Lincoln and Medicine

Description

The life of AmericaOCOs 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 LincolnOCOs mental health, physical history, and assassination; the conditions that afflicted his wife and children, both before and after his death; and LincolnOCOs 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 presidentOCOs physical and mental health, from the recent interest in testing LincolnOCOs DNA and theories that he was homosexual, to analysis of the deep depressions, accidents, and illnesses that plagued his early years. Set within the broader context of the prevailing medical knowledge and remedies of the era, "Lincoln and Medicine" takes into account new perspectives on the medical history of Abraham Lincoln and his family, offering an absorbing and informative view into a much-mythologized, yet underinvestigated, dimension of one of the nationOCOs most famous leaders.