A Personal History of the Women Who Shaped Lincoln’s Life and Legacy

Loving Lincoln is now available from SIU Press!

About the Book:

Abraham Lincoln belongs to everybody. The women he interacted with helped forge the outstanding moral character of America’s greatest president. This unique Abraham Lincoln biography features thirty historical and personal essays, and within them, the stories of more than ninety women, each with their own mini biographies in an appendix. Among them are Lincoln’s friends, clients, and extended family, as well as writers, artists, and—blurring the lines between history and memoir—author Stacy Lynn herself.

As a professional Lincoln scholar and editor, Lynn was often frustrated that male historians often overlooked Lincoln’s love for and friendship with women. Here, she posits a new paradigm—one that, instead of downplaying women, lifts up their interactions with Lincoln.

Lincoln understood the importance of the women in his life, and he put women’s wellbeing at the center of his personal, professional, and political ethos. He was loved by two strong pioneer mothers as well as sisters, friends, nieces, friends’ daughters, and his wife. He served women clients during his long legal career. As president, he met with women, dedicating time to hear  their concerns despite the burdens of office. He replied to letters women wrote him. He believed in their capabilities and revolutionized the role of women in the workforce. After Lincoln’s death, women continued to shape his legacy. Mary Lincoln ensured his burial among friends, artist Vinnie Ream sculpted his statue in the US Capitol, and biographer Ida Tarbell provided a nuanced portrayal of his life. Harriet Monroe and Ruth Painter Randall further cemented his place in literature and history.

Lynn presents a fresh perspective on Lincoln, connecting his story to the stories of women and showcasing his kindness, sensitivity, and moral center. She explores how women shaped Lincoln’s inspirational legacy and pays homage to all the women who gave Lincoln to the world. Lynn’s unique blending of history, biography, and her own story reveals the ways in which an emotional connection to the historical figures one studies opens the door to richer human and historical understanding. By inviting readers to feel the past as well as read it, Lynn demonstrates that history matters most when it engages our minds and hearts. 

Praise for Loving Lincoln:

“Lincoln lovers will recognize themselves in Lynn. The disinterested will become swept up in her—and his female contemporaries’—view of Lincoln as a genuinely compassionate man who loved and respected women.”—Leigh Fought, author of Women in the World of Frederick Douglass

“Written with a unique blend of passion, personal perspective, and historical insight, Loving Lincoln shares Stacy Lynn’s journey in the world of Lincoln Studies while exploring the stories the women who helped shape Abraham Lincoln’s life and legacy. Told through concise, well-crafted chapters, readers will encounter a new take on an understudied aspect of Lincoln’s life.”—Jonathan W. White, Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize–winning author of A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House

“Loving Lincoln is a thoroughly researched, exquisite account of the relationships Abraham Lincoln had with the myriad women with whom he shared meaningful experiences and fills a critical void in the expansive Lincoln canon. But what makes Loving Lincoln extraordinary is the very human way that Stacy Lynn weaves together her own becoming—as editor and scholar, grieving mother and bold historian—with the stories of the women who loved and nurtured Abraham Lincoln. Lynn approaches this work as only she can—with an unparalleled command of the Lincoln Papers and a profound personal and professional understanding of what makes Abraham Lincoln worthy of our reverence.”—Callie Hawkins, CEO and executive director, President Lincoln’s Cottage