An Inconvenient Widow - by Lois Romano (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A revelatory new biography of one of the most misunderstood and vilified First Ladies in American history: Mary Todd Lincoln.

Mary Lincoln was at the center of politics at a time when society's expectations for women were rigid and circumscribed. The product of Southern aristocracy, she grew up among an influential clan of politicians and elites who founded Lexington, Kentucky. Mary's early exposure to the male-dominated world of politics instilled in her a keen political acumen and a fierce ambition. Proclaiming as a child that she was destined to become the wife of a president, she played a crucial role in boosting her husband to greatness.

But her hopes for a triumphant experience at the pinnacle of power were lost to the Civil War and unfathomable family tragedies. Still, Mary persevered. She steadfastly supported the Union war effort, visited encampments, tended to wounded soldiers, and generously donated money and gifts to refugees from slavery. She was an unconventional, larger-than-life character who dressed too ostentatiously, grieved too publicly, suffered a shopping addiction, and seemed unable or unwilling to corral her emotions, her temper, and her opinions. She made enemies--influential men who wrote her story for her, often unfairly. After Lincoln was assassinated, she was all but abandoned by the nation he had given his life to defend and preserve.

Former Washington Post writer and columnist Lois Romano rectifies the tortured legacy of Mary Todd Lincoln, who was failed at nearly every turn in her widowhood--by her family, by her government, by medical professionals ill-equipped to diagnose her mental illness, and finally, by history. Romano draws on hundreds of archives, letters, and memoirs to provide the most complete portrait--of not simply of an inconvenient widow, but of a brilliant and flawed woman, who possessed uncommon tenacity in the face of extraordinary adversity and personal torment, and helped launch one of America's greatest presidents.

Review Quotes

"Here is Mary Lincoln unvarnished: vain, irrational, and selfish one moment; loving, loyal, and clever the next--but always more influential in Abraham Lincoln's life and work than previously imagined. Romano has plumbed new sources and reanalyzed familiar ones to create a rich portrait worthy of her subject. This book takes its place among the best biographies ever produced about a presidential wife." -- Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer, Winner of the Lincoln Prize and author more than 50 books on Abraham Lincoln

"Romano has given us an engaging and memorable portrait of one of the most fascinating and consequential First Ladies in American history. The book is a reminder of how history is shaped by those in power--and those near it." -- Jon Meacham, author of And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

"Modern First Ladies could sympathize with the relentless scrutiny and vilification that Mary Todd Lincoln faced, even after enduring wrenching tragedy. She could be inconvenient, yes, but she was also consequential and more complicated than history has been willing to acknowledge. That is, until author Lois Romano's can't-put-it-down biography of a signature American life." --? Susan Page, author of The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty

About the Author

Lois Romano is a long-time national political journalist who was an editor, columnist, and reporter for The Washington Post and POLITICO, and who has covered numerous first ladies.