Joshua Wolf Shenk Lincoln's Melancholy

Annotation

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 Lincolns adult life, Joshua Wolf Shenk'sLincoln's Melancholyreveals 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 strategiesamong them, a rich sense of humor and a tendency toward quiet reflectionultimately helped him to lead the nation through its greatest turmoil.A New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceSELECTED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post Book World, Atlanta Journal-Constituion, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteAs 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 Lincolns life.'Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., author of An Unquiet Mind