Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His GreatnessHoughton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006 M10 2 - 370 pages A nuanced psychological 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. Mired in personal suffering as a young man, Lincoln forged a hard path toward mental health. Shenk draws on seven years of research from historical record, interviews with Lincoln scholars, and contemporary research on depression to understand the nature of Lincoln’s unhappiness. In the process, Shenk 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. A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice SELECTED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post Book World, Atlanta Journal-Constituion, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette As Featured on the History Channel documentary Lincoln “Fresh, fascinating, provocative.”—Sanford D. Horwitt, San Francisco Chronicle “Some extremely beautiful prose and fine political rhetoric and leaves one feeling close to Lincoln, a considerable accomplishment.”—Andrew Solomon, New York Magazine “A profoundly human and psychologically important examination of the melancholy that so pervaded Lincoln's life.”—Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., author of An Unquiet Mind |
Contents
A SelfMade | |
A Misfortune Not a Fault | |
The Reign of Reason | |
The Vents of My Moods and Gloom | |
Its Precise Shape and Color | |
The Fiery Trial Through Which We Pass | |
Comes Wisdom to | |
Epilogue | |
Afterword | |
Notes | |
Bibliography | |
Acknowledgments | |
Sample Chapter from POWERS OF | |
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Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His ... Joshua Wolf Shenk No preview available - 2006 |
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Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln Association American Ann Rutledge became began biography Books Boston Browning called Chicago citing Congress David Davis death December Democrats depression Douglas early Edwards emotional fear February February 11 feel Filson Historical Society Henry Herndon's Informants Herndon's Lincoln Historical Society human humor ibid Illinois insanity interview with WHH James January Jesse John Joseph Gillespie Joshua F Joshua Speed Journal Kentucky knew letter Library Lincoln wrote Lincoln's melancholy live look Mary Lincoln Mary Todd Lincoln Medical Mental Health mind mood Ninian Edwards Oral History orig Oxford University Press pain Papers person poem political president Psychology question Republican Robert Ruth Painter Randall scholars September slavery slaves Southern speech Springfield Stephen Douglas story suffering suicide thing thought told took Union W. W. Norton Ward Hill Lamon Washington Weik Whig White House William Herndon Wilson writes York young