NEW YORK (AFP) - A new biography of Abraham Lincoln is making headlines with its assertion that the romantic leanings of the renowned 16th president of the United States were primarily homosexual.
"The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln," by C.A. Tripp, has ruffled more than a few feathers among biographers, historians and readers alike by focusing on an issue that has been a subject of scholarly debate for years.
While other biographers have tended to skirt the question of Lincoln's sexuality, Tripp's tome tackles it head-on, suggesting Lincoln had physically intimate relations with a succession of men before and during his troubled marriage to Mary Todd.
While in his late 20s, Lincoln shared a bed with his close friend Joshua Speed for four years and, Tripp asserts, later did the same with a presidential bodyguard whenever his wife was away.
Critics of Tripp's book have pointed out that men sharing beds was common practise in the 1800s, often on a practical level, due to insufficient heating and a lack of comfortable mattresses.
"The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln," by C.A. Tripp, has ruffled more than a few feathers among biographers, historians and readers alike by focusing on an issue that has been a subject of scholarly debate for years.
While other biographers have tended to skirt the question of Lincoln's sexuality, Tripp's tome tackles it head-on, suggesting Lincoln had physically intimate relations with a succession of men before and during his troubled marriage to Mary Todd.
While in his late 20s, Lincoln shared a bed with his close friend Joshua Speed for four years and, Tripp asserts, later did the same with a presidential bodyguard whenever his wife was away.
Critics of Tripp's book have pointed out that men sharing beds was common practise in the 1800s, often on a practical level, due to insufficient heating and a lack of comfortable mattresses.
