The Madness of Mary Lincoln, by James Emerson

So, I don't really have a Lincoln/Civil War theme going on right now. Just they were both in the new book section at the library and they both seemed interesting to me.

Anyway, this book is about the breakdown Mary Lincoln has after the assassination of Abe and continues to her eventual stay in an asylum for a few months in 1875. The author actually wasn't intending to write this book. He was working on a book about Robert Todd Lincoln, the only surviving son, when he came upon some letters pertaining to Mary's insanity trial.

Mary Lincoln had a long history of being very dramatic with periods of intense depression. She has a difficult life, including the loss of two sons, the loss of her husband in front of her eyes, and then the loss of another son. Her behavior became increasing erratic after the loss of her son Tad in 1871. He sole surviving child, Robert Todd, tried very hard to appease his mother, but as things became worse, he consulted with various friends and family members and decided his mother needed professional help. She was committed and did start to improve, but with the help of some friends, she was able to gain her freedom from the asylum after only about 4-5 months. After her release, she continued to deteriorate and refused to have anything to do with Robert. They did reconcile before her death in 1882, but Mary never fully recovered.

James Emerson follows the belief that Mary had bi-polar disorder. Definitely makes a good case, but I'm certainly not a psychology expert. Her suicide attempt after her insanity trial, her manic shopping sprees, her obsession with money, and her low lows and high highs seem to point to bipolar. It is also believed that she died of complications from undiagnosed diabetes, so who knows if that might have contributed to her mental health. And she certainly experienced a lot of trauma that would also affect most people. Who knows?

This book was okay, but I don't think I would really recommend it. It was pretty dry in a lot of places and very technical, especially in regards to her trial. If you are REALLY into Mary Lincoln or psychology, maybe, but that's about all.