The President's Wife Mary Todd Lincoln Author:Ishbel Ross Mary Todd Lincoln---one of the most remarkable and controversial First Ladies in American history---comes vividly to life in this romantic, yet scholarly biography. It portrays not only the familar Mary Lincoln of the campaign and White House years, an ambitious, driving woman, but also the less familar young girl growing up in Kentucky in the e... more »arly 19th century. Ishbel Ross draws a splendid picture of life in the South in the 1800s and of Mary's first contact with slavery and the slave market and of political leaders such as Henry Clay, who helped her develop her own strong political instincts.
The story continues with a fascinating account of Mary as an ardent young bell, courted by both Lincoln and Douglas, and of her first years with Lincoln, when she became the propelling force in his life through a long period of discourgement and poverty. Their love story is unique, as is her place among President's wives. As a controversial First Lady, she became increasing emboiled in politics and attempted to exert her influence whenever she could, despite the hostility that often greeted her. She made over the White House, and her role as a hostess and extravagant spender was legendary.
And finally the book traces her declining years, when the shocks of her husband's assassination by her side and the deaths of her three sons, Eddy in 1850, Willie in 1862, and Tad in 1871, left her an emotionally shattered woman.
Written with perception and sympathy, this is an in-depth portrait of a fascinating figure, whose history will be more fully understood today than it could ever have been in the century in which she lived.« less
Mary Todd Lincoln was the fascinationg and controversial wife of a most favored president. From her childhood to the White House years it shows the familiar Mary and the lesser known one.