Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness [Hardcover]

Joshua Wolf Shenk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2005

Drawing on seven years of his own research and the work of other esteemed Lincoln scholars, Shenk reveals how the sixteenth president harnessed his depression to fuel his astonishing success.
Lincoln found the solace and tactics he needed to deal with the nation’s worst crisis in the “coping strategies” he had developed over a lifetime of persevering through depressive episodes and personal tragedies.

With empathy and authority gained from his own experience with depression, Shenk crafts a nuanced, revelatory account of Lincoln and his legacy. Based on careful, intrepid research, Lincoln’s Melancholy unveils a wholly new perspective on how our greatest president brought America through its greatest turmoil.

Shenk relates Lincoln’s symptoms, including mood swings and at least two major breakdowns, and offers compelling evidence of the evolution of his disease, from “major depression” in his twenties and thirties to “chronic depression” later on. Shenk reveals the treatments Lincoln endured and his efforts to come to terms with his melancholy, including a poem he published on suicide and his unpublished writings on the value of personal—and national—suffering. By consciously shifting his goal away from personal contentment (which he realized he could not attain) and toward universal justice, Lincoln gained the strength and insight that he, and America, required to transcend profound darkness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Abe the Emancipator, argues Washington Monthly contributor Shenk, struggled with persistent clinical depression. The first major bout came in his 20s, and the disease dogged him for the rest of his life. That Lincoln suffered from "melancholy" isn't new. Shenk's innovation is in saying, first, that this knowledge can be illuminated by today's understanding of depression and, second, that our understanding of depression can be illuminated by the knowledge that depression was actually a source of Lincoln's greatness. Lincoln's strategies for dealing with it are worth noting today: at least once, he took a popular pill known as the "blue mass"—essentially mercury—and also once purchased cocaine. Further, Lincoln's famed sense of humor, suggests Shenk, may have been compensatory, and he also took refuge in poetry. Unlike Americans today, Shenk notes, 19th-century voters and pundits were more forgiving of psychological and emotional complexity, and a certain prophetic pessimism, he notes, was appropriate to the era of the Civil War. Occasionally, Shenk chases down an odd rabbit trail—an opening meditation on whether Lincoln was gay, for example, is neither conclusive nor apposite. Still, this is sensitive history, with important implications for the present. (Sept. 20)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–In 1835, Lincoln, a likable, gifted law student, was so depressed that his community, who accepted his mental state as a component of his brilliance, put him on a suicide watch. The reaction to his depressions by those who knew him, and by Lincoln himself, is a revelation of 19th-century thinking. In his day, melancholia was seen as a personality type that, along with disadvantages, had attributes such as deep self-reflection. Blessed with insight into his condition, Lincoln used it as a resource, providing self-therapy in an era when professional therapies were scant. The man also was blessed with a sense of humor and, above all, good friendships that alleviated major life traumas, including the loss of two children. This is not a full biography. Emphasis is placed on aspects of Lincolns life that contributed to his mental burdens, such as his estrangement from his father. The value of this book is the authors ability to assess his subjects mental state based on eyewitness accounts and Lincolns own words. Shenk assumes his readers have a grasp of the periods history, making the book challenging, but teens interested in Lincoln or psychology will find the content compelling.–Jo Ann Soriano, Lorton Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First edition. edition (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618551166
• ISBN-13: 978-0618551163
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written and very thought provoking., September 21, 2005

By 

John Truslow (Vestal, New York, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness (Hardcover)

I purchased this book after reading the excerpt in The Atlantic magazine and have been very pleased. Shenk approaches this material in a fair, objective, and straightforward manner, and yet with a profound empathy for his subject that resonates with the reader. I found the book intelligent, thorough, and yet at the same time, insightful and easy to read. Perhaps most fascinating to me is the author's treatment of the reaction to (and acceptance of) Lincoln's society to such melancholy in others, and a general cultural understanding of the value and potential growth inherent in human suffering. I feel that this book will be interesting to Lincoln scholars, mental health professionals, and readers who have come to see depression as something that must be dealt with behind closed doors, away from public view.

119 of 132 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book. Depression = Insight!, September 22, 2005

By 

Gaetan Lion - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book on several counts. First, besides revisionist historians it is not known that Lincoln was a lifelong depressive. Second, the author advances that Lincoln's depression was more a source of insight than a mental flaw. In other words, Lincoln's character and intelligence seemed greater because of his depression it. That's a pretty radical concept in our modern "Prozac Nation" when depression at any level is considered a serious mental illness that should be eradicated at all costs.

Lincoln lived in an era way before anti-depressants. But, just like John Nash of "A Beautiful Mind" fame who preserved his cognitive capabilities by not taking the drugs he was prescribed, Lincoln had no choice but to do without. And, according to the author the history of our Nation has been so much the better for it.

The author describes how Lincoln through the ages managed his depression through several different stages, including: Fear, Engagement, Transcendence, Creativity, and Humility. While the first stage [Fear] had a familiar and serious clinical component including recurring suicidal thoughts, the other four stages lead Lincoln to greater self-actualization, philosophical insights, spirituality, and commitment to guide and save our Nation.

The message from this original biography is powerful. By accepting one's humanity, we can actually grow. Some serious introspection even if painful is actually good for you. There is no need to medicate all your blues away. You may actually learn and grow for them. And, what Lincoln dealt with was not just the occasional blues. As depicted by the author, based on thorough historical research, he had a very serious case of depression. There is little doubt that nowadays he would be treated with anti-depressants. But, his life's achievements clearly question whether our modern psychiatric-pharmaceutical treatment is the best course.

In our contemporary culture it is a prerequisite to be an optimist and deliver the most upbeat message to be electable. But, is this the best way to choose a President? The author suggests otherwise. Referring to historians' researches, he mentions that many of our greatest minds were afflicted by more than a temporal case of the blues. Charles Darwin being a case in point. The author also mentions psychological research on perception of reality between optimists and others (slightly depressed or pessimists). Invariably, the optimists tested poorly with a more delusional perception of reality than the others less upbeat individuals.

If you like this book, I also strongly recommend Sylvia Nazar's "A Beautiful Mind" that depicts another luminary struggle with powerful mental illness. Also, "Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness" by Donald Barlett is an excellent biography. While Lincoln clearly overcame his depression without psychiatric assistance; the case of John Nash is more ambivalent. Did his psychiatric care help or hurt him? Meanwhile, Hughes clearly needed psychiatric help. But, he autocratically avoided it. As a result, he died prematurely an insane and debilitated man. In any case, all three subjects make for fascinating biographies. And, the mentioned authors succeeded brilliantly in their respective challenging tasks.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good validation for those with some experience, January 30, 2007

By 

Dale J. Bjorklund (St. Peter, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness (Paperback)

I learned more about this damn disease from this book that anywhere else I've ever looked or inquired. How Shenk describes Lincoln's use of the tools this malady provides the victim to survive, indeed thrive, in the pressure-cooker scenario of a Civil War Presidency is unlike anything I've ever read on the subject, and is perhaps also dead on. I agree, never are the words of Nietzche "That which does not kill me makes me stronger" more apt than for the survivor of a major depressive disorder. I must say I was quite moved by the insights on how melancholy was viewed as a sort of respectable problem in the mid 1800's. Heck, you were 'deep', not crazy. How nice compared to the general view today.