Calling all Lincoln enthusiasts! Have any of you read "Giant in the Shadows:The Life of Robert T.Lincoln"by Jason Emerson?I was thinking about buying the book,but since it was just published,it’s pretty expensive,so I don’t want to waste too much money on it.Mainly I’m wondering if it’s a scholarly,dry-as-dust book or if it’s a layperson’s book with some personal details in it.Would the older Robert Lincoln biography by John Goff be better?
No takers?
I’m reading it now and have mixed feelings. It’s certainly comprehensive, and reads like a straight biography, without artful embellishments that give it a creative nonfiction flair. It’s certainly not dusty, dry academic prose.
That said, the author is a little too fond of his subject to offer any critical distance. He chalks up all of RTL’s actions to that of a “Victorian gentleman,” including a whitewash rendition of Mary Lincoln’s insanity trial. This should be a pivotal section of the book, but only lasts for three pages! What’s more, the trial section leaves out facts well documented in other reputable books, including RTL’s heavy hand in orchestrating the proceedings.
RTL’s divided personality and cold hearted actions–including being the attorney for the Pullman Company during the infamous strike, wherein workers were fired on by troops with corporate cooperation–are similarly handled at arms length. RTL’s life story is epic, filled with Shakespearean tragedies from the death of his father, to the issues with his mother, to the death of his son at age 16; however, this book, comprehensive though it is, is just too reverent to a man who deserves a more critical biography.
Read it, but get it from the library. The John Goff book is okay, but also suffers from similar reverence.
Thanks for the reply-I thought this thread was doomed to stay empty forever.It’s amazing that the book has only 3 pages about the trial,because I’ve been reading 'The Last Lincolns",and that one has about 15 pages devoted to it.Unfortunately,none of the libraries nearby have the book yet,so I might just buy it outright,despite its faults.Thanks again for the help.