Is anyone or has anyone read the new Lincoln book?

[Reverend_Smitty]

I think it is called "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln" by C.A. Tripp. I've read that it states a case for Lincoln being gay. I was wondering if anyone has read it yet and can tell me if it is worth reading. If those claims have any validity, I'd be interested in learning about a very covered up aspect of American history.

On edit:
Has it even been released? I was reading a review and I'm not sure if it has

[terrya]

1. Yes. It is worth reading.

I just finished it last night. C.A. Tripp spent many years researching this book. He offers a very compelling, well researched case that Lincoln was homosexual (Tripp, who was a researcher with Alfred Kinsey, ranks Lincoln as a 5 on the Kinsey scale). Tripp talks, again based on evidence...extant letters...about the various affairs Lincoln had with other men, talks extensively about Lincoln's passionate affair with Joshua Speed (whom he shared a bed with for 4 years while both were lawyers in Springfield), Lincoln's discomfort with women (including thoroughly debunking the Ann Rutledge "romance")...and his horrible marriage to Mary Todd.

I highly recommend this book.

[liberal N proud]

2. Saw the Chris Matthews show talk about a new book called the Lincoln

Bedroom yesterday and all they could talk about was that he was gay.
My question is what is the motive, to displace Lincoln as the repuke icon with Regan?

[kweerwolf]

3. Haven't read the new book yet but ...

two or three years ago a book with a similar premise came out ... Love Stories : Sex between Men before Homosexuality, by Jonathan Ned Katz (who is a well-respected gay historian).

That book traced the development of a gay identity and started with a chapter on Lincoln and Joshua Speed. The book focused on presumably gay relationships between the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. This was at a time when science was just beginning to notice homosexuality, define it and study it. (The word "homosexual" didn't exist prior to 1869 when it first appeared in a German scientific tract and the idea of a "gay" subculture is a much more recent development.)

The book was interesting and Katz made some compelling arguments, but ultimately the question remained open-ended. It's possible that before scientists divided the world into polar opposites of homo/hetero that far more people would be what we now call bisexual. In other words, they weren't confronted by societal pressure to take on one label or the other.

It's was an interesting read, but I'm loooking forward to reading Tripp's book, too, since I've heard more evidence has come to light since Katz's book was published.

[RoyGBiv]

4. I've read it ...

The analysis is garbage, a perfect case of a person with a point he sets out to prove, selectively citing evidence and drawing unsupported conclusions that fail utterly to consider opposing explanations/arguments. Put another way, the author has never heard of Occam's Razor.

The research, in and of itself, is fine, but there's not a great deal that hasn't been known for a long time. All that is really new is that this author put it together and analyzed it from the point of view of a sexologist. The author, however, doesn't know a great deal about the history of the period, apparently, or at least fails to consider it in his findings. He doesn't consider context, IOW.

I guess I'm just repeating myself. The author had a point of view he wanted to prove, and he set out to find evidence that proved it, whether it did or not.

All that said, it's not a horrible book. Interesting read, but familiarize yourself with the history of the era and question every conclusion provided.

[dryan]

5. My husband is somehow related to.....

the Speed family and they are upset over this book.