Review Of Team Of Rivals: The Political Genius Of Abraham Lincoln

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin is a historical novel that focuses on Lincoln’s most radical decision: to choose a cabinet of all of his rivals. The book goes in depth about the lives and careers of Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of Treasury; William H. Seward, Secretary of State; Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War; and Edward Bates, Attorney General. This 900-page journey telling of how these five rivals worked together is a riveting one and provides a new perspective on a story told thousands of times. Doris Kearns Goodwin paints a new face of Lincoln, and intertwines the separate lives of each cabinet member. She does not only talk about their struggles of working together in office, but also shares the personal lives and political careers of these men before that time. Each of them had previously been on separate paths, but

Although it is covering one area of focus, there is a lot to cover. By focusing on Chase, Seward, Stanton, Bates and Lincoln, Team of Rivals, this book shares almost too knowledge for the reader to absorb. Goodwin’s purpose of Team of Rivals was to write a new study of Lincoln. Because there are countless novels and books on Lincoln, she wanted to take a new approach about Lincoln. She wanted to more deeply uncover how genius Lincoln was by choosing to work with the people he did. Instead of just focusing on Lincoln though, she takes into account the other influential men that helped guide him through one of America’s most difficult times. In the text, there are no footnotes or citations of research, but the reader can assume there was extensive research due to the in depth writing and quotations. At the end of the book, there is a section of acknowledgements, notes and illustration credits giving credit to all the information