I may the the last person you know to read Team of Rivals and I probably am a bit of a contrarian with some of my reaction. Let me say up-front that it is a terrific store of information and I learned a lot that I did not know. The premise of the work is interesting -- Abraham Lincoln has not been given his due as a political genius nor a leader (manager) of people. Goodwin sets about and very successfully makes her point. And doing huge injustice to her scholarship, those points are simple and straightforward. First, Lincoln's nomination as the Republican nominee and his subsequent election as President was no fluke, no accident, and anything but lucky. Rather, Lincoln's election was the direct result of his own political acumen and the application thereof to the situation as he saw it (better than most) and his execution (better and more sophisticated than almost everyone). Second, his process of selecting, attracting, and managing the key members of his cabinet - all of whom were his rivals for the Presidency (William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates) was an unparalleled demonstration of superior knowledge and understanding of human behavior and motivation. Her exploration and demonstration of her thesis is interesting and the politics of the US from 1844 - 1864 is indeed fascinating. While I am certainly no expert, Goodwin's scholarship appears exhaustive and detailed.
The book suffers from two flaws in my opinion. First, Goodwin has sharp insights, but is constantly asserting as fact what she believes Lincoln was feeling or what his motivation or thinking must have been. I do not question her analysis, but it was occasionally noticeable that conjecture was presented as fact. Second, the story is not told linearly, but jumps vertically through the experiences of Lincoln, Seward, Chase, and Bates. It took me a while to get it - until I did, it was a bit confusing. Once I got it, it worked rather well.
Goodwin is a thoughtful writer, but her prose is not exciting nor inventive. As a small example, Salmon Chase's daughter Kate is describe numerous times....and always the same way, "beautiful". Minor perhaps, but it was telling. However, these are small flaws. In the whole the scholarship overwhelms the narrative deficiencies. More important, there is so much to learn and Goodwin lays it all out for us.
As a final note, while the book centers on Lincoln, I found the descriptions of Seward and Chase to be very, very interesting (Bates was less a focus, or left less of an impression on me). Chase turned out to be a self-centered, colorless and while effective in his technical role he was endlessly and quite annoyingly blind to his own impact on others. Seward, in contrast, came across as a terrific ally who subjugated his own interests (after losing the nomination to Lincoln) to the betterment of the country. Not only was he a tireless worker, he showed extraordinary judgment, tact, and commitment. Seward, unfortunately, paid a much higher price for his loyalty than Chase paid for his lack thereof and comes off decidedly as the better man.
Doris Kearns Goodwin's Abraham Lincoln is a terrifically complex, interesting, fascinating, and absorbing character. I truly enjoyed getting to know him, his style, his way of thinking and acting, and his ability to understand the American people both writ large and individual by individual.
While a bit of an effort, it appears to be worth the work of reading Team of Rivals. No question you will learn something new.
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