred to herself as Mary Todd Lincoln. She was Mrs. Lincoln, plain and simple.
If you mention her name today, someone who hasn’t studied her life as I have will say something along the lines of “Wasn’t she crazy?” She was a woman who may have had a depressive disorder at a time when there were no good remedies — no prescriptions for reputable anti-depressants, and nobody with the benefit of today’s knowledge of psychology and psychiatry. She was married to a man with his own depressive disorder whose job took him away from her for long periods of time early in their marriage. When he became president, she was vilified by the North for being from the South and held in contempt by the South for her allegiance to the Union. Add to this that she watched two young sons die from childhood diseases, then had her husband shot in the head while sitting next to her and holding her hand. By the time she lost Tad, how much sanity can she have had left?
Sorry for the soapbox. It happens all the time. Needless to say, I loved the book as narrated by Karen Commins. I followed along in the hardcover in the beginning and the audio book seems to be a faithful companion. If you read my review, please entertain the notion that previous biographers of Lincoln may have been unfair and untruthful about Mary. Try to put yourself in her shoes. I guarantee your heart will weep over the 150 years of injustice done to this woman who loved and was loved by a great man, and who bore and loved four sons, burying three of them.