Partial biography of Abraham Lincoln focused on his Presidency. The narrative non-fiction explores both his leadership and strategic decisions. Unlike anything that would happen today, Lincoln included his political opponents in his Cabinet, such as Secretary of State William Seward, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase, Attorney General Edward Bates, and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Both Seward and Chase were his rivals for the Republican Presidential nomination.

His entire Presidency was marked by the Civil War, and as it progressed, Lincoln experienced personal tragedies and multiple pressures of differing opinions on how the war should be handled. The book describes his pre-election years, initial election, major speeches, replacement of General McClellan, reactions to the outcomes of battles, Emancipation Proclamation, reelection, his views on reconstruction, and assassination. It is too bad he was assassinated before he could lead the Reconstruction, as he certainly would have done a better job of it.

It occasionally gets bogged down in details, but I enjoyed this book. It is well-written and well-researched. It is a step above the usual fare for a biography as it offers a deeper analysis of Lincoln’s personality, decision-making, and philosophy of life. It portrays a leadership quality that is often missing in current times - the ability to bring opposing viewpoints together in the interest of doing what is best for the country. History fans and those interested in leadership should appreciate this one.

Abraham Lincoln had always seemed to me, an outsider flattening my nose against the fishbowl of American history, generally a big deal. In his story's oversimplified version, he kept his country together, freed slaves, and was all but deified upon his assassination. The man was, even if everyone else at the time didn't know it, "still too near to his greatness" as they were, "[h]is genius... still too strong and too powerful for the common understanding, just as the sun is too hot when its light beams directly on us," as Leo Tolstoy put it, a veritable badass. Pitting him against vampires was redundant. The broad strokes of his life were already very well-known to me, burned into the public consciousness as they have been by more books, biopics, and occasional pop-culture references combined than any one person save Doris Kearns Goodwin with her superpowers of research and organization can know what to do with. Most people are usually content enough not to investigate any further.

Team of Rivals, however, had been recommended so frequently in so many different circles, selected so often by various algorithms as my next to-read based on my reading history, and nibbling so determinedly at my subconscious that I had finally to take the leap, bump the book up the priority list, and give my curiosity the chew toy it had been growling at me for. What caution there initially was quickly went out the window after not even ten pages. The rabbit hole I fell headfirst into with this book was one I regretted to find someone had lacked the foresight to dump a million more rabbits into and dig more of, the better to stave off the inevitability I dreaded was hurtling towards Lincoln. The obligatory appreciation, approaching almost offensive indifference, that colored my early perceptions of him had by the final pages exploded into the sort of enthusiasm and love people reserve in their hearts for boy bands, superhero movies, or football.

The word "politician," as soon as it's verbalized into the air to there hang unpleasantly like some gas passed inside an elevator, has taken on negative connotations. Anyone who works in the profession and has the slightest self-awareness would think twice before volunteering such information to a forgetful aunt they never see except sometimes at family functions. If it were more a rule than the rarest exception that politicians actually strive to be like Lincoln in intention as well as action, pitchforks and torches would've been used for their original purpose. It's tempting to think he had it easier because times then were simpler, but that way lies confusion: if keeping countless plates spinning without any of them wobbling and falling, all in the hope of stopping his country from crashing and burning, is considered having it easy, what might the whole situation look like on insanity mode?

What most of all set Lincoln apart from his contemporaries, as Goodwin began hammering home with her choice of book title, was his pragmatism. He had the crazy idea to form his Cabinet not like his predecessors had done by surrounding themselves with agreeable faces and building an echo chamber, but by plucking men from the opposition who fought against him for the Republican nomination and others from different factions who had no reason or inclination to treat Lincoln, then relatively inexperienced in the political arena, with kid gloves. At the time, the country was little better than a house of cards. Choosing from all the prominent parts of his party instead of his own and making certain they each had a voice in the government gave that house solid ground. Because he "had no right to deprive the country of their services," Lincoln had only thoughts of what was best for the people in mind when he sought help from "the strongest men of the party" who would make up the Cabinet and restore calm and sanity to a party that seemed then about to implode and inadvertently usher in a slaveopia. Not only was he open-minded enough to give opposing viewpoints their due consideration, but he had confidence enough that none of them if unsound would sway his own, which his surprised Cabinet soon came to find out and grudgingly respect.

Lincoln alone is interesting enough to read about. Goodwin, still the fantastic writer in this alternative scenario, would enjoy no less success were she to have focused solely on his life and not biographized three other men's as well. No greater decision could she have made, however, than that she ended up doing otherwise. To appreciate Lincoln's political achievements, many requiring no less than Herculean efforts to secure, it is helpful to understand what obstacles he went up against and overcame. Charismatic and loyal William Henry Seward, brooding and shady Salmon Chase, and old and traditional Edward Bates, Lincoln's three biggest hurdles on his road to the presidency, wanted it no less. Split into two parts, Team of Rivals dedicates much of the first to the lives of these four men facing each other down for their name to be on the Republican presidential ticket, and while Lincoln naturally remains the central figure of the book, Goodwin touches with equal attention on Seward's popularity and evolving political strategy, Chase's lack thereof and blind ambitions, and Bates' family life and more conservative tendencies. Emerging at the end of their sections, some with prospects more optimistic than the last, I wondered how Lincoln hoped to beat any of them. It was their race to lose.

By doing the exact opposite of what his opponents did and not giving in to complacency in Seward's case, harboring silly delusions of grandeur in Chase's, and offending important voting blocs in Bates', Lincoln seemed like he was in the right place at the right time when delegates started directing their votes his way, which while true to some extent implies his victory was just luck's doing. Again and again, Goodwin shows how freakishly attuned Lincoln was to events then happening and even those yet to happen. Never one to sit idly by and wait for good things to come magically unprompted, even if he may have at times seemed to some inexplicably unbothered and maddeningly slow to react to unexpected developments, he possessed the sixth sense to know when to proceed with his designs and when not to. After winning Seward, Chase, and Bates over to his side with proxies and flattering letters, and with his Democrat counterpart Stephen Douglas busy defending his moderate platform against radicals in his party, winning the presidency was for Lincoln almost as easy as one-two-three. Then came the decidedly trickier bit of being president.

Incompetent military generals, Southern aggression, marital headaches, Cabinet tensions, international scrutiny, and the slavery question may just be possible to resolve if the problems arose very considerately one after another. It was Lincoln's unlucky situation that they didn't, forcing him to attend to all of them simultaneously. We have a habit of bringing up before-and-after visual comparisons of presidents and marveling at the physical changes for the worse that they underwent during their terms. Graying hair, sunken eyes, and pronounced wrinkle lines are par for the course. Given Lincoln's challenges, it's more surprising to me not that he aged a hundred years in four, but that he didn't keel over and die straightaway of ulcers the first week into his term. A lesser man would be forgivably overcome with homicidal thoughts after dealing with General George McClellan's breathtaking disrespect and cowardice (the war would've been shorter and many needless casualties avoided had he nutted up and overpowered the other side with the Union Army's superior numbers), Mary Todd's financial woes and mood swings, and Chase's unsubtle machinations and lust for the presidential seat. It's to Lincoln's credit those thoughts never seemed to have occurred to him.

Looming over the entire book, the slavery dilemma influenced most decisions everyone made. Even when the conservatives succeeded for a time in convincing people not to push the issue further, it was never completely gone during their musings. The romantic notion that Lincoln one day materialized with an audible pop out of thin air, anti-slavery views already fully rationalized and a desire burning in his guts to ride into battle to there eradicate that evil for now and ever, is a popular misconception I used to entertain half-seriously. In reality, there were less cinematics and more mental gymnastics Lincoln had to perform to justify abolishing slavery within the restrictions set by the Constitution. That it needed justifying at all is, to our modern thinking, not a little remarkable, yet makes an uncomfortable amount of sense. "Northern objections to slavery were based on ideology and sentiment, rather than on the Southern concerns with property, social intercourse, habit, safety, and life itself. The North had nothing tangible to lose." Compromise was the word of the day. Uneasy with slavery to begin with, Lincoln nevertheless trusted in the natural course of things to destroy it if all agreed to contain it to where it already took root instead of spreading it to new lands. That didn't take. Even with the South rebelling in earnest, Lincoln's hands were tied with appeasing the border states, conservatives, and peace Democrats, without the support of whom his presidency would've been short-lived. Outright outlawing the practice was off the table. It fell to Lincoln's political know-how and knack for logical lawyering to navigate the twists and turns of the law well enough to spot a hole through which to wedge in the Emancipation Proclamation, paving the way for the Thirteenth Amendment and "settl[ing] the fate, for all coming time, not only of the millions now in bondage, but of unborn millions to come."

With maps, photos, and references so many their notes take up 120 pages of the book (lulling me again like Adam Hochschild did with King Leopold's Ghost into being excited for more content left ahead), inserted into the main narrative with such surgical certainty I felt snug in Goodwin's more than capable hands, you fast come to see and be permanently agawk at how together she's got her stuff. After counting on one hand the number of times Team of Rivals ever bored me, all five of my fingers would still be accounted for to give you a full-handed slap for raising so absurd a question. Here is a major undertaking not many would dare attempt, let alone accomplish, yet Goodwin has done exactly that, and done so well she makes it look like a breezy walk in the park. Her writing style is straightforward and unobtrusive, giving the characters center stage; her analyses sensible and convincing, deepening your understanding of what before seemed incomprehensible; and her sources exhaustive and well-cited, leaving us in no doubt she made none of this up. If any fault can be found with Goodwin, it may be that she can seem to have come down too hard with the Lincoln fever, already obvious with the book's subtitle, but that criticism loses steam when Goodwin doesn't hold back from showing the man at his most embarrassing (he, assuming they didn't also view his country as theirs, once advocated coaxing the slaves out of it and form a colony elsewhere).

Excepting history teachers and trivia nerds, we have an awful memory. Game-changers are remembered at the expense of minutiae. Historical figures become less corporeal in the public mind the further from the present they get, their more insignificant characteristics buried under the sand of time, out of which only their greater victories stick like so many tips of pyramids. They sport that sheen of legend. Their actions, given context, make them seem suddenly not all that amazing anymore. Hearing the truth about Santa Claus would probably be less disappointing news. Lincoln, immortalized by a towering statue opposite from the Washington Monument, is both figuratively and literally larger than life. Yet Team of Rivals has shown how Lincoln's status in the history books can only be added to, not detracted from, even when it tackles the bad as well as the good. By gathering up multiple viewpoints ranging from journalists and assistants to soldiers and housewives, and by seamlessly stringing together such a wide variety of voices to create what in others' hands would've resulted in incoherent splatter art and in hers has gifted us a master's painting, Goodwin has done maybe not the impossible, but certainly the dastardly difficult, and elevated Lincoln to such a plane I have serious doubts any leader-to-be now or in the future can ever reach. His will be giant shoes to fill.

I sort of knew how this book was going to end (spoiler alert!), but I was still sad when Lincoln died. I picked it up because of all of the Obama hype, and I now understand why a president would want to emulate Lincoln. But it's one thing to say, this is the kind of man I want to be, and another, to not learn from his mistakes. Some of Lincoln's cabinet picks (and former rivals) worked out well -- Edwin Stanton and William Seward, for example. But things didn't work out so well with Salmon P. Chase. Chase couldn't set aside his own presidential ambitions in order to be a good Treasury Secretary. The guy was working on his own presidential bid against Lincoln from within the cabinet. Chase wasn't exactly a team player. After Chase resigned from his cabinet position, Lincoln rewarded him with a little job as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Chase wasn't satisfied with this, and ran for president one more time before he died. Moral of the story? Lincoln's team of rivals was a good idea to some extent (these guys also happened to be great political minds, btw, he wasn't plucking some person out of obscurity, like McCain with Sarah Palin, e.g.), but maybe he should have been wary of picking someone (Chase) with such an intense presidential fever.

I would have given this book more stars if I could have. I think I loved this book so much because Abraham Lincoln was such an absolutely amazing person. We are all taught that Lincoln was one of America's great presidents, and we know that he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, but he is so much greater of a man than I ever knew. Lincoln was super smart, wise, and incredibly compassionate and empathetic. While unsure of his own faith, Lincoln, through his own care for others, was so much more of a Christ-like person than the overtly pious self-righteous Salmon Chase (Lincoln's former rival and Secretary of the Treasury who, while disparaging of others characters, allowed himself to be uncritical of his own unethical actions [much like our current president - in my opinion]).

This book showed Mary Lincoln in a better light than I had expected. I had always had the impression that Mary was a real stinker, and while she definitely had her faults that must have been caused real difficulties for the president, she also had many good qualities. One thing that impressed me is how she personally gave service to soldiers while not allowing any of her kind actions to be made known to the Washington social elite. While Mary may not have always been easy to live with, I felt kind of bad for her since she suffered from such severe migraines and depression. Who's to say for sure, but this book left me with the impression that Mary probably really tried to be a good gal despite her mental/physical problems.

I did like the point of view of this book. Telling the history of Lincoln's political and personal life inclusive with the lives of his opponents-turned-collaborators not only gave a more complete view of the times and happenings of the mid 1800s, but it demonstrated in a few cases what Lincoln did so widely, humbly, and deftly; turn those against him into believers and supporters of his work.

One interesting thing that Lincoln did that I loved about him, and can't stand about George W. Bush, is that Lincoln, while not being dishonest, again unlike our current president, used much political slide-of-hand to get things done. I guess the biggest difference between Lincoln and some of our modern politicians is that while this technique is used today to cover up wrongdoings or cheating, Lincoln used it to help bring unity back to the nation and freedom to all people.

Hundreds of books have been written about Abraham Lincoln, the prairie lawyer from Springfield, more than have been written about any other American. This fact alone makes it legitimate to question why we need another. In her book Team of Rivals, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has written an insightful analysis of Lincoln and the leading members of his cabinet.

Goodwin sets the stage by first taking us to the nominating convention, giving us a portrait of Lincoln and his rivals—William Seward of NY, Ohio Gov. Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates of Missouri. Within weeks of his election, Lincoln faced the dissolution of the Union. In this crisis, Lincoln made the strategic decision to appoint all three of his rivals to his cabinet, although they mostly had rather low regard for Lincoln’s abilities. However, Lincoln's determination, his ability to rise above personal slights, and his talent for getting along with men of clashing ideologies and personalities inspired these men to overcome their petty rivalries—all except Salmon Chase, whose dislike for Lincoln never changed.

Team of Rivals is an absorbing psychological study, a great biography of the four rivals, and a history of the civil war as viewed from the White House. Her analysis of the Lincoln presidency provides great insight into his extraordinary leadership qualities.

Yesssss! I did it y'all!



This is an accomplishment. Team of Rivals is dense, not gonna lie, but incredible and so worth it.

If you set one reading goal for yourself, in your life, it should be to read this book. The writing, Lincoln's life, the goings on of the cabinet and the country ... wow, wow, wow.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I've always thought Abraham Lincoln was the greatest president in U.S. history, and now, after reading Team of Rivals, I'm convinced of that. His political genius allowed him to harness the talents and tame the “lesser angels” among his many rivals – the political and social cream of the crop in the 1840s-50s. This very humble, self-deprecating man, who lacked formal education and experienced so much sorrow early in life, was pitted against tough competition his entire life -- part of his greatness is that he never succumbed to bitterness or resentment when he lost an election (and there were many more losses than wins). Goodwin’s depiction of the nomination process of 1860 at the Republican convention is nothing short of spellbinding – who knew that a political process could be so riveting (even when you know the outcome!)

For me, the true brilliance of the book is the unremitting theme of slavery woven through every chapter and behind almost every political move that Abe and his rivals made during that period of American history. While it’s true that Lincoln is not the unapologetic abolitionist many think he was, his genius is in knowing how to keep the many factions in his party and in the Union on his side during the crisis of secession and the resulting Civil War. Ultimately, it’s a heartbreaking story, but it makes me appreciate more than ever our 16th President and how he preserved the union and our very frail democracy. It sounds trite to write that “he preserved the union,” but in the hands of Doris Kearns Goodwin, the story behind the preservation of our fledgling country is compelling, gripping, and extremely frightening.

I love this quote from Leo Tolstoy in the frontispiece of the book -- it doesn't seem like hyperbole after reading this incredible biography: "The greatness of Napoleon, Caesar or Washington is only moonlight by the sun of Lincoln. His example is universal and will last thousands of years . . . . He is bigger than his country -- bigger than all the Presidents together . . . and as a great character he will live as long as the world lasts."

WOW. Highly recommend. To be clear I am definitely in the target audience for this book because I love US history, and I thoroughly enjoyed the very long biographies of Ulysses S, Grant and George, Washington by Ron Chernow. This book was equally as fascinating and amazing as those two. I had never read a biography on Abraham Lincoln, and I was mesmerized throughout. I cried at the end when he was assassinated. What a huge huge loss for the country at a critical time of Reconstruction. Doris Kearns Goodwin researched and wrote this masterfully.

Amazing cast of “characters” in his cabinet, that I also thoroughly enjoyed learning more about.

I must say it really does make you depressed about the state of current American politics looking at how far we have fallen. Of course, no one is perfect, but the type of man who used to be involved in American politics seemed to be in it for the greater good of the country, and now I just feel like the political system America worked and fought so hard to build and put into place is broken.

Some interesting revelations for me were that it was considered poor form for candidates to campaign for themselves or vote for themselves.

I felt bad for his son Robert, who seemed to get the shaft in terms of parental time and attention with Willie and Tad always around the White House being spoiled and loved by Lincoln and Mary, while Robert is off at boarding school.

I had NO idea what a narcissistic nightmare McClellan was and how poorly he did his job!!! Holy cow. I really went down a rabbit hole of research on him after reading about him in this book.

I can’t remember who this quote was attributed to in the book, but there were many sentiments of the same variation saying about Lincoln, that “He is one of the best men god ever created.” And it surely seemed that way. What a man of impeccable honesty, integrity, humor, caring, intelligence, political savvy, forgiveness, etc. An amazing leader.

I found his journey to caring about abolition fascinating as well. I had heard that he wasn’t particularly interested in freeing the slaves or that element of the Civil War until later, and because we hold him on such a pedestal, and because he seems like such an incredible person was difficult to see him fall short of today’s standards in that regard, though he clearly came around.

I also found it FASCINATING in this book and the Washington and Grant books that the White House was considered for the people and really anyone could just wander in there and look around or line up to talk to the president about anything!!!! I wonder at what point security standards for Presidents and the White House reached the level they are at today.

I am seeing Doris Kearns Goodwin next month at an Author Event in Pittsburgh and decided that, along with her new book that I will be reading in October, I should also [FINALLY] read this book. I have had it for several years and just have not had the time to invest in such a large and immense book. Turns out, you can do this in 26 days. 1 chapter a day. On audio, that translates to a little over an hour on most days, though there is a 3 hour day and several 2+ hour days as well. It is A LOT of information. A LOT. I will be dissecting this book in my head for days, months, maybe even years. And even as daunting as this book is, I am sure I will reread it at some point as I know there is stuff I missed. You cannot help it when there is this much information. I will say that I had read Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by Robert Swanson 6 years ago [and highly recommend] and as I was coming to the end of this book, it made me think of Mr. Swanson's book and now I just want to dive back into that one as well. ;-)

Anyone who knows me, knows I love Lincoln. He is my favorite president [followed by Garfield and Obama] and I never can seem to get enough information about him. This really filled that need for information. And just reinforced all the things I love about this man. History would have been so different had he lived.

With the book by Mr. Swanson, I also recommend "The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War"by Daniel Stashower, which was an amazing read and filled with a plot to assassinate Lincoln BEFORE he was sworn in as president and a story I had never heard before. It was riveting to read.

I highly recommend this book - yes, it is huge, but you will not be sorry, especially if you love Lincoln as I do.

Although there are two books squeezed between the covers this remains readable.

The first book is an account of the competition for the Republican candidacy and the beginning of the Lincoln administration. Here is a slightly different story about the developing USA, the changing, growing country and the kinds of political careers and ambitions available to men in it. There is a very serious heavyweight argument I felt lurking in the prose that never comes to the forefront and possible never developed in the author's mind about how one could become a political figure in early nineteenth-century America. Still we're told an entertaining tale about the backgrounds, rivalries and capers that led to Lincoln clinching the candidacy and then going on to win the presidency.

The story that we are then told of Lincoln eventually asserting his authority over his one time political rivalries is ok, but could have been extended to look at his dealing with his generals. The dynamic between Seward or McClellan and Lincoln strikes me as similar. The self-conscious expert looking to assert their authority relative to the titular Chief.

This issue of how a newcomer to a position manages to assert themselves and deals with competing authorities is a fairly basic problem, one which many readers will themselves have had experience of. Certainly a similar book could be written about most political administrations, but the concept of seeing Lincoln's first administration as a team of rivals is still interesting, although underdeveloped. The sources might not allow a thorough understanding of what happened but there has been a lot of work on teams, team building and leadership. I don't mean that I expected to see an analysis in terms of storming, norming and performing, but there are theoretical frameworks which Goodwin chose to ignore in favour of the cosier narrative format. Nor does she put Lincoln's experience of making himself into the president and asserting his authority in context - all the more surprising since the author has written about other US presidents. While this was the first republican administration the need to accommodate different groupings, power bases or ambitious personalities was hardly unique to Lincoln.

The idea however rather runs out of steam once his leadership is established during his first year in office. The author anyway continues the narrative to Lincoln's death. This is where the second book kicks in - it's just a biography of Lincoln with no particular new argument to make. It was no less entertaining to read, but wasn't relevant to the notion of a team of rivals.

This was my first and so far only Lincoln biography, despite it's bulk as a whole it is a nice, moderately fresh political account, cosy, lacking in ambition, unchallenging but thoroughly readable and entertaining. There's probably an essay already written on the subject of President Obama's references to wanting his cabinet to be a team of rivals  as fine a bit of advertising as any author could wish for, perhaps the best that can be said is that there is a charisma to high political office which the successful holder, if sufficiently capable, can use to their advantage to outmanoeuvre or win over potential rivals - irrespective of their presumed or actual power bases.

sorry, she's still plagiarizing. To any one who knows anything about writing, it should be obvious.... the abrupt changes of writing style for certain passages and descriptions that are obviously lifted, almost wholesale, from the books of others, with no in-text attribution. Saw this throughout and this is precisely what she was caught out on before.

If you're an author, you're acutely aware of the trangression. Some other author has put in all the sweat equity to do the research and to wordsmith the writing and someone just steals it to make themselves look smarter and more lucid. It's plain wrong. Its theft.

definition of plagiarism...

https://www.plagiarism.org/article/wh...

Abraham Lincoln held the northern states together in part by staffing his cabinet with party rivals. A remarkable study in leadership genius.