Menu
An American Marriage: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd
Bottom of the pile
2
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
2/100Critics
2/100Scholars
Author:
Michael Burlingame
Publisher:
Pegasus Books
Date:
June 1, 2021
This narrative shows that, as First Lady, Mary Lincoln accepted bribes and kickbacks, sold permits and pardons, engaged in extortion, and peddled influence. The reader comes to learn that Lincoln wed Mary Todd because, in all likelihood, she seduced him and then insisted that he protect her honor.
What The Reviewers Say
... lively chapters designed to discredit the possibility that the Lincoln marriage was happy, functional or loving.
... provocative, compulsively readable.
While Burlingame makes a considerable effort to recast the historiography of the marriage, his aim appears to be rehabilitating Lincoln’s image and casting doubt on the legacy of Todd...More time could have been spent detailing the effects of Todd’s difficult childhood or the deaths of her three of her four children.
Readers will be informed and disheartened as they read page after page of dismal reports from Lincoln’s Springfield neighbors and colleagues about Mary’s tantrums, which often drove him to spend the night in his office.
