Book Review: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Goodwin’s smooth style is reader-friendly. Team of Rivals, published in 2005, has become a standard in the crowded Lincoln genre, winning the Lincoln Prize and the Book Prize for American History. Team of Rivals was also a finalist for several other prizes.

More than 18,000 books have been written about Abraham Lincoln, making him one of the most documented figures in history. To market a new perspective, many Lincoln scholars seek to offer a unique take on one of the most studied men in history. Goodwin, when not the narrator herself, allows Lincoln’s cabinet to tell his story.

Every president since George Washington has governed with a cabinet, and the cabinet is often given short shrift by historians. Rightly so, in many cases. But Lincoln was different. He filled his cabinet and lesser positions with his Republican competitors, northern Democratic Party leaders, and other powerful rivals within and without his party. Lincoln’s success as president largely came from managing and using this headstrong team of capable people.

I liked this book—a lot. Partly due to Goodwin’s clever emphasis on the cabinet as a team, but mostly for her well-paced and clean narrative that avoids academic wordiness. I also liked the fact that she lived in Concord, Massachusetts. For the most part, I wrote Tempest at Dawn in Concord, and since Goodwin wrote Team of Rivals in the same village, I feel a connection with her.

Tourists visit Concord for its iconic role in the American Revolution, but many are surprised by its literary heritage. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, and Robert B. Parker have all called Concord home. During my stays, I noticed no chain bookstores, but there was a great independent bookstore, three distinctive used bookstores, and a fantastic public library. Concord feels like a town dedicated to books.

Abraham Lincoln and George Washington gathered great men around them. Most of us know about Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and many of the other incredible people surrounding Washington. Doris Kearns Goodwin has now artfully described William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edwin M. Stanton, Gideon Welles, Edward Bates, Caleb B. Smith, and Montgomery Blair.

The Great Man Theory posits that history is shaped by extraordinary individuals. Perhaps so, but it may also be that great people build and manage great teams.

Tempest at Dawn at Amazon

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