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Book Review	Ron Miller
"The Madness of Mary Lincoln" Jason Emerson Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, IL: 2007 304 pages. Illustrated. $29.95 It's the stuff Hollywood movies are made of: The already mentally unbalanced wife of a president goes mad after his assassination. Her son, fearful that she has become not only incompetent but a danger to herself, has her publicly tried for insanity and committed to an asylum. There, through the connivance of a pair of mysteriously motivated conspirators, she engineers her release and flees to Europe. Finally, she dies in obscurity, nearly forgotten by an embarrassed American public, while her son lives the rest of his life labeled as a son who had his mother committed in order to get his hands on her fortune. If only it were Hollywood, but the story of Mary Todd Lincoln and Robert Todd Lincoln is all of this and more. Or at least it is more now that author Jason Emerson has shed astonishing new light on a chapter of American history long thought closed. By dint of extraordinary scholarship and sheer luck, Emerson discovered that the entire story of Mary Lincoln's madness was not all that it had long been assumed to be. In 2005 he had discovered twenty-five letters pertaining to Mary's trial and commitment in a long-forgotten trunk that had once belonged to Robert Lincoln's attorney. More than twenty of these had been written by Mary, half from the asylum in which she had been committed. These letters, and other discoveries made by Emerson, reveal a story far more remarkable that what had been recorded by history. And in the process, revealing Robert to be not a heartless villain but the most devoted son any mother might wish for. Few reading this could have or would have endured what he had been forced to go through... yet, ironically, much of the adverse public opinion was the fault of Robert and his own family. Jason Emerson has put all of this into a book that is not only one of the most original---and important---studies of American history to be published this year, but a book that is as compelling to read as any great psychological mystery or thriller. The book---written in an easy, conversational style that belies its meticulous research---is almost impossible to put down. It's too bad summer is nearly over: I would recommend this book as a vacation companion over any current best-seller. Ron Miller, author of 34 published books, lives in King George. Learn more about him at http://www.black-cat-studios.com Don’t miss the Book Release party for Jason Emerson and "The Madness of Mary Lincoln" Monday, September 17, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Bistro Bethem, 309 William St. Tickets required: $50 per ticket / $70 per couple. Price includes one book [$29.95 at stores], plus heavy hors d’oeuvre buffet, author talk and book signing, with live music and a cash bar. Extra books available for sale and signing. Call 371-9999.
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