Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln

Whatever one might think of these flourishes, Peterson’s movie accomplishes an important objective: getting the question of Lincoln’s complicated male relationships more out into the open. It’s a commentary in and of itself that it took so many years for this fascinating topic to get to the screen.

The documentary tends to linger on some assertions about sexuality in Lincoln’s era while papering over others. But the general effort of bringing to light (and potentially to history books) an underrepresented part of American experience remains vital beyond defining Lincoln’s identity.