Team of Rivals

I just finished listening to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, which focuses on how Abraham Lincoln named political rivals to his cabinet after winning the presidential election. Salmon Chase, for example, believed—as did many others—that Lincoln didn’t have what it took to deal with the country splitting apart, but was still named Treasury Secretary. Chase even wanted to challenge Lincoln in 1864.

There’s nothing exactly “new” but the central theme is still interesting. Goodwin’s main focus is Lincoln’s amazing ability to manage his political team, and she does successfully convey how incredibly difficult the job was, and how he was able to engage people who were skeptical or even highly critical of him. Some, like Edwin Stanton, eventually became very close to him personally. Lincoln sought to balance different factions of the Republican party while also getting the most effective people for the cabinet positions.

The narrator is Thomas Richard, who also read Manhunt, and I think he did a better job with this book. I am fortunate to have a very short commute, but at times I’d get into it and wish it was a little longer. I added it to my sidebar.