Lincoln Dreamt He Died: The Midnight Visions of Remarkable Americans from Colonial Times to Freud

This quirky, episodic 200-year gambol explores the development of the American Dream by unpacking Americans’ dreams. Historian Burstein (Madison and Jefferson, coauthor) interweaves dense cultural history and cutting-edge research to argue that dreams—“a combination of impulse and art”—are crucial in the formation of an individual and national identity (in the case of America, one that would, in the 20th century, become obsessed with psychologically categorizing and distinguishing itself). The book opens with Founding Father Benjamin Rush, who, in true Enlightenment fashion, eschewed superstitious interpretations of dreams in favor of an examination of what he deemed their “obvious physical principles.” George Washington followed skeptical suit, though contemporaries like John and Abigail Adams treasured dreams for their emotional resonance. Later on, Lincoln’s take on dreams epitomized a postromantic acknowledgement of what one scholar called “a submerged half of one’s being.” Then came Freud, whose theories filled in the gaps left by the eventual rejection of claims “that dreams were either meaningless noise or the result of gastrointestinal distress.” Whatever the interpretive mode, Burstein’s elegantly crafted nightstand tome demonstrates that dreams “reflect a distinctly... human desire to chart time via stories” both personal and social. 20 b&w illus. Agent: Geri Thoma, Markson Thoma Literary Agency. (May)