Your friend forever, A. Lincoln
Subtitle: the enduring friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed
By: Charles B. Strozier with Wayne Soini
Contributors: Soini, Wayne, 1948- author
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 307
ISBN-13: 9780231171328
Subjects: Friendship
Description: On April 15, 1837, a "long, gawky" Abraham Lincoln walked into Joshua Speed's dry-goods store in Springfield, Illinois, and asked what it would cost to buy the materials for a bed. Speed said $17, which Lincoln didn't have. He asked for a loan to cover that amount until Christmas. Speed was taken with his visitor, but, as he said later, "I never saw so gloomy and melancholy a face." Speed suggested Lincoln stay with him in a room over his store for free and share his large double bed. Thus began what would become one of the most important friendships in American history. Speed was Abraham Lincoln's closest confidant, offering him invaluable support after the death of his first love, Ann Rutledge, and during his rocky courtship of Mary Todd. Lincoln needed Speed for guidance, support, and empathy. Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln is a rich analysis of a relationship that was both a model of male friendship and a specific dynamic between two brilliant but fascinatingly flawed men who played off each other's strengths and weaknesses to launch themselves in love and life. Their friendship resolves important questions about Lincoln's early years and adds significant psychological depth to our understanding of the making of the sixteenth president.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Preface; title: Acknowledgments; title: A note on sources; title: Beginnings; title: Two friends, one bed; title: Friendship; title: Depression; title: Sex and prostitution; title: Broken engagement; title: The winter of discontent; title: Kentucky bluegrass; title: Homeward bound; title: A vicarious romance; title: Mary Todd, once again; title: The crucible of greatness; title: Conclusion: on friendship; title: List of abbreviations; title: Notes; title: Index.