R. Gregory Lande 
Abraham Man 

The Abraham Man is a fascinating story unfolding during the Civil War era. The A"Abraham Man A" was a derisive term affixed to persons faking insanity. The fraudulent portrayal of insanity, and every sort of imaginable illness and injury, plagued America A’s judicial system at a time when men had good reason to avoid the war, on top of the usual motivations to shirk responsibility one way or another. By tracing the faint footsteps of the Abraham Man — and Woman, who had her own reasons for evading —, the modern foundation of American medical legal jurisprudence becomes evident.