Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team Of Rivals: The Political Genius Of Abraham Lincoln
Not only does it tell the story of America’s 16th President, it also tells the story of the men who were his main political rivals for the Republican nomination in 1860 and later became the core of a cabinet that was forced to deal with the greatest political crisis in American history — William Seward, Salmon Chase, Edwin Stanton, and Edward Bates. Unlike other Civil War-era histories that focus on battles, or on the story of Lincoln himself, Goodwin focuses on the politics of the era and the manner in which Lincoln was able to successfully navigate the political rivalries among his chief advisers and navigate the nation through a crisis that threatened it’s very existence.
In taking this focus, Goodwin gives us a new perspective on a war that has garnered more research then any other in American history. Outside of focusing on the political impact of First Bull Run, the failed Peninsula Campaign, Antietam, and the twin victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in July 1863, scant attention paid to events on the various battlefields of the war. Instead, we see Lincoln navigating the political battles taking place in Washington, often between his cabinet members and, in one case, involving a cabinet member who was openly planning a nomination challenge to him in 1864. Time after time, Goodwin demonstrates, Lincoln’s deft, though underestimated, political skills allowed him to solve problems that other President’s might have allowed to fester.
Throughout it all, Goodwin shows, Lincoln never lost faith in the rightness of the cause that he was elected to lead, or of the inevitability if it’s ultimate triumph, even if that triumph took four years to occur. More importantly, though, Goodwin shows us just how a man who had no formal school and, only ten years before coming President, was essentially a back-country lawyer riding the circuit in Illinois was able to ascend to the highest office in the land at the nation’s most crucial moment.
At over 900 pages, this is not a light read, but if you’re interested in the era and the man, Goodwin’s book is essential reading.
April 5th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I love this book. The reader was very easy to listen to and I really enjoyed every chapter. The way Goodwin organized the story and the level of detail is great. The story of Lincoln is one of the best in American history and the way it’s told here makes it even better. Lots of insights into the man, how he thought, how he dealt w/ friend and foe, how he dealt w/ his personal struggles and the nation’s stuggles.
April 6th, 2008 at 2:46 am
I see you are pushing the Lincoln myth today. Yes a humble lawyer who just happened to be the highest paid lawyer in Illinois. Guess the railroads just paid him so much because he was humble. Or why he pushed Federal subsdies for industrial policies, no connection I guess.
He was so deft that he placed 50,000 people in jail and overthrew those legislatures that opposed him. Pretty deft okay. We have the draft riots to show his deft handling which are forgotten today but were the bloddiest in US history. Or his conduct of the war which today would have him brandd a war criminal. Yes extremely deft.
He was the closest the US ever came to a tyrannt.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:49 am
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