House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds: A Family Divided by War

This is a fantastic insider look at a presidential marriage and one of the most famous of all our presidents. Fascinating listening.

I thought that I had read (and knew) just about everything about Mary Lincoln. What a pleasure to read this book and find out so much about Mary's family that I never knew before. Another plus is that the book is so well written that it reads like a novel. I couldn't put it down.

This is an entirely new perspective of the Lincoln family, specifically that of his wife's. While there is much known about Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, as well as their oldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, who was the only child to live to a ripe old age, I know very little about the Todd Family, and was especially intrigued that a book had finally been written on this little known side of the Lincoln family. Although the book was short, and, as admitted by the author, only a cursory story of several of the members of the Todd family could be done, it was admittedly an interesting book and whetted my appetite for additional information on the Todd Family. I found that the book added a few more pieces to the complex character and personality of Abraham Lincoln the man, and found further that his "melancholia" that is so much discussed was not solely due to the failures of many of his generals, the exorbitant loss of life in the battles of the conflict, the political intrigues of the Radical Republicans and the Democratic-Copperheads, but also partly due to the inner family turmoil that he and Mary experienced with their own family, specifically the Todds. Truly, Abraham Lincoln was quite prophetic when he said that a "House divided against itself cannot stand", and surely this could be said of the Todd family who themselves were divided with several family members serving in the armed forces of the Confederacy and the Union, several killed in battle, and one assassinated. I would recommend this book, and hope to see further detailed studies of the Todd Family in the future.

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most-written about men in the English language. As a long-time Lincoln-buff, I don't mind that there are so many books, but I have to admit, I occasionally wonder if we've reached diminishing returns. A lot of Lincoln books are what I'd call "old wine in new bottles." But House of Abraham really is that rare thing: a truly new and important perspective on Abraham Lincoln. Having read most of what there is on Abraham and Mary, let me just say what I think is new here: First, the author fleshes out the Southern wing of the Todd family for the first time. These are some seriously colorful characters: David Todd was arrested for desecrating corpses in a Richmond jail; Samuel Todd and Alex Todd were Confederate soldiers killed in action; George Todd abused African-American prisoners who had been taken while storming Battery Wagner; Emilie Todd, widow of a Confederate Brigadier, spent a week in the White House, despite the scandal; Margaret Todd smuggled contraband through Union lines, on and on. In all my reading I'd never known any of this. Second, the author connects these scandals to Mary's growing unpopularity in Washington. Many books have mentioned that Mary lost three half-brothers on the rebel side (the author proves that it was only two), but none have demonstrated so clearly why her family-ties became such a problem. Finally, while House of Abraham begins as a book about the Todds, it becomes more and more a meditation on family, on the nation as a family, and on Lincoln's evolving understanding of the War. Ultimately, the author convinced me that Lincoln saw the Todds as a microcosm of the nation and that he understood the war as a "mosaic of family crises." As some of the other reviewers have pointed out, the book isn't very long, but considering it limits itself to saying something actually new about the most-written-about-man-in-America, I don't think that's surprising. Team of Rivals (which I loved) was 900 pages, but not that much of it was new. It was really the framing that was so impressive. In fact, I'd recommend reading Team of Rivals and then House of Abraham in succession. They make a terrific pair.

There is no shortage of books that have been written about Abraham Lincoln, but very little has been written about Mary Todd Lincoln's dysfunctional family and Lincoln's relationship with them. House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by War by Stephen Berry helps to fill in this gap. Mary Todd Lincoln came from a prominent Lexington, Kentucky family. One of fourteen brothers and sisters, her family was fairly close-knit. Except for the death of her mother and her father's remarriage, Mary had a fairly happy childhood. Lincoln also took to Mary's large extended family and was closer to them in many ways than to his own. It wasn't until the beginning of the Civil War that this large clan showed just how selfish, conniving, materialistic and ill-tempered they could be. Berry claims that they weren't necessarily "a bad family; it made them a typical one" for that time period. Berry gives as much detail as possible about each sibling, and how they interacted with Lincoln and his wife. The majority of them sided with the Confederates in the Civil War. Brothers Sam and Alexander and brother-in-law Benjamin Hardin Helm were killed in battle. Brother David was a sadistic jailer of Yankee prisoners of war. Brother George was known to loot from Yankee homes around battle sites. Brother-in-law Ninian Edwards was a Union profiteer, and brother-in-law Charles Henry Kellogg committed treason. Even sister Martha was accused of smuggling contraband to the Confederates through Washington, DC. "The Todds were a complicated swirl of affection and obligation, embarrassment and endurance. But they were, for better and often worse, Lincoln's family." Berry shows great perception in how Lincoln viewed the Todds and how they defined the war for him. "Surveying the damage to his in-laws, Lincoln must have noticed here in one family, his family, was the nation and the war writ small...If the Todds did not help shape his interpretation of the war, they certainly resonated with it." My one complaint with House of Abraham is that the body of the book is a bit short at 192 pages. In his epilogue, he includes only thumbnail sketches of the fates of Mary's siblings after Lincoln's assassination. However, in his defense, he also claims that after Lincoln's death, the family sort of disappeared from notice. Also, I have been to the Todd house in Lexington. Berry could have included some photos of this restored residence. Otherwise, House of Abraham is an interesting look at the personal battle Lincoln had to wage with his in-laws at the same time he was fighting the Civil War on the national stage.