Madness of Mary Lincoln

[kerry]

(11-12-2017 06:30 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Kerry, have you read the 1932 biography by Dr. William Augustus Evans entitled Mrs. Abraham Lincoln: A Study of Her Personality and Her Influence on Lincoln? If so, what did you think of it? As far as I know, it remains the sole biography of Mary written by a medical doctor. Evans was an internationally known physician and public health leader.

I have and I think it's excellent. He pointed out a lot of things that were ignored, and explained them well. The only issue is he didn't have access to as much information as later biographers, but it still doesn't change much. One thing I remember is his declaration that Elizabeth Edwards was totally normal for a Todd, everyone loved her (which seems to have been true), and her kids were all mentally normal. Now we know that is not the case. Another was that Robert was somewhat abnormal but never came close to a breakdown, which it seems he did at one point. But overall I thought he had a really good approach, and while it was definitely more on the pro-Mary side, it was reasonable. He did a great job with limited resources, and asked the right questions. The medical stuff is also outdated - but I think she probably did die of diabetes, and I think his explanation of her mental state is more accurate than bipolar disorder. She seemed to change moods mid-sentence, not on a cyclical basis. But it's hard to know. So many people had untreated diabetes and seasonal malaria then, so those alone did a number of mental and physical health.