Book Talk: Team of Rivals

In celebration of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, I borrowed a copy of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals from a colleague to read about Lincoln's political acumen; namely, how he created his cabinet from the very rivals he campaigned against to win the Republican nomination in 1860.

The book documents the patience, judgment, savvy, goodheartedness, and vision that Lincoln employed to manage an alliance that represented the several political perspectives that would otherwise undermine an already perilous Union. Again and again, in letters, face-to-face conversations, meetings, and speeches Lincoln used his inspired command of the language to assuage differences, broker compromises, salvage hurt egos, and (always) preserve the Union.

I was struck by the enormous amount of travel, hard-work, long-distance communication, and firsthand interaction that the president and cabinet maintained in their daily work. I also learned something about the nature and allure of ambition in the time before the Civil War when so many families suffered devastating losses due to infant mortality, disease and the demands of the age.

I came away from this book with an increased expectation of what individuals are capable of enduring and achieving in even the most desperate of times.