By Jason Emerson
Although he was Abraham and Mary Lincoln’s oldest and last
surviving son, the details of Robert T. Lincoln’s life are misunderstood by
some and unknown to many others. Nearly half a century after the last biography
about Abraham Lincoln’s son was published, historian and author Jason Emerson
illuminates the life of this remarkable man and his achievements in Giant in
the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln. Emerson, after nearly ten years of
research, draws upon previously unavailable materials to offer the first truly
definitive biography of the famous lawyer, businessman, and statesman who, much
more than merely the son of America’s most famous president, made his own
indelible mark on one of the most progressive and dynamic eras in United States
history.
Born in a boardinghouse but passing his last days at ease on
a lavish country estate, Robert Lincoln played many roles during his lifetime.
As a president’s son, a Union soldier, an ambassador to Great Britain, and a
U.S. secretary of war, Lincoln was indisputably a titan of his age. Much like
his father, he became one of the nation’s most respected and influential men,
building a successful law practice in the city of Chicago, serving shrewdly as
president of the Pullman Car Company, and at one time even being considered as
a candidate for the U.S. presidency.
Along the way he bore witness to some of the most dramatic
moments in America’s history, including Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox
Courthouse; the advent of the railroad, telephone, electrical, and automobile
industries; the circumstances surrounding the assassinations of three
presidents of the United States; and the momentous presidential election of
1912. Giant in the Shadows also reveals Robert T. Lincoln’s complex
relationships with his famous parents and includes previously unpublished
insights into their personalities. Emerson reveals new details about Robert’s
role as his father’s confidant during the brutal years of the Civil War and his
reaction to his father’s murder; his prosecution of the thieves who attempted
to steal his father’s body in 1876 and the extraordinary measures he took to
ensure it would never happen again; as well as details about the painful
decision to have his mother committed to a mental facility. In addition Emerson
explores the relationship between Robert and his children, and exposes the
actual story of his stewardship of the Lincoln legacy—including what he and his
wife really destroyed and what was preserved. Emerson also delves into the true
reason Robert is not buried in the Lincoln tomb in Springfield but instead was
interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
Meticulously researched, full of never-before-seen
photographs and new insight into historical events, Giant in the Shadows is the
missing chapter of the Lincoln family story. Emerson’s riveting work is more
than simply a biography; it is a tale of American achievement in the Gilded Age
and the endurance of the Lincoln legacy.
About the Author
Jason Emerson is
a journalist and an independent historian who has been researching and writing
about the Lincoln family for nearly 20 years. He is a former National Park
Service park ranger at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, in Springfield,
Illinois. His previous books include The Madness of Mary Lincoln (SIU Press,
2007—named Book of the Year by the Illinois State Historical Society), Lincoln
the Inventor (SIU Press, 2009), and The Dark Days of Abraham Lincoln’s Widow,
as Revealed by Her Own Letters (SIU Press, 2011). He lives near Syracuse, New
York.
ISBN 978-0809330553, Southern Illinois University Press, ©
2012, Hardcover, 640 pages, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes,
Bibliography & Index. $39.95
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