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Giant in the shadows : the life of Robert T. Lincoln
Emerson, Jason
Adult Nonfiction E664.L63 E48 2012
From Library Journal:
In this deeply researched book, independent historian Emerson (The Madness of Mary Lincoln) reveals Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln's only son to survive into adulthood as a man of significant accomplishments in law, business, and statecraft. Although Robert Todd Lincoln's relationship with his mother became strained over her mental health, the son was also, in Emerson's estimation, a careful steward of the family's reputation, in part by destroying private correspondence and limiting access to his father's papers but largely by his lawyerly manner in arranging for and allowing particular histories, uses of Lincoln property, and creation of statues and memorials. Emerson's balanced view of Robert Todd Lincoln's reactions to presidential assassinations (he was present or nearby at not one, but three), to the famous Pullman strike, and to questions of racism should quiet criticism of him as insensitive and self-satisfied. Throughout, Emerson casts his subject as a Victorian gentleman of wealth and station who understood what his father would have admired, earning the respect of peers not by trading on the family name but by honest effort. VERDICT Emerson's eminently readable and sensible biography of a man worth knowing on his own account will appeal to both general and academic readers.-Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Emerson, Jason
Adult Nonfiction E664.L63 E48 2012
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From Library Journal:
In this deeply researched book, independent historian Emerson (The Madness of Mary Lincoln) reveals Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln's only son to survive into adulthood as a man of significant accomplishments in law, business, and statecraft. Although Robert Todd Lincoln's relationship with his mother became strained over her mental health, the son was also, in Emerson's estimation, a careful steward of the family's reputation, in part by destroying private correspondence and limiting access to his father's papers but largely by his lawyerly manner in arranging for and allowing particular histories, uses of Lincoln property, and creation of statues and memorials. Emerson's balanced view of Robert Todd Lincoln's reactions to presidential assassinations (he was present or nearby at not one, but three), to the famous Pullman strike, and to questions of racism should quiet criticism of him as insensitive and self-satisfied. Throughout, Emerson casts his subject as a Victorian gentleman of wealth and station who understood what his father would have admired, earning the respect of peers not by trading on the family name but by honest effort. VERDICT Emerson's eminently readable and sensible biography of a man worth knowing on his own account will appeal to both general and academic readers.-Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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