In this sweeping analytical bibliography, Jason Emerson goes beyond the few sources usually employed to contextualize Mary Lincoln’s life and thoroughly reexamines nearly every word ever written about her. In doing so, this book becomes the prime authority on Mary Lincoln, points researchers to key underused sources, reveals how views about her have evolved over the years, and sets the stage for new questions and debates about the themes and controversies that have defined her legacy.
A roadmap for a firmer, more complete grasp of Mary Lincoln’s place in the historical record, this is the first and only extensive, analytical bibliography of the subject. In highlighting hundreds of overlooked sources, Emerson changes the paradigm of Mary Lincoln’s legacy.
“This extraordinarily helpful book will quickly become the go-to source for scholars and general writers researching Mary Lincoln. Emerson’s sure guide through the tangled thickets of shifting historiography will help all of us to write more informed works about Mary Lincoln. A superb reference work.”
—Richard W. Etulain, author of Lincoln and Oregon Country Politics in the Civil War Era
“What marks an individual for either greatness or opprobrium? In Mary Lincoln for the Ages, Jason Emerson provides an indispensable guide to understanding how contemporary, scholarly, and popular representations of the controversial first lady have affected what we think we know about her. By placing the popular accounts of Mrs. Lincoln within the larger compendium of work on her life, Emerson challenges readers to discover the sixteenth president’s wife from a multitude of angles.”
—Natalie Sweet, Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum and Lincoln Memorial University
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