The Open Afternoon Book Club will meet in the Story Garden Room Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 1 p.m. The group will discuss The Madness of Mary Lincoln and Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln—two captivating works by local writer and prolific Lincoln scholar, Jason Emerson. The November meeting will feature a special author presentation.
Emerson is an independent historian and journalist, who has authored and edited several books on Abraham Lincoln and his family. He has published numerous articles and book reviews on the subject, and has made appearances on Book TV, American History TV, and the History Channel. Emerson is a former National Park Service park ranger at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Gettysburg National Military Park, and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. He also worked as a costumed interpreter at the Genesee Country Museum in Mumford, a professional journalist, and a freelance writer.
In 1875, Mary Todd Lincoln, the widow of President Abraham Lincoln, was committed by trial to Bellevue Place—a sanitarium for women—on the petition of her son Robert Lincoln. Historians have long debated Mary Todd Lincoln’s sanity. The Madness of Mary Lincoln offers a critical re-examination of her mental illness. In 2005, Emerson discovered a collection of twenty-five letters, presumed destroyed by the Lincoln family. Emerson uses these letters and other newly published materials—including Mary’s psychiatric diagnosis of mental illness and her lost will—to offer new interpretations of the First Lady’s life, the insanity case, and the trauma that led to her commitment. Emerson offers additional insight based on consultations with psychiatrist experts. The book also details Abraham and Robert Lincoln’s understandings and responses to the First Lady’s mental illness.
Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln presents the first in-depth study of President Lincoln’s oldest and last-surviving son in more than forty years. In this meticulously researched biography, Emerson brings to light Robert’s many independent achievements, arguing that the remarkable man was much more than simply a president’s son. Robert’s many roles included Secretary of War, U.S. Minister to Great Britain, president of the Pullman Car company, and keeper of his father’s papers and legacy. The book also explores Roberts’s complex relationships with his famous parents, as well as with his own children.
Books are available at the circulation desk.
All events at the Cazenovia Public Library are free and open to the public. For more information, call 655-9322 or visit www.cazenoviapubliclibrary.org.