Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

[lightreads]

Team of Rivals

And on the topic of skinny dudes from Illinois who get elected President . . .

Man. Nine hundred firm, densely-researched, elegant pages on Lincoln and his cabinet, focusing on the political rivals he turned into friends because, well, he was not kidding when he said "with malice towards none." It's a book about leadership – how to get people to do what you need them to do when they don't want to while treating them with respect and courtesy. Though really, I can just shorthand to say it's a book about getting people.

I really like what Goodwin does here. She's the sort of historian who lets you see her hands nearly the whole time, but in that calm, measured way where she's just holding up these people for you to look at, not pinching their cheeks and primping them up first. Lincoln has been a particular historical darling for the past few decades, and I'm really not immune. This book is unsentimental nearly all the time, and it moved me a great deal. And not just because I was thinking about comparisons – presidents who write, presidents who orate, presidents who believe in consensus without believing implicitly in centrism. I was making those comparisons, though.

Comments

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

I totally love this book to death, and biographies often very much bore me. I have been meaning to post about it for ages, but maybe I'll just link to you.

While I would love the comparisons to be true, I'm not at all yet convinced that all skinny President-elects from Illinois are equally good. But it does cheer me that Lincoln really didn't have much experience, and people really did worry about whether he'd do a good job.

[lightreads.livejournal.com]

I discovered when I was nearly done that Obama had actually read this book, and talked about it at some point during the primaries. And aside from being pleased that, you know, he can read! it also makes me go huh in the direction of Lieberman and Clinton. We shall just see, won't we.