Master of Men

As a kid, I tended toward the fanatic side when it came to the Civil War. Reading rapaciously, forgetting detail almost as quickly, I became as much a Civil War buff as my short memory would permit. But of the many battles I read about and the countless discussions of Sherman's strategy or Lee's tactical genius, there was one important clash I overlooked almost completely: the war raging at the highest levels of the Union government.

The men surrounding Lincoln were not just advisors. Many of them were former political rivals, making cabinet politics stormy to say the least. Impressively, Lincoln managed to employ his various pre-war opponents for the nomination of the Republican Party and create a synergistic team, albeit one that constantly threatened to tear itself apart.

Happily, my ignorance on this important subject has met its doom. Doris Kearns Goodwin tackles this issue head-on in her latest book, Team of Rivals.

Why am I so hot and bothered about this book (especially since it came out a year ago)? I just read a review from the summer CRB (Claremont Review of Books) written by none other than my Tacitus professor, David K. Nichols. A sampling:

It is with great trepidation that one opens the pages of a new biography of Abraham Lincoln. How can an ambitious author find something novel to say? One could develop a revolutionary thesis, overturning the established wisdom or revealing some heretofore suppressed truth. Lincoln was racist. Lincoln was gay. Lincoln was a tyrant. Or if one is less ambitious, it might be enough to suggest that Lincoln was a man controlled by events, a compromiser, a politician, or a Republican. Fortunately, Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals takes a different approach. Risking the calumny of critics who might complain that she has given us nothing new, she paints an unabashedly respectful and heroic portrait of Lincoln.

Check it out here.