The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage

“With a novelist’s feel for detail and drama, Daniel Mark Epstein portrays the Lincoln marriage with sensitivity and insight, painting an intimate portrait of a complex and consequential marriage. This work is a splendid addition to the Lincoln literature.”  —Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian

“Will we ever tire of trying to understand this man? I doubt it, and in this impressive work, Daniel Mark Epstein approaches Lincoln through his complicated and revealing union with Mary Todd.” —Ken Burns, Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker

“In coolly objective tones, Adam Grupper narrates Epstein’s detailed account of the couple’s early years…Grupper’s nasal timbre is well suited to this work…[and] overall, his informative reading fits the text well.” —AudioFile

“The Lincolns’ marriage has always been shrouded in mystery and sadness.  But in this fascinating biography by the peerless Epstein, the ties that bound them together are rendered with tender clarity. Beautifully written, impeccably researched, The Lincolns is destined to join the pantheon of indispensable books on the Civil War.”  —Amanda Foreman, New York Times bestselling author of World on Fire

“[Epstein] is a poet by trade who moonlights in biography, having published lives of Nat King Cole and Aimee Semple McPherson. His account of the Lincolns’ marriage combines a poet’s sensitivity and imagination with a good historian’s rigor and fairness. He has in particular an eye for the shifting tides of status and the tensions they can create: He knows that the wooing of the well-born Mary by the rustic young lawyer Lincoln, no matter how impressive his prospects, entailed a decline in status for her and an advance for him—and a difficult burden for a young marriage to carry. Mr. Epstein’s gift for atmospheric detail cuts deep, too…Readers will be grateful for his modesty and for much else. He has written what may be the best Lincoln book in a generation.” —Wall Street Journal

“When one puts aside the stereotypes associated with the Lincolns, a rich and complex married life emerges…There is a lot that is new. First, this is the only book about the marriage that recounts the Springfield years (sixteen years out of twenty-two) in as much detail as the White House years…[and] there’s a lot more that is new.” —Amazon.com, editorial review