This new to me biography of Lincoln focuses on his depressive temperament, how he and his contemporaries viewed that temperament, and what modern-day readers can learn from Lincoln’s life and outlook. Shenk lays the groundwork for this book by observing that the labeling of psychological phenomena can be helpful, but also artificially limiting. “Language doesn’t just name a reality; it creates a reality.” Going to talk about how Lincoln has been viewed throughout history, including as bipolar and depressed, Shenk states that “such retrospective diagnoses […]