TEAM OF RIVALS: THE POLITICAL GENIUS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

by Doris Kearns Goodwin
 
We’re well into our second year of the L & L Review and up to this point I’ve never reviewed a book about history.  Historical fiction, sure.  But reading an entire book about history? Normally that would appeal to me about as much as reading an entire book about math.  So how did I happen to find my way to Team of Rivals?  It’s a selection for my Bates College Boston Alumna book club and is going to be discussed in November.  Since it’s 800+ pages, I thought I better get to it.
 
I loved Team of Rivals!  Who knew that with an amazing writer who humanizes her subject, even the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln’s presidency could be fascinating?  Goodwin is a master storyteller.  She examines Lincoln from his first foray into politics and follows him to Washington and through his presidency.  Every step of the way the reader sees a very real human being, with strengths and foibles just like all of us.  Just as compelling are Goodwin’s thorough portraits of Lincoln’s political rivals and all of their wives.  She uses primary sources very effectively which makes the story even more interesting. Goodwin includes so many anecdotes and quotes and is so successful creating real live characters that I was totally drawn in and couldn’t put the book down.
 
I enjoyed Team of Rivals so much, that I decided to investigate if there are other authors writing histories with as much human interest and anecdotes and character development as Goodwin’s.  I found my way to Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, the biography on which the play Hamilton is based.  I’m enjoying that as well.
 
I encourage you to step outside your normal reading genres and try something different.  You just might be surprised!  Not only did I find a book I loved, I discovered an entire new genre.  (Also, this is a perfect example of why being in a book club is so fabulous:. it forces you to read books that you’d never select on your own.) (Liz)