Team of Rivals The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

can you believe i used to read nonfiction

Fascinating historical portrait of Lincoln I hadn't heard before. Starting this book, I expected to learn more about how keeping his former rivals in his presidential cabinet helped him make a stronger presidency, but really, it was simply stated that conversation among the cabinet was contentious, occasionally someone had to be replaced, and at the end of his life Lincoln and Seward had developed a strong mutual love for each other. No larger lessons or principals, but a good historical exception that rather than being a Pollyanna philosophy of life, was actually a shrewd political calculation that modern politicians such as Hillary Clinton in her defeat of Sanders could have duplicated.

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I never knew how many times Lincoln came up in everyday conversations until I read this book! I thought I knew what I needed to know about Lincoln, but apparently not. Surrounding himself by his rivals and in some cases people who thought he was a bumbling fool? Yep that's what he did. He said if these guys were the cream of the crop the people deserved to have them help in the governing of this great country of ours. So he just used his quiet little gentle smarts to tame their resentment and to make them help in this difficult time. And it was a difficult time. Lincoln didn't even know how he wanted to handle it. He just knew he couldn't let the South spin off and form their own country. It's a long book of history. But worth every minute.

Very good! Made me want to read Shakespeare again. How cool to have a good president. I wonder how much better the country might be today if Lincoln led Reconstruction? Crazy ending too — didn’t know it was a multi-target assassination attempt! Lots of fun. Good writing too!

Abraham Lincoln was ahead of his time, was a great leader, even though he was racist. For someone who's not a history buff, or rather at the other extreme of never having good history lessons, this book had a lot to teach. The book focuses on how Lincoln brilliantly navigated politics to accomplish so much during his tenure as president. It brilliantly covers the tension between the north and the south that lead to the secessionist movement, the civil war, and the role slavery played through it all. It also shows how Lincoln, knowing how difficult it would be to keep the country united, delicately balanced the folks he nominated to his cabinet. He ensured that people within the union felt that they had a representative, that the cabinet wasn't lopsided, and as such was able to keep united the north during a very delicate time. In particular, he focused on border states that were at risk of joining the confederacy. There were some things I didn't know about Lincoln. I've only heard before that he's had the best presidency in history, that he was a Republican, and that he was responsible for the Emancipation Proclamation that freed all the slaves. As such, I thought of him as someone morally ahead of his time and put him up on a pedestal. However, the reality was much more sobering. Although many of those things are true, and he was a great president with a strong moral compass, Lincoln's perspective around slaves shifted throughout his term as president. A few specifics: * Going into the Civil War, Lincoln made it clear that he wasn't going into war to free the slaves, just to keep the whole US united. * His initial proposal was to limit slavery to the states were it already existed (the south) and not let it spread to the north. He believed that the Union had no right to abolish slavery in the south and should just let slavery die out naturally over time, not force its abolition. * Once he realized that this pesky "slavery thing" wasn't going anywhere, and the huge moral gap between the north and the south wouldn't be resolved without abolishing slavery, he drafted plans to free all slaves and, literally, ship all blacks back to their "homeland" (or wherever they came from). Lincoln's priority was to unite the whites in the north and the south, to keep the union together, and abolishing slavery was a means to that end. * Later on, Lincoln also realized that by enlisting blacks in the army of the union they'd have a huge advantage over the south, as he was advised by his general. This was another reason he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. * Oh, I almost forgot, the Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in the revel states (the confederacy) but not in the border states. That is, border states that had slaves but remained loyal to the union were not forced to free the slaves, although they eventually did on their own accord. They were sort of grandfathered into keeping their right to slavery. Kind of ridiculous. Wikipedia excerpt below (1) * Lincoln was clear that he was just freeing the slaves but by no means giving them the same civil rights as white men. He had no intentions of giving voting rights to blacks, for example, although he believed they shouldn't be slaves as all men are created (kinda) equal. Those are all interesting tidbits that opened my eyes to just how different was the situation back then. Lincoln was a genius politician, pretty centrist in how he managed most situations, and the actions he took were usually backed by the popular sentiment (definition of centrist). His genius was mostly in timing. If he knew that he wanted everyone to move a bit left, he didn't just order it, he waited until the tide was pushing left already and then gave it a push so that it didn't revert back right. This book was a great listen (audio version). (1) Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to the border states. Of the states that were exempted from the proclamation, Maryland (1864),[10] Missouri (1865),[11][12] Tennessee (1865),[12] and West Virginia (1865)[13] abolished slavery before the war ended. However, Delaware [14] and Kentucky did not abolish slavery until December 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified.[15]

I absolutely loved this book. I had high hopes for it after watching the magnificent "Lincoln" last year. (Side note: I find interesting the statement that "Lincoln" was based on this book. At most, I'd say that "Lincoln was based on an eighth of the entire work.) I loved learning more about the individual cabinet members such as Chase, Seward and Bates. Ms. Goodwin wove a complicated and intense story spanning multiple decades and multiple characters to create an epic that is part biography (of multiple people) and part civil war historiography. I also love how she kept the other characters "in the loop" after Lincoln's election to the presidency. This could have easily become just another Lincoln biography but instead she made this book a step above the rest. She also avoided bias and sweeping generalities, something that has bothered in other works like this. I can't say enough good things about this work. I highly recommend it and can't wait to purchase it to make it a permanent part of my library.

Great book that follows Lincoln's political legacy not just through his own work, but through the people he picked in his cabinet.