Lincoln and Medicine

by Schroeder-Lein, Glenna R.

• ISBN13: 9780809331949
• ISBN10: 0809331942
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-10-03
• Publisher: Southern Illinois Univ Pr

Summary

The life of America's sixteenth president has continued to fascinate the public since his tragic death. Now, Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein unveils an engaging volume on the medical history of the Lincoln family. Lincoln and Medicine,the first work on the subject in nearly eighty years, investigates the most enduring controversies about Lincoln's mental health, physical history, and assassination; the conditions that afflicted his wife and children, both before and after his death; and Lincoln's relationship with the medical field during the Civil War, both as commander-in-chief and on a personal level. Since his assassination in 1865, Lincoln has been diagnosed with no less than seventeen conditions by doctors, historians, and researchers, including congestive heart failure, epilepsy, Marfan syndrome, and mercury poisoning. Schroeder-Lein offers objective scrutiny of the numerous speculations and medical mysteries that continue to be associated with the president's physical and mental health, from the recent interest in testing Lincoln's DNA and theories that he was homosexual, to analysis of the deep depressions, accidents, and illnesses that plagued his early years. Lincoln and Medicinealso makes a keen study of the medical circumstances surrounding Lincoln's assassination, including the actions taken by the first respondent, the efforts that allowed Lincoln to live for nine hours after the fateful shooting in Ford's Theatre, and efforts by doctors to perform an autopsy. Moving beyond the man himself, Schroeder-Lein takes a captivating look at the medical conditions of Lincoln's wife and children, delving into such issues as Mary Lincoln's alleged insanity and commitment to Bellevue Place Sanitarium, Robert Todd Lincoln's eye troubles and nervous breakdown, and Tad Lincoln's untimely death at age 18 from "dropsy of the chest." In addition, the volume addresses the president's connections with the medical field during the years of the Civil War, his involvement with civil aid groups, his personal dealings with soldiers, and his support of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Set within the broader context of the prevailing medical knowledge and remedies of the era, Lincoln and Medicinetakes into account new perspectives on the medical history of the Lincoln family, offering an absorbing and informative view into a much-mythologized, yet underinvestigated, dimension of one of the nation's most famous leaders.