Thoroughly researched but incredibly dry. There are too many characters and a deluge of unnecessary details included in this book which makes it drudgery to read. Nonfiction can still be entertaining and this is not. It is the first book I’ve read by Doris Kearns Goodwin and I don’t know if there will be a second.

A Pulitzer Prize winner worthy of the award.
All of the superlative adjectives apply to this book.
A monumental effort on a monumental book.
A remarkable study of Lincoln and the people who surrounded him during his lifetime.
The saying "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" applies throughout the book.

These are just a few of my thoughts and comments on this extraordinary book. Extensively researched and well-written, Goodwin expertly intertwined her prose with the myriad of letters, diaries and notes provided by the many historical figures involved in the political and personal events of Lincoln's life.
I must admit to the use of the audio version of the book at times due to its length and detail. The audio (read superbly by Richard Thomas of "The Waltons" fame) was edited so much that I had to stop listening and read from time to time. While the audio stayed true to the political theme of the book, so much of the personal side of events of the main and secondary characters was edited out. Though seemingly unimportant to the audio, these personal stories were a welcome addition to my reading enjoyment and showed the human side of this terrible time in American history. I would have missed so much information and knowledge just by listening to the audio. This contributed greatly to my reading experience.
If you intend to read this book, please do so word for word with the printed text. You will be greatly rewarded for your commitment. Highly, highly recommended for all Civil War and Lincoln enthusiasts.

Very well written, this substantial book tells the life story of Abraham Lincoln while chronologically detailing the functioning of the executive branch of the United States government during his administration. The battles of the Civil War are in the background. Some knowledge of them would be helpful, but not necessary.

Goodwin paints a very complimentary portrait of Lincoln. On the one hand, she regards him as exceptional from his earliest years. Having had no more than a year of formal education, an illiterate father and stepmother, and a hardscrabble life as a farm worker, he displayed great ambitions early on, basically educating himself through a successful bar examination. By this time he had mastered the political arts, both in his private and his public life. Although a rather normative racist for his time and region, his views on that and on other matters evolved over time--always, according to Goodwin, in a compassionate direction. This view, seeing him as indeed 'the great liberator', was notably shared by such as Frederick Douglass, who had come to know him personally.

Personally, having devoted some considerable time to studying the years of the Civil War, I find this book on a par, so far as readability and heartfulness are concerned, with Bruce Catton's two trilogies, all of which I strongly recommend.

Most readers would question the need for another Lincoln Biography at this point. After 200 years and numerous Biographies, is there anything new to learn about the man? In Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin answers that question with a resounding yes. Her focus is mainly on Lincoln as political operator. She explores this theme by looking at Lincoln through the eyes of his three greatest political rivals(and later cabinet members) William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates. Goodwin begins her narrative at the 1860 Republican convention where all 4 were vying for the nomination. Lincoln was thought to be a long shot, but thanks to some adroit maneuvering on the part of his management team, he managed to position himself as every delegation's second choice, and managed to secure the nomination as a compromise candidate. The rest of the book focuses on the way in which Lincoln managed the Civil War, and the way in which various cabinet members influenced policy, and helped shape his evolving view of slavery. Lincoln was also a master at massaging his team's ego's when political in-fighting threatened to break the cabinet apart. He also had an incredible capacity for forgiveness. For example, when Chase crossed him one too many times, he finally accepts his resignation as head of the treasury, only to later appoint him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Can you imagine a President giving a major rival a post with a lifetime appointment today?!

I was captivated by the portrait of William Seward, sadly he is remembered today only for his purchase of Alaska, much derided at the time as "Seward's Folly" I had no idea he was one of the leading political figures of his generation.

A complex portrait of Lincoln emerges from Team of Rivals, one that forever shatters the myth that he was a blundering backwoods political neophyte who could be easily influenced.

Fair warning: This book requires a significant investment of time but you'll be well rewarded. It took me almost a month reading a chapter a day. It ended up being my #2 book of 2005, and my #4 book of the decade.

Don't get me wrong. This is a good book, but it's not as good as I thought it would be or had heard it would be. I expected more from Doris Kearns Goodwin. It didn't go into the political genius as much as I wanted. It details the four men in Lincoln's cabinet that play a major role. It's more about them and their interactions than it is about Lincoln's political moves. There is a lot of interesting descriptions of the generals, but I got tired of the McClennan drama being detailed. I definitely didn't enjoy the pleasure that Ms. Goodwin got from detailing Kate Chase's every move. I just wish this book had been a little shorter and concise about events. It needed in my opinion to be more about Lincoln's political thoughts and why he did what he did. However, I did enjoy the background of Seward, Chase, Stanton and Cameron. I would only recommend this book to amateur historians and not the general public who are picking it up because President Obama mentioned it.

With as many good things as I have heard about this book, it would be almost impossible for it not to be overrated. It was not, in spite of unlikelihood that any book could sustain captivated attention for 994 pages. The author was right. Aspects of Lincoln's character come out more clearly when we get to know his contemporaries and see his day-to-day interactions with them. His interactions with his family are poignant, and his much-maligned wife comes across as a real, if troubled, person who could at times be as politically astute as her husband. Lincoln's relationship with his erstwhile chief rival, William Henry Seward, is truly engaging. To see how much they needed each other to gratify their egos and purposes and that how this mutual dependence grew into friendship and admiration makes for an interesting study in human relations. If this could be considered a true Lincoln biography, I still feel I know him better than many people of whom I have read true biographies.

SECOND READING: Still five stars. Given the extended time for which the author asks for my attention and that only four years have lapsed since I last read this book, that is quite an accomplishment. Lincoln looms larger, yet more approachable. His navigational real crises, personal and in statecraft, puts mine in perspective. His inexhaustible, yet gentle and timely fount of grace flavored with good humor is exactly what I needed to clean life's wounds and to aspire to treat others the same way. I'll be back, again.

For well over a decade now, this excellent book had been sitting amongst my mountain of unread books, patiently waiting for me to get to it. Why did I wait so long to read it? It certainly wasn't because I was dreading it. More like the opposite - I was anticipating that it would be so good that I kept saving it, for what end I really don't know. I finally decided that it had suffered in silence long enough, and combined with me recently reading a rather uninspiring biography of Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, now seemed like as good a time as any to dive in. Doris Kearns Goodwin won four literary awards for this book, and was a finalist for a few more. While not without a few flaws, I can see why it was deserving of such accolades.

Ostensibly, this is a biography of Abraham Lincoln (one that at times seems excessively pro-Lincoln as Goodwin never fails to paint Lincoln in the best possible light). However, his all-star Cabinet is also a focus, with several Cabinet members getting their own mini-biographies in the process. Most prominent among these men are Secretary of State William Seward and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase. Goodwin also writes, to a much lesser extent, about Attorney General Edward Bates, and even lesser still about Postmaster General Montgomery Blair (or "Monty" Blair as Goodwin for some reason annoyingly calls him throughout the book).

Goodwin divides the book into two halves, with the first half being somewhat shorter in length. That part sets up Lincoln's rise to the presidency, as well as focusing on the budding political careers of Seward and Chase, with an occasional paragraph about Bates. Of the two parts of the book, this is the part that - while still good - I did not care for as much. Some of that has to do with being familiar with Lincoln's pre-presidential story, his difficulties with his father, his moving to Illinois as a young man, teaching himself how to become a lawyer, becoming involved in Whig politics, his depression, and courting of Mary Lincoln. None of that is a reflection on Goodwin, as all of that is necessary to knowing - as much as we can almost two centuries later - who Lincoln was and what shaped him personally and politically.

But Goodwin occasionally makes a comment that is both unsubstantiated and also left me shaking my head as to why she felt the need to put that in her book. On page 93 she writes: "Before his marriage Lincoln enjoyed close relations with young women and almost certainly found outlets for his sexual urges among the prostitutes who were readily available on the frontier." What? "Almost certainly found...". Where is the source for this speculation? Maybe he did engage in this type of activity, but there does not seem to be any evidence that he did. So why even make that assumption? And if Lincoln did hire prostitutes, I really don't care. But I would prefer there to be some proof, or even a contemporary source saying that he did, rather than Goodwin speculate on something that is, at this late date, most likely unprovable, and isn't anyone's business anyways.

Speaking of sources, Goodwin has had some plagiarism issues in the past. A few times, including the sentence on page 93 cited above, I came across something that sort of made me wonder where she came up with her proof. On page 174, she writes about Lincoln's first meeting with his future Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, when they met in Cincinnati for a trial. This is one of those Lincoln myths that has been around for a long time. In Walter Stahr's biography of Stanton, he disputed that Stanton was dismissive of Lincoln. So I looked up what Goodwin used as a source for this: it is from a letter that another lawyer wrote over thirty years later. So how accurate is this assertion that Stanton was rude to Lincoln? It is fairly well-documented that Lincoln was not utilized at the trial (the venue had shifted from IL to OH, and Lincoln had been hired prior to the state change, for his IL law expertise), and given Stanton's abrasive personality, I actually think it's more than likely that he viewed Lincoln as a country bumpkin lawyer and wanted nothing to do with him. But Goodwin's source just doesn't seem that reliable to me.

On page 267, writing about Lincoln's victory in the 1860 election, Goodwin states that "Had the election been fought on the single issue of slavery, it is likely that Lincoln would have lost." While it is true that slavery was not the only issue in that election, it definitely was the elephant that loomed over the polling places. Lincoln's Republican Party was founded as an antislavery party in that it wanted to contain slavery where it existed in the hopes that it would eventually wither away and die off. Yes, sure, there were local issues in some states, as Goodwin points out. But aren't there usually local issues? Voters who were proslavery weren't going to vote for Lincoln, who was clearly antislavery.

The second half of the book is excellent. Goodwin is a gifted writer and her narrative is smooth as she details the formation of Lincoln's Cabinet, and how he was self-confident enough to ask his former rivals for the Republican nomination - men who felt they had much more of a claim to that honor than Lincoln did - to ask them to serve under him and help him keep the country together. Lincoln did a masterful job massaging all of these large egos, and Goodwin does a masterful job writing about it. The country was in peril, and Lincoln needed the best team that he could assemble. Seward was widely respected throughout the North, and Chase was as well. Bates, while out of active politics for a long time, was an esteemed elder statesman at this point in his life. Blair was from a powerful family in a border state. While Goodwin doesn't focus on Welles nearly as much, he was a competent administrator and provided absolute loyalty to Lincoln.

Goodwin is outstanding on showing how close Lincoln and Seward became. One of the many aspects of Lincoln's genius was in getting Seward to go from a position of bitterness and arrogance at having lost the nomination to one whom he thought inferior to himself, to becoming Lincoln's closest advisor and a cherished friend who committed himself fully to assisting Lincoln in whatever means necessary and doing his part to try to save the Union. Goodwin's cataloging of their relationship is superb, as it also is with Chase and Lincoln. Unlike the rest of the Cabinet, Chase was not loyal to Lincoln. Oh, he did great work at the Treasury. But Chase felt that he should be President, and he was forever finding fault with Lincoln. Lincoln had the patience of a saint in dealing with Chase, all along knowing that Chase was working behind the scenes to try to maneuver himself into the 1864 Republican nomination. How Lincoln managed to treat Chase (and everyone else) with the utmost kindness at all times is honestly something to be marveled at. Just reading about his machinations is enough to cause upset in a reader. To borrow an old adage, Chase repeatedly bit the hand that fed him, constantly leaking details of Cabinet meetings to his friends in Congress (Chase was on what was then the extreme, or Radical, edge of Republican politics as he was and had for a long time been staunchly antislavery, wanting not only to keep it from spreading but to actively eliminate it throughout the country) and writing disparaging comments behind Lincoln's back. Yet Lincoln, the epitome of magnanimity, nominated Chase to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in late 1864. How many men would bestow such an honor on someone who for years had worked to cut his feet out from under him? And on the Supreme Court appointment itself, Goodwin does a wonderful job of laying out the various options that Lincoln had, and why he shrewdly chose Chase. I loved this part of the book.

I would have liked it if she had written more about both Bates and Blair. I don't want to say that these two men were shorted, as I think that would be an overstatement. Perhaps it is more like they were overshadowed here by Seward, Chase, and Stanton. Yet I think both men could have been brought more into the narrative. As an example, Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus (one of the most controversial decisions that he made) and Bates' role in that is barely touched upon. This was a huge decision, one that historians still wrestle with today as far as wondering if Lincoln went too far or not. What was Bates' role in this matter? Goodwin devotes about two sentences to that important topic. I think it needed much more. I did wonder: did Goodwin not focus on this episode because some historians consider it a blot on Lincoln's mostly sterling reputation? Goodwin seems almost at times to worship Lincoln. And there is a lot to love here. It is Lincoln, after all! But Lincoln was human, and every human has flaws. That includes Lincoln. But you wouldn't know that from Goodwin's treatment of him on virtually every page of this book.

Blair as well could have used more exposure here. Much of the time when Goodwin did turn her attention his way was more about Blair's influential family than it was about him. How close of an advisor was he to Lincoln? How much did Lincoln regret having to ask for his resignation during the 1864 campaign to mollify some of the Radical Republicans who distrusted Blair (he and his family were pro-Union Democrats who tried to tread carefully in the border states of Maryland and Missouri)?

Goodwin is mostly neutral on Mary Lincoln. She shows her flaws, which were many and serious, but also the good works that she was capable of, as well as her indispensability to Lincoln in the two decades before he was elected President. There are times, especially once the war begins, where she does sort of recede into the background of the narrative. But Lincoln was so absorbed in his duties at this critical juncture, that perhaps that was reality. It would be difficult not to feel sympathy for Mary given the incredible amount of loss that she suffered in her lifetime. However, she caused Lincoln a great deal of consternation, and at times I thought that Goodwin was lighter on her than she probably should have been.

And speaking of loss, Goodwin is riveting as we rapidly move towards both the conclusion of the Civil War and Lincoln's assassination. She follows Lincoln through his last week of life, which saw his return from Richmond, Seward's near-fatal carriage accident, the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army, and Lincoln's final day in office. Despite knowing what was going to happen, I couldn't wait to turn the page. That's when you know that you are reading a thoroughly good book. Despite there being a few things here and there that I did not care for, this book was worth the long wait.

Grade: A-

In high school, I was really obsessed with the Lincoln assassination. I read all the books I could get my hands on and wrote a 36 page research paper. And then I kind of burnt out on Lincoln and decided this tome could wait.
But boy, am I glad I picked it up. This is a truly intriguing and engaging biography about the men Lincoln surrounded himself with in his cabinet. It aptly highlights the political genius of Lincoln and how he navigated the often larger-than-life personalities of the men of his day. I walked away feeling inspired and more knowledgeable. And after that, what more can you ask?

Doris Kearns Goodwin weaves a masterful tale as she follows the lives of Lincoln and his intimate circle of friends and rivals from the early 1800s, through the Civil War until the catastrophe assassination of the President in April 1865. It is a complex, but fascinating story of the political genius of Lincoln who was able to get consensus from his most bitter rivals all while holding on to his own high moral code. Particularly moving, besides the horrors of war and the cataclysmic night at the Ford Theater, was the various contexts for his greatest speeches and writings including the moving Gettysburg Address. Readers will find Lincoln to be both humorous and melancholy, but ultimately curious, brave, and human.

There is some beautiful psychological analysis of Lincoln's personality along with a Pynchon (one of my favorite authors!) quote on melancholy on page 109. In fact, all the characters are analyzed with great insights into their motivations and characters: one of the primary strengths of this book is this intimate portrait of these men. I feel like I can sympathize greatly with Lincoln's particular pathos: The melancholy stamped on Lincoln's nature derived in large part from an acute sensitivity to the pains and injustices he perceived in the world. He was uncommonly tenderhearted.. We are also treated to many of Lincoln's wonderful stories. Drawn from his own experiences and the curiosities reported by others, they frequently provided maxims or proverbs that usefully connected to the lives of his listeners. Lincoln possessed an extraordinary ability to convey practical wisdom in the form of humorous tales his listeners could remember and repeat. This process of repetition is central to the oral tradition. (p. 151)
That is one of the things that struck me about the world described - oral communication played a far more critical role in these days before the internet, and it would seem that we have lost a generation of able statesmen in our times of vacuous soundbites.

Some time is spent on the catastrophic Dred Scott Supreme Court decision written by Chief Justice Taney. It was admirable how Seward fought this tooth and nail. I feel that today's Justice Roberts may be nearly as corrupt as Taney and may yet deliver some similary catastrophic decisions. (p. 191)

Another phrase that certainly rung a bitter bell for me was during the presidential campagn of 1860 when the Chicago Press and Tribune wrote: if Mr. Lincoln is elected President, he will carry little but that is ornamental to the White House. The country must accept his sincerity, his ability and his honesty...He may not preside at the Presidential dinners with the ease and grace which distinguish the 'venerable public functionary,' Mr. Buchanan; but he will not create the necessity" for a congressional committee to investigate corruption in his administration. (p. 265). This is, sadly, very very far from where we have sunk today.

One piece of trivia I appreciated was that the officialization of Thanksgiving as a national holiday was, in fact, Lincoln's idea (p. 577) in October 1863. Brilliant. This was followed by one of the most moving speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address which is quoted in full on page 586.
Oh that today’s leaders had even a sprinkling of Lincoln’s humanity. But that is a whole other debate.

The book was absolutely wonderful and ends with a fascinating quote from a young 23yo Lincoln, "Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other [ambition] so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow man, of rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed." (p. 749) He certainly made good on that promise, and the United States is indebted to him for it. Hopefully, the winds of change will blow on Washington in November 2020 and renew a spirit of humanity which is so lacking today and so evident in Lincoln's story.

Team of Rivals

Team of Rivals refers to Abraham Lincoln’s choice of prior adversaries as his presidential cabinet. The first was the most famous Republican candidate for the 1860 presidential race. This was William Seward, the Governor of New York. Seward was a very bright, good story teller and ardently opposed to slavery. He was, in all likelihood, too liberal to get the Republican nomination. The Republican Party was made up of former Whig party, Know-Nothing party and anti-slavery democrats. The know nothings were against immigration. This hurt Seward because he was very pro-immigration.

The second rival is former Ohio Senator and Governor Salmon P. Chase. He made a lot of enemies in Ohio with a shady political deal to obtain a Senate seat. The third was Edward Bates. Bates was a Missouri Judge. One of the reasons that Lincoln defeated these three is because he was a relatively unknown former congressman and lawyer. Lincoln was however a very hard working, great debater, great speech giver and writer as well as a magnificent story teller. He also had a hard dedicated team which worked tirelessly to ensure Lincoln’s victory. They were so dedicated because Lincoln was such a nice fellow as well as great story teller.

When Lincoln won the nomination the South began secession talks and quickly seceded. One of Lincoln’s most important decisions was to pick all of his former rivals for top cabinet positions. Seward was picked for Secretary of State, Chase for Treasury and Bates for Attorney General. He did this with full knowledge that each rival considered himself more qualified than him to be president. He also knew that there would be internal strife amongst such big personalities.

When confederate forces struck Fort Sumter the Civil War began. This is where Lincoln made his only major mistake. The mistake was picking George McClellan to head the Union Army and his delay in replacing him. McClellan’s delays in engaging confederate forces are well documented and may very well have prevented a quick Union victory.

Lincoln’s wife Mary is discussed a lot in this book as is Treasury Secretary Chase’s daughter Kate. Mary was a very driven woman who loved the big fancy balls that she would host. She enjoyed flirting with men and Abe never minded. However after the death of their son she fell into deep depression. When she finally pulled herself out she devoted herself to secretly caring for wounded soldiers in the hospital. Kate Chase was known as the prettiest lady in Washington and she hosted elaborate balls on behalf of her father. She married the wealthy William Sprague, owner of A.& W. Sprague Manufacturing Company. Although they seemed like the all American couple she had a miserable married life which ended in divorce.

Kate’s father however actively pursued the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1864 while being the acting Treasury Secretary. He did a stellar job financing the war and Lincoln appreciated that. So after confronting him without malice he offered him the recent Supreme Court justice position vacated by Judge Roger Taney.

Lincoln was often criticized by the anti-slavery radicals as being overly cautious but history tells us that Lincoln seemed to understand the mood of the country and make decisions based on that. For example, the Emancipation Proclamation was not enacted until he felt that it would be acceptable in the Border States.

When the war ended everything looked rosy in a way. We had a great President who planned a lenient approach to Southern reintegration while guaranteeing colored equality.

That was stymied when John Wilkes Booth pulled the trigger in Ford’s Theater and killed the 16th President.

This book made my top 10 nonfiction list of 2021! Check out the video here: https://youtu.be/TByaMqiy4JQ

Let me first say that I listened to the abridged version of this book, which was MUCH shorter than the whooping 900 plus pages in the unabridged version. I think this was for the best as I don’t have much interest in politics. However, I am interested in Abraham Lincoln, and his role in a key part of America’s tumultuous and sordid history.

Goodwin writes clearly and succinctly and lets the story be told by the key characters whenever possible, which is both a credit to her commitment to research and a credit to the authenticity and flow of the story.

In the abridged version you get the run-up to the election that gained Lincoln his first presidency, the meaning behind the title of the book, his struggles navigating the civil war, and of course his tragic demise. There is also backstory and character work dedicated to many of the major players in his cabinet and in the Union army staff.

I did enjoy learning more about other key figures during this time period. William Seward, in particular, is interesting to learn about. A potential president in his own right, he begins as a staunch rival and ends as a dedicated supporter and friend to Lincoln. This is a repeating theme, as Lincoln’s singular personality wins over all of his rivals. I also enjoyed learning about George McClellan, who I think is the worst person in this book. He’s an arrogant, selfish, overly ambitious, conniving, and irresponsible general who is quick to blame everyone around him, and do whatever it takes to achieve the lofty positions he thinks he deserves. I always remember thinking that the Union army had weak leaders and generals compared to the Confederates, and McClellan is a shining example of that.

No matter how interesting the role players are in this book, Lincoln, of course, steals the show. His humanity, patience, morality, cleverness, and leadership are on full display. He’s not perfect; he clearly is a politician which insinuates some amount of chicanery, but I do think he’s as good a president as the country has, and will ever see.

His strategy of filling up his cabinet with his rivals was executed brilliantly; it’s a powerful message about how politics could, and should work. He was smart enough to know that he needed brilliant men to help him, and delegating responsibility is a key aspect of leadership. He masterfully balanced volatile egos during the most stressful times for the good of all.

Anyone interested in American history or presidents will enjoy this book as it covers arguably the best president, and arguably the most significant period of American history with candor and objective grace. It is said that those who don’t know history are bound to repeat it. If that were true I hope everyone forgets this period of time, as the world would be lucky to see another Abraham Lincoln.

Story-9, Language-8, Ideas-9, Characters-9, Enjoyment-8, Overall-8.5

Whew! What an education! My son and I read this tome over several weeks as a buddy read. (I listened to the 41 hours of unabridged audio.) We learned much about Lincoln and his leadership - but both felt that Goodwin included details we didn't need. Like a history course taught by a brilliant scholar who sometimes rambled on too much... yet the experience was well worth it!