Jean H. Baker

Mary Todd Lincoln

"A striking success . . . the account of the White House years is absorbing,the account of Mary Lincoln's life as a widow utterly compelling."—NewYork Times

A priviledges daughter of the proud clan that founded Lexington, Kentucky, MaryTodd (1918–1882) was raised in a world of frontier violence. Subjected to herfirst abandonment at age six when her mother died, Mary later fled a hostilestepmother for Springfield, where she met and, after a stormy romance, marriedthe raw Ilinois attorney, Abraham Lincoln.

For twenty-five years the Lincolns forged opposing temperaments into a tolerant,loving marriage. Mary was at her husband's side on the night of his assasination,and never recovered from that greatest in a series of grievous abandonments.The desperate measures she took to win the acknowledgment she sought all her lifeled finally to the shock of a public insanity hearing instigated by her eldestson.

In this elegant biography, Jean Baker uses previously untapped letters anddocuments to portray a woman whose will carried her across the recognizedboundaries of female behavior.

"Beautifully crafter, entertaining as only the best biographies can be, andrich with superb insights and wonderful anecdotes about 19th century familyand domestic life, [this] is a complex and moving character study of a womantragically out of step with her time and place."—Chicago Tribune

"This exciting and important book is a major contribution to Lincolniana. Absorbingand convincing, this is one of the few books that deserve to be called definitive."—DavidHerbert Donald, Harvard University