Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating portrait of a much-maligned woman
Review: Mary Todd Lincoln is commonly dismissed as the "crazy" First Lady, un unpleasant burden on an outstanding president already burdened by a country at war with itself. I admit that I held this conception before reading Baker's biography of Mary Todd Lincoln. Baker, however, successfully convinced me that Mary was simply misunderstood, victimized by the press of the day, and manipulated mercilessly by her oldest son, Robert, following Lincoln's assassination. Though Baker has little to work with concerning details of Mary's early life in Kentucky and then Springfield, she makes up for it with fascinating accounts of what life was like for women of Mary's station in the early- to mid-1800s. Baker also offers a fascinating portrait of the much-maligned Mary who fled later in life to Europe and a quieter life. We see Mary's faults, but we also see the abuse she suffered in public as a result of those faults being exaggerated by her enemies. Ultimately, Baker offers an account of the perils of being a confident, outspoken woman in the 19th century.

Rating:
Summary: A sensitive, serious study
Review: Not your typical summer fare, this book is serious and sweeping. It's a staggering chronicle of loss, beginning with the death of Mary's mother when she was a girl, through the deaths of her sons, the murder of her husband, the loss of her place in society, and the virtual loss of her oldest son and her only grandchild. The toll these tragedies took on Mary was mighty, but understandable. And Dr. Baker makes this sad saga imminently readable. I am haunted by a statement about the young Mary -- she did the wrong things well. Her unique strengths and talents were unfashionable for the time, and this cost her dearly.

Rating:
Summary: Mary Todd Lincoln
Review: This is a very well written book on the life of the sixteenth President of the United States.
Mary Todd Lincoln has been one of the most missed represented women in history. Her reputation has been tarnished due to William H Herdan. Herdan and Mrs. Lincoln hated each other, and this why she has often been misunderstood in history.
Mary Todd had a lot of emotional problems that were not understood at the time and Lincoln himself had a degree of mental, and emotional problems. I've always personally believed that his own problems have been foreshadowed because of his wife.
Mary had lost two children during her life, and she witnessed first hand the assignation of her husband.
I don't think that any of us, can fully understand. The pain that she went through the last few years of her life.
I think it was even worse for her because her own son Robert Lincoln put her in a mental institution. Again I blame this because of the time she lived in. If she had a court jury here in the 21st century, I believe that things would have turned out very different for her.
Mary Todd Lincoln was an amazing women who live during the wrong time. She was more intelligent then a lot of the men she know and this is why I believe that she and Abraham Lincoln made such a great pair.
I really hope that when people read this book, they will have a better understanding of her.
I also can only hope that more people will try to do more research and have more impute about her in future novels on Lincoln himself.

Rating:
Summary: Mary Todd Lincoln
Review: This is my most favorite biography in the world. It's about the wife of the 16th President of the United States.
The writer really lets you know more about Mary and she doesn't write just trash about her.

Rating:
Summary: MRS LINCOLN
Review: This is the story of a women named Mary Todd, who grew up to be the wife of the sixteenth president of the United States, one of our most beloved leaders.
Unlike her husband who's named is absorbed in legend, Marry Todd Lincoln has been unfairly betrayed in history.
During a time when men still held most power in our country. Mary was often looked down upon and her own son even help establishing her living in a mental institution, ( I really don't think would happen in this day of age.)
Mary was infract very intelligent and very influence in her husband's career.
I honestly just don't think people could really understand what the poor women most have gone through during the last few years of her life.
I mean she must have replayed the scene of her husband being assented in her mind over and over again, and the fact that the way she handled her grief, and stress differently put her in the insane category.
If you ever want to learn something on Abraham Lincoln's wife, then I suggest this book.
You will probably learn information on the Lincoln family that you never learned in high school, let alone any were else.
I think this would be a good start for any one who wants to really learn about Marry Todd Lincoln, and why so many historians, have continued to berate, and bash her in history through out the years.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating account.
Review: While Jean H. Baker has done meticulous research and her work is liberally footnoted, reading between the lines one finds a sympathetic account of one woman by another. Mary Todd Lincoln was one of the most misunderstood and reviled women of her day, for behavior that today we might understand as acting out depression, grief, anxiety and fear. I couldn't help but also feel a connection to this woman trying to survive in a repressive, male-centered society. So much has been written that portrays her husband as a saint and her as a shrew, that it's refreshing to read a more balanced view that is probably much closer to the way it really was. Mary Todd Lincoln deserves another look, both as a brave first lady enduring unimaginable tragedy and as a woman who was perhaps better suited to a different time in history.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating account.
Review: While Jean H. Baker has done meticulous research and her work is liberally footnoted, reading between the lines one finds a sympathetic account of one woman by another. Mary Todd Lincoln was one of the most misunderstood and reviled women of her day, for behavior that today we might understand as acting out depression, grief, anxiety and fear. I couldn't help but also feel a connection to this woman trying to survive in a repressive, male-centered society. So much has been written that portrays her husband as a saint and her as a shrew, that it's refreshing to read a more balanced view that is probably much closer to the way it really was. Mary Todd Lincoln deserves another look, both as a brave first lady enduring unimaginable tragedy and as a woman who was perhaps better suited to a different time in history.

Rating:
Summary: Mary Mary Todd Lincoln was a woman out-of-place.
Review: While reading Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography, I realized how distorted history can become when one listens and doesn't research. It appears that Mary Todd Lincoln was not insane at all. She was just a nasty, pushy woman with personality quirks who gave birth to a greedy, unfaithful son. This book will make you want to read more about the life of one of the most misunderstood women of history.