House of Abraham

Most of what is known about Abraham Lincoln is his presidential history in the White House. Not much is known outside of this role, or, his familial background. In Stephen Berry's House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, A Family Divided by War, the author provides another view of Lincoln, and his family by marriage.

In this book, we are given a synopsis of Mary Todd, Lincoln's wife, and her family's introduction to a young Lincoln, then a political careerist. An introspective review is also given to the various family related inter-dynamics at play, which may have inspired, or, influenced Lincoln's political career, and national leadership at a most critical time in United States history.

Berry's House of Abraham, though a house of conflict from this perspective, captures an even more admirable realistic view of Lincoln's own inner motivational complexities.