Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks 2010, originally in Blithedale Publications 2005


This wonderful history is the story of Abraham Lincoln from the time he began seeking public office, to his election in 1860, through the Civil War, and to his death in by assassin’s bullet in 1865.

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a phenomenal historian, able to meld the letters, diaries, and other data into the well documented story. This 916 page tome is complete. It is a historian’s history. At each stage of Lincoln’s life in these times, as well as those of his Cabinet members and their families, Ms. Goodwin is able to put personal flesh on the bones of the events.

If you want to learn of the details of Lincoln’s life, challenges, marriage, contemporaries, rivals, and enemies, this is the encyclopedia for your study.

On the other hand, this wonderfully told story is also far more. It provides a fascinating portrait of how each of us should lead our own lives. None of us faces the cataclysmic challenges as did the “rail-splitter” as Lincoln was often derisively described. But each of us faces challenge, insult, diminution, opportunity, and quandary in our lives on a daily basis. We all have to sort our way through these elements to find our own way. Do we follow the lead or demand of others? Do we succumb to fear of confrontation? Do we find buoyancy no matter how often we are dunked under the water?

In this fascinating story of President in crisis, there is instruction in how to lead our own lives. Lincoln’s example is that patience is required to let the events of our lives evolve around us, taking our own counsel to find the way forward. When others intrude on our own space, take our time to determine whether response is appropriate or to allow the intrusion to find its own reward as we step out of the way of the approaching freight train.

As I read these pages, I found myself wondering about the counsel that Abe would offer on the challenges and mysteries of my life. His advice seemed to be clear many times over: “be patient, let the events evolve as they will, always keeping your feet grounded in your own principles.”

This is a phenomenal work of art. I encourage you to read it as I did, and as I do on Sunday mornings in church: what is the meaning of these words for my life. I think that you will find, as I did, meaning beyond whatever you may have imagined.

Thank you Doris!

Warms, Cym