Team of Rivals

When I was an adolescent with an assigned reading list, it would be a point of great disappointment to say that I was only 300 pages into a 700 page book.

But that's where I am in Team of Rivals, about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, and I will be sad to see it end. It's an entertaining book on several levels. Goodwin is a fine writer, of course, but it's mostly interesting in its masterly tale of politics (for good) and of our country at a great crossroads.

I like politics (the good kind), and it is fascinating to learn about this self-made man and his keen intelligence. Goodwin thinks his empathy for his opponents was one of his most unique traits. The title relates to his decision to fill his cabinet with all of the men that challenged him for the 1860 Republican nomination for President.

And the book also fills in the details of the events and people that led the nation to civil war. A new party, the Republicans, came out of the question of whether slavery should be extended or ended in the United States. I wonder if a similar issue will rise to the same level in my lifetime? I wonder too if I will see such a courageous leader lead the country?