Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness

A thoughtful, nuanced portrait of Abraham Lincoln that finds his legendary political strengths rooted in his most personal struggles.

Giving shape to the deep depression that pervaded Lincoln's adult life, Joshua Wolf Shenk's Lincoln's Melancholy reveals how this illness influenced both the president's character and his leadership. Lincoln forged a hard path toward mental health from the time he was a young man. Shenk draws from historical record, interviews with Lincoln scholars, and contemporary research on depression to understand the nature of his unhappiness. In the process, he discovers that the President's coping strategies--among them, a rich sense of humor and a tendency toward quiet reflection--ultimately helped him to lead the nation through its greatest turmoil.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 10/01/2006
ISBN: 9780618773442
Pages: 350
Weight: 0.81lbs
Size: 8.24h x 5.50w x 0.90d

Review Citations: New York Times 10/22/2006 pg. 28