Mary Lincoln: Southern Girl, Northern Woman

[Susan Higginbotham]

I got this from the library and just finished reading it. It's a concise overview of Mary's life, with an appendix containing a selection of her letters from the different stages of her life. I can't say that I found any dazzling insights or new information in it (and that wasn't the author's intention anyway), but it's useful either as an introduction to Mary's life or as a refresher about some of the details. It's well footnoted and has a good bibliography. Perhaps its best feature is its evenhanded approach to its subject; the author is sympathetic to Mary without glossing over her faults.