Mary Todd Lincoln, a Book Report

Well, I gotta tell you guys, it was a good read.

I finished it last night. That woman was something else. I nearly cried when she died, everybody came to her funeral, but she made TONS of enemies during her lifetime. She refused to be categorized, by anybody's standards. Cool.

Given what we know of her behaviors, today she would likely be diagnosed as being narcistic. But her son, the only member of her nuclear family left, swore that she was insane, and schemed to have her institutionalized. Not being one to take that shit laying down, she schemed even harder and got herself released about 3 months later.

I'm glad I read it. X is stopping by Saturday and I'll send my copy home with her if anybody wants it. There are some cool pictures in it, too. My favorite quote:

"Later the semipublic status of American wives permitted females an off-camera 'little woman behind the great man' authority. But that was not the case in Mary Lincoln's day. As a result, she suffered because nowhere could she observe the necessity for female independence and autonomy, undertaken not for a cause but for self-respect. An unlucky victim of personal tragedy, mary Lincoln was also punished because she lived too soon."
------Mary Todd Lincoln, A Biography by Jean H. Baker

All her life she wanted to be somebody, except for the last few years. Her husband was very tolerant of that, and respected her opinions and valued her as a person. Their biggest quarrel with each other was because she spent a lot of money. She was very clear and demanding of her beliefs and expectations, and harbored a hefty sense of entitlement. But she wasn't afraid of the work to go along with it.

"Never doubtin the prevailing ideas about the separate spheres of men and women, she preferred femininity for every woman, including herself, and so suffered a wrenching opposition between what she had to do as Mary Todd Lincoln, (she was VERY political and ambitious), and what she believed nineteenth-century ladies should do."
--------Mary Todd Lincoln, A Biography by Jean H. Baker


Well, thats all I have to say. Spent the last two days/nights in Maine. Am pretty tired today. Hope everybody is well.

Peace