Noted historian and author Jason Emerson will present a program on Thursday, April 12, at 7:00 p.m. at the Iowa Wesleyan College Chapel in Mount Pleasant.
Emerson will talk about his new book, Giant in the Shadows: the Life of Robert T. Lincoln. He will discuss Lincoln’s life and also his close connection to Mount Pleasant. Emerson is a recognized expert on the Lincoln family.
The program is co-sponsored by the Mount Pleasant Public Library and Friends of the Harlan-Lincoln House. It is open to the public free of charge.
There will be a reception and book-signing after the presentation. Golf cart shuttle service will be available from the College main parking lot to the Chapel for those who need assistance.
Emerson presented a program his book The Madness of Mary Lincoln in Mount Pleasant in 2009.
He has appeared in the History Channel’s “Stealing Lincoln’s Body” and on BookTV. He has spoken on topics related to the Lincoln family at numerous locations around the country.
Giant in the Shadows has been called the “definitive biography” of the son of Abraham Lincoln and is the first book published in more than 40 years about Robert Todd Lincoln.
Lincoln, the son of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, served the United States as Secretary of War under Presidents James Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. He also served as an ambassador to England and as president and then chairman of the Board of the Pullman Palace Car Company.
Robert Todd Lincoln was a frequent visitor to Mount Pleasant after he married Mary Harlan, daughter of Senator James Harlan. James Harlan was an early president of Iowa Wesleyan College, who became a U.S. Senator just prior to the Civil War. He became a friend and political ally to President Lincoln. Mary Harlan Lincoln brought their three children to spend summers in Mount Pleasant, and her husband took the train from Chicago to join them on some weekends and holidays.
For more information, contact Lynn Ellsworth, Executive Director of the Harlan-Lincoln House at iwcarch@iwc.edu or 319-385-6320.
Information on James Emerson can be found at www.jasonemerson.com.
