BOOK REVIEW
Title: Team of Rivals
Author: Doris Kearns Goodwin
In ten words or less: Biography of Lincoln and his rivals Seward, Chase, and Bates.
Review: Another Lincoln book? Over the past few years I have read Stephen B. Oates, “With Malice toward none,” other books on the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant, and other figures of the era. So by the time I picked up the Goodwin book, I was hearing the same anecdotes for the third or fourth time. Goodwin is an eminently readable author (“No Ordinary Time, “Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream”) however, and she seems to have bounced back from the scandal of a few years ago. The focus of this volume is the political rivalry among William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates, who were also seeking the 1860 Republican presidential nomination. After losing to Lincoln, they all went on to serve in his cabinet.
Why bother? Exhaustive and well written biography of Lincoln’s life and his political rivals.
Title: Team of Rivals
Author: Doris Kearns Goodwin
In ten words or less: Biography of Lincoln and his rivals Seward, Chase, and Bates.
Review: Another Lincoln book? Over the past few years I have read Stephen B. Oates, “With Malice toward none,” other books on the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant, and other figures of the era. So by the time I picked up the Goodwin book, I was hearing the same anecdotes for the third or fourth time. Goodwin is an eminently readable author (“No Ordinary Time, “Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream”) however, and she seems to have bounced back from the scandal of a few years ago. The focus of this volume is the political rivalry among William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates, who were also seeking the 1860 Republican presidential nomination. After losing to Lincoln, they all went on to serve in his cabinet.
Why bother? Exhaustive and well written biography of Lincoln’s life and his political rivals.
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