Doris Kearns Goodwin - The Election Winner!

When published in 2005, Doris Kearns Goodwin must have thought she would receive nice sales and publicity out of Team of Rivals for a few months. That indeed is what happened. Few could have thought that the book would be hitting the best-selling charts again in 2008/09. That though is exactly what has happened as the Barack Obama phenomenon continues. Comparisons of the President Elect with Lincoln drip from commentators lips (unless the commentators are right wing idealogues). Much of the comparison relates to Obama's (to date presumed) adoption of his rivals into cabinet posts. As speculation mounts that he will offer the Secretary of State position to Hilary Clinton, it seems as if DKG's book is being quoted on every talk show and by every political pundit. Now if only I could achieve the same Lazarus effect for my own humorous business book and masterpiece Why Ireland Never Invaded America, I'd be a very happy motivational humorist and keynote speaker!

I might as well get in on the Team of Rivals act. I reviewed this book in January 2006 on Amazon and on my website at http://irishmanspeaks.com/cms/content/view/47/37/ Herewith is the review.

The book's premise is that Abraham Lincoln was not just a great President but one who also had the motivational ability to create a highly effective team comprised of many of his rivals. These were men who had hoped to become President. Instead, they took a subservient role to a President whom Goodwin writes about in hagiographic terms.

The team of rivals consisted of one time Republican presidential candidates William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Salmon P. Chase, Treasury Secretary, and Edward Bates Attorney General. The other major player in this detailed work is Edwin M. Stanton, War Secretary.

This is a good read although the author is stretched at times to continually bring the overall premise together. The opening section of the book paints individual pictures of the major players, which I did not find particularly interesting. This I think is partly because some of the characters - Chase and Bates, at least to this reader are just not compelling in their own right. Thus it takes quite some time for the book to grasp this reader's attention.

Although peripheral to the main story, the hardships of life during the first half of the 19th century become very obvious. Chase lost three wives and two daughters before he was forty four, while Stanton between 1841 and 1846 lost his wife, a daughter and his only brother.

Another fascinating and heart rending aspect portrayed is how the Civil War tore families apart. Four of Mary Lincoln's siblings and three brothers-in-law fought on behalf of the Confederacy, while Bate's son also took up arms for the seceding states.

Team of Rivals is basically a biography of Lincoln with a different twist. It is not as detailed as other works - especially in relation to some Civil War episodes, because the author tries to paint pictures of so many characters. Her portrait of Lincoln to some extent lacks objectivity. Every Lincoln weakness or vacillation has a logic or rationale.

Lincoln undoubtedly was underestimated by rivals and media. One Democratic newspaper referred to him as "a third rate Western lawyer ... a fourth rate lecturer, who cannot speak good grammar." As a lawyer and in his early presidential years, the term "inspirational" does not come to mind. To some extent, his behavior did warrant this lack of respect.

His lack of authority over his generals in the early stages of the war must have been disturbing for his cabinet. General McClellan treated him with a disdain and discourtesy that was mind boggling. Had Lincoln been more forceful with Generals Meade and McClellan, it is entirely conceivable the war would have ended much earlier. Kearns (and other writers) has tried to paint Lincoln as an accommodating, understanding head of state. It is probably more accurate to suggest as Martin Luther King did that he was at some stages a "vacillating" president. Much has been written about Lincoln's leadership, but I think, the student of leadership can learn as much from what Lincoln did poorly as he did well.

Lincoln "grew" into the Presidency, winning over doubters and opponents slowly but surely with his down to earth, homely style. He most definitely has won over the author who paints Lincoln in very favorable terms no matter what the occasion. There is a tendency for the reader to become seduced by the portrait. Lincoln becomes more and more likeable, more and more presidential as the book develops. Ultimately, the reader does appreciate what a dreadful tragedy the death of this president was for the nation and almost certainly for what had been the confederate states. Although, no one can say for certain, it does seem likely that the assassinated president would have been able to salve much of the bitterness and hatred that followed the cessation of violence.