Daniel Mark Epstein has produced an incisive and balanced portrait of the Lincolns, from their mysterious and troubled courtship in 1840 until his assassination in Ford's Theatre in 1865. For the first time, in The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage we can feel the full force of the tragedy that was the slow crumbling of their marriage, knowing it intimately from the first act to the last.
"With a
novelist's feel for detail and drama, Daniel Mark Epstein portrays the Lincoln
marriage with sensitivity and insight, painting an intimate portrait of a
complex and consequential marriage. This work is a splendid addition to the
Lincoln literature."
"Will we
ever tire of trying to understand this man? I doubt it, and in this impressive
work, Daniel Mark Epstein approaches Lincoln through his complicated and
revealing union with Mary Todd."
"The
Lincolns' marriage has always been shrouded in mystery and sadness. But in this fascinating biography by the
peerless Epstein, the ties that bound them together are rendered with tender
clarity. Beautifully written, impeccably researched, The Lincolns is destined to join the pantheon of indispensable
books on the Civil War."
"[Epstein]
is a poet by trade who moonlights in biography, having published lives of Nat
King Cole and Aimee Semple McPherson. His account of the Lincolns' marriage
combines a poet's sensitivity and imagination with a good historian's rigor and
fairness. He has in particular an eye for the shifting tides of status and the
tensions they can create: He knows that the wooing of the well-born Mary by the
rustic young lawyer Lincoln, no matter how impressive his prospects, entailed a
decline in status for her and an advance for him-and a difficult burden for a
young marriage to carry. Mr. Epstein's gift for atmospheric detail cuts deep,
too…Readers will be grateful for his modesty and for much else. He has written
what may be the best Lincoln book in a generation."
"When one
puts aside the stereotypes associated with the Lincolns, a rich and complex
married life emerges…There is a lot that is new. First, this is the only book
about the marriage that recounts the Springfield years (sixteen years out of twenty-two)
in as much detail as the White House years…[and] there's a lot more that is new."
"Daniel
Mark Epstein's brilliantly conceived The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage is
marked by meticulous scholarship and a balanced evaluation of the union that,
until now, has confounded biographers and readers alike. The author, also a
poet, has given us an insightful and lyrical narrative of the relationship
between Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln that helped make him president."
"Daniel
Epstein in 2004 gave us the best book yet written on Abraham Lincoln and Walt
Whitman. Now he has given us the best book yet written on the marriage of
Abraham and Mary Lincoln-a comprehensive, sensitive, elegantly wrought
masterpiece that puts us up close and personal with one of the most interesting
pairings in American history."
"[In] this
reliable but familiar account of the Lincolns' frequently tempestuous marriage…what
Epstein brings is a novelistic, almost lyrical touch."
"In this
new Lincoln chronicle, Epstein concentrates exclusively on the relationship
between this seemingly odd and mismatched power couple…This relationship
biography reads like a nineteenth-century version of a Greek tragedy."
"A
dynamic picture of a marriage every bit as fractious and as buffeted as the
nation the Lincolns served."
"In
coolly objective tones, Adam Grupper narrates Epstein's detailed account of the
couple's early years…Grupper's nasal timbre is well suited to this work…[and] overall,
his informative reading fits the text well."
