Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

I loved this book. At 749 pages, it is a daunting read, but well worth it.

Goodwin is a master of portraying history in a most engaging way. It's a true story - all the facts are already available to us, yet she still manages to make it a page turner.

I have a fascination for Lincoln and the Civil War. I thought I knew a lot of the basic facts. It turns out most of what I knew before reading this would have filled perhaps 25 pages of this book. It was wonderful to discover so much more. I knew Lincoln was elected president, and I knew he was assassinated, yet the pathways leading to these facts kept me completely engrossed. This book is much more than just about Lincoln. It is also about the men he surrounded himself with to help ensure the success of the Union. Most of those men had been his political rivals. How he built and sustained a strong presidential cabinet with them is the crux of the book.

I enjoy most of what I read; I no longer feel driven to finish a book I don't like. There are too many wonderful things to read to waste my time on bad stuff. Still, lots of what I read is just enjoyable. This was more than just enjoyable, it was fulfilling. I feel I am a more knowledgeable person for having read it, and in addition, if I could incorporate just a few of Lincoln's qualities into my own life, I would be a better person.

I also highly recommend Doris Kearns Goodwin's No Ordinary Time (about FDR's time in the White House).

Now I've got to shake off this sense of living in the 1860's, and get back into the real world.