The Women In Lincoln's Life

Rating:
Summary: a great new perspective
Review: I was quite thrilled when I saw this book in the bookstore. I have read numerous books on Abraham Lincoln, however, this was a perspective about his life I had not read much about. Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed reading this book. It was very well-written and engaging; enough so that it only took me two days to read it. I was captivated. Yes, at times the book seemed prejudicial against Lincoln's wife and biased in favour of Ann Rutledge, however his point of view was very interesting to note. I highly recommend this book to anyone willing to get a firm grasp on all aspects of Lincoln's life. It was just incredible!!!

Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled by the title
Review: If you're looking to read a good book about the women in Abraham Lincoln's life and the impact they had on him as a person and a politician, this book is not for you. If you want a book about the infinite glories of Ann Rutledge, the vile degeneracy of Mary Lincoln, and a brief, shallow summary of inconsequential women who passed through Lincoln's life without leaving any distinctive impression, this book is a better fit.

In "The Women in Lincoln's Life," novice Lincoln historian H. Donald Winkler attempts to explain how the sixteenth president was "dramatically shaped" by "a succession of remarkable women." (p. 1) He begins with the boyhood impact of Lincoln's mother and stepmother, shows a young Abraham as awkward wooer and indecisive romancer, and finally the mature lawyer and statesman as miserable married man. Winkler discusses in some detail the Ann Rutledge legend, the embarrassing courtships of Mary Owens and Mary Todd, and of course the Lincolns' 23-year marriage.

Once Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd, there really are no other important women in his life, as any biography of the man will show, except perhaps Eliza Gurney. Unfortunately, Winkler chooses to introduce an entire host of other nominal women, many of who met Lincoln only once in their lives, and one who never met him at all. This cast of extraneous characters includes women such as Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, Anna Ella Carroll, Dorothea Dix, Kate Chase, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sojourner Truth, Princess Agnes Salm-Salm and Vinnie Ream. And while the number of women Winkler includes in his study is high, the depth of the study itself is quite low.

The first red flag for any wary reader of The Women in Lincoln's Life is that Winkler is related to Ann Rutledge. The flag begins to flail when Winkler spends no less than five chapters focusing on Ann, her family, her life, and her relationship to Lincoln. There is little doubt in the minds of most Lincoln scholars that Ann and Abraham had a relationship, though its importance in Lincoln's life is still in dispute. Winkler believes their relationship was the seminal point in Abraham's life, and as the book moves past Lincoln's New Salem days and Ann's death, he ties Ann's memory to anything and everything in Lincoln's life that he can. Winkler prescribes to the belief - held most prominently by Lincoln's former law partner William Herndon - that Ann Rutledge was the only woman Lincoln ever loved, and her death was a black hole that swallowed up every possible scrap of happiness for the rest of Lincoln's life. He spends the remainder of the book trying to prove that theory, as so many other historians have tried before him.

Winkler's obsession with Ann Rutledge goes even farther, however, as he paints a portrait of his famous relative as the quintessential woman in all of American history: she is angelically beautiful, profoundly intelligent, religious yet also a freethinker, and the honer of Lincoln's intellect and ambitions. Indeed, if one were connect all the lines Winkler threads about Ann's purported effect on Lincoln, one would undeniably conclude that her mere existence saved the Union during the Civil War!

The eminent Lincoln scholar Douglas L. Wilson once wrote that Herndon's theory of Ann Rutledge's death as the source of Lincoln's lifelong melancholy was "simplistic and hopelessly overdrawn." Winkler's presentation of Ann Rutledge in his book - which resonates heavily of Herndon -- can be dubbed likewise.

Considering Winkler's bias in favor of Ann Rutledge, it should come as no surprise then that The Women in Lincoln's Life is Mary Lincoln-bashing of the highest order. Winkler takes a page from Herndon and asserts that Lincoln never loved Mary and married her only out of a sense of duty. He also takes a page from Michael Burlingame's book "The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln" and asserts that Lincoln's married life, in which he is the victim of emotional and physical spousal abuse, drove him from home, into politics and into the presidency - a situation that would not have occurred had he married the sweet, mild-tempered Ann. Winkler even blames Mary Lincoln for her husband's assassination. (p. 213, 222)

As for the other women in the book whom Winkler unbelievably dubs "the supportive women in Lincoln's life," (p. 225) only Eliza Gurney, a devout Christian with whom Lincoln discussed spiritual matters, had any lasting impression on the man. The inclusion of the others is never convincingly justified and seems predicated on the fact that they met him once, and some were beautiful and flirtatious.

All in all, one walks away from "The Women in Lincoln's Life" exasperated at the Ann Rutledge overload and the shallow justification for the majority of the other women in the book. It is clear that Winkler wanted to write a book about Ann Rutledge, but, finding the topic already overdone, decided to throw in a few other women and call it a study of all women in Lincoln's life. What Winkler attempts and fails to do in this 256-page book, Douglas Wilson accomplishes with more thoroughness and objectivity in one chapter of his work "Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln." A reader interested in this aspect of Lincoln's life would do better to read Wilson's book, and leave Winkler on the bookstore shelf.

Rating:
Summary: A Major Contribution to Lincoln Studies
Review: It seems to me that a few reviews of this book have been extremely unfair, especially those by Mr. Emerson and someone who calls himself "kdpsyd." Mr. Winkler is an accomplished scholar and award-winning author who has written the first full-length book on this intriguing subject. I purchased the book after reading reviews from authoritative sources, and have found it to be extremely informative and fascinating. As "Civil War Times" noted, this book is "important and highly provocative and readable." "Civil War News" called it intriguing and engrossing and "quite thought-provoking. . . with careful notes and an impressive bibliography." "Today's Books," an independent report to the news media on the book-publishing industry rated this book "a best read." Such recognition is given only to "the top ten percent of new books published and distributed in America each year."

Building upon the latest published Lincoln scholarship, Mr. Winkler has developed startling new insights and added fresh information about Lincoln's New Salem years, including the most complete story in existence of Ann Rutledge's life and the
Lincoln-Rutledge romance.

The book is obviously based on solid research and should be read by anyone interested in what previously has been a puzzling aspect of Lincoln's life.

Rating:
Summary: Dismal
Review: The author shows a limited understanding of Lincoln. He failed to research his subject. The author is misguided and misinformed. This book is an insult to Lincoln scholars.

Rating:
Summary: Destined to become a classic!
Review: This fascinating, well-written book is destined to become a classic. It contains not only fresh new material on Ann Rutledge and Lincoln's New Salem years, but also revealing and interesting material on Lincoln's interaction with more than thirty women-- from the farm girls of Indiana to a pious but teasing blond bombshell in Springfield and the militant women of the Civil War era. Nothing is held back as the author delves into areas often sidestepped by other writers. The author establishes--from more than a dozen eyewitness sources--that Lincoln was driven into a marriage he didn't want and would forever regret. Only die-hard Mary Todd fans will be disappointed, but they will be hard-pressed to disprove the accounts. This book will make you laugh and cry, to think and to wonder. Rather than just a collection of stories about women, this books puts them into the context of major events in Lincoln's life and shows how women affected some of his major decisions. This book is illuminating and delightful.

Rating:
Summary: Lincoln's Ladies
Review: This was an intersting read.As there are so few books about the women in Lincoln's life you can't imagen how thirlled I was to see it in the book stor.
The book is intesting however Winkler keeps talking about his own hearitige of Ann Rutledge.I wish that he would have talked more about Mary Todd who I still feel was unjust in her socity of her reputaition and even today.
All in all this was an insterting book and I did learn a few new things about Lincoln and his viwes on wemon.
Nice work.