Mary Lincoln Demystified

Answering the most enigmatic questions about Mary Lincolns life After portraying Mary Todd Lincoln in hundreds of performances and giving lectures over a more than thirty-year career, Donna D. McCreary has fielded every imaginable inquiry about the First Lady. Gathered here, readers will find answers to the most frequently asked questions to come from live audiences. This first question-and-answer book arises directly from a publics enduring curiosity with one the countrys most important historical figures. Decades of conversations with audiences, scholars, and relatives of the Todd family frame McCrearys intimate and devoted research to offer a new and unique portrait of the most tragic First Lady. Though Mary has been portrayed in books and film, McCrearys volume book contains information not found elsewheredetails others have overlooked and those that would not fit well into a narrative historysuch as lists of Marys beaus, servants, and the Todd family slaves; appendixes that present mini-biographies of families and friends; and a uniquely thorough timeline. Mary Lincoln Demystified covers areas in which McCrearys audiences have expressed the most interest: Marys sanity, her family relationships, her views on slavery and African Americans, her personality and habits, and what happened to her possessions and children after she died. While sympathetic to the woman she portrayed for two decades, McCreary examines both sides of controversial issues and presents the facts with her trademark style and flair. More than a good read, McCrearys Q&A factbook, based as it is on decades of extensive research in primary and secondary sources, will be the definitive resource for answers about Mary for years to come.