Lincoln's Melancholy

How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness

By: Joshua Wolf Shenk

Narrated by: Derek Shetterly

Drawing on seven years of his own research and the work of other esteemed Lincoln scholars, Shenk reveals how the sixteenth president harnessed his depression to fuel his astonishing success.

Lincoln found the solace and tactics he needed to deal with the nation’s worst crisis in the “coping strategies” he had developed over a lifetime of persevering through depressive episodes and personal tragedies.

With empathy and authority gained from his own experience with depression, Shenk crafts a nuanced, revelatory account of Lincoln and his legacy. Based on careful, intrepid research, Lincoln’s Melancholy unveils a wholly new perspective on how our greatest president brought America through its greatest turmoil.

Shenk relates Lincoln’s symptoms, including mood swings and at least two major breakdowns, and offers compelling evidence of the evolution of his disease, from “major depression” in his twenties and thirties to “chronic depression” later on. Shenk reveals the treatments Lincoln endured and his efforts to come to terms with his melancholy, including a poem he published on suicide and his unpublished writings on the value of personal—and national—suffering. By consciously shifting his goal away from personal contentment (which he realized he could not attain) and toward universal justice, Lincoln gained the strength and insight that he, and America, required to transcend profound darkness.

©2006 Joshua Wolf Shenk (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Outstanding Insight

This book really got to the heart of Lincoln’s character, charisma and challenges throughout his lifetime through the lens of his melancholic nature. So well documented and narrated, it was like watching a Ken Burns film narrated by David Mcculloch in your head.

A wonderfully human leader

We have come to see Lincoln as the man in marble. It's in this light that we often lose sight of the fact that Lincoln was human and experienced the full range of human emotions. Historians at the turn of the 20th century sought to downplay the vast amount of evidence that suggested Lincoln was capable of profound leadership and also sometimes not being all right. In this wonderful biography that misinterpretation is corrected. Using vast amounts of primary sources the author humanizes Lincoln and shows how his emotional struggles elevated his greatness. One of the best biographies of Lincoln on the market.

Excellent!

I very much enjoyed listening to this book! I learned a great deal. It was easy to read and is easy to listen to.

Good and in depth view

This was a good book that brought a lot of good and insightful revelations on Abraham Lincoln as a man, a political leader, and as someone battling depression. This highlights a lot of valuable perspectives on depression and suffering as a whole, showcasing the possibilities when one views it from a wide lense perspective. During this whole time you get a remarkable perspective on who Abraham Lincoln was beyond the elevated and inspiring historical figure.