Sets the record straight ... An exhaustive and sympathetic biography of a woman whose legacy deserves re-examination ... Mary had many shortcomings, which the author doesn’t shy from examining ... Mary Todd Lincoln won’t go down in history as one of the most influential or congenial first ladies. But thanks to Ms. Romano’s exemplary examination of her life, she will now be remembered not only for her many flaws but also for her chief merit: her devotion to the 16th president.
Romano admits to Mary’s long-standing 'histrionics,' 'eruptions,' 'temper,' 'mood swings,' and 'emotional immaturity,' but recognizes how Willie’s death started a more serious 'mental decline' that today’s medications might have helped forestall ... Romano skillfully identifies how Mary’s own coping mechanisms, 'the self-centered traits that helped her survive her childhood,' would eventually 'alienate people' ... Romano’s sturdy book may not stint on examples of Mary’s bad behavior, but the biographer keeps tilting against those who slighted Mary in even the most superficial ways ... If An Inconvenient Widow seems to speed through Mary’s last several years—more European exile, cascading physical infirmities, a final return to Springfield—the reader is almost relieved, having come to share her frequently expressed yearning for release into the afterlife ... Romano puts herself in the curious position of fighting a battle that has already been won on facts but not yet in legend.
Admirable ... An ambitious project ... Romano’s strongest argument — and it is convincing — is that Mary’s demonization after Abraham’s death, and in the generations since, was wildly disproportionate to her flaws ... Romano also attempts to diagnose Mary’s behavior sympathetically, through modern psychology ... Romano’s portrait of Lincoln is not always convincing ... Places too much trust in a romanticized biography written by a family member ... Whatever her faults — and they were many — she deserved better, and Romano deserves praise for granting her, at long last, a measure of grace.
