I didn't rate it because there was no point. If you want to read a good historical account of Lincoln, borrow David Herbert Donald or Gore Vidal.

Still in the middle of this wonderful book....One of the best I've read in a while...Goodwin's writing is engaging and does bring the various characters to life again after almost 150 years....What an extraordinary, unique, political genius Lincoln was....I think of how some of today's politicians seem so wanting in political skills....This book could or should be their political science 101 class. Many points stood out in the book, but one that especially struck me was Lincoln's fear that if the Union fell apart in the war, it would show the world that "we, the people" are not capable of governing themselves. The democatic experiment would have failed if the North had lost the war. BTW....The Lincoln movie is outstanding, and this book brings forth more details and side-dramas re: Lincoln's amazing gamble -- to pass the 13th amendment. An amendment that if not passed before the war ended might've been a long time in coming (reaching congressional consensus) once it ended. Lincoln knew the timing was right and everything else about the amendment was right and he knew it must be passed. Why is our nation blessed with the best and most capable leaders during our darkest hours?

Longer than the other Goodwin biography that I've read (No ordinary time : Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt : the home front in World War II) I think that Team of Rivals suffered a bit in having Lincoln share the stage with his rivals. While I saw value in learning about Seward (and about the political dynamo that was Thurlow Weed), I didn't think that Bates and especially the ambitious and holier-than-thou Chase added much to my understanding of Lincoln and the Civil War. I heartily enjoyed the very thorough picture of Lincoln that Goodwin presents. In school I learned about the serious and melancholy man, but I loved the many accounts of his gregarious storytelling and the background info on some of the great decisions of the war. Lincoln's assassination offers one of the great "if only" scenarios of history. How would reconstruction and reconciliation have been different under the empathetic and rational Lincoln, who didn't have a vindictive bone in his body? I felt that the beginning was too long - I didn't need that much exposition about the political road to the 1860 nomination, or about the rivals' personal history. But once the War started (about halfway through this long book) things picked up for me considerably. I'm glad that I read it.

The book that inspired what is sure to be an award winning movie. Put this on your 2013 reading list.

great

You expect excellent books when it comes to Doris Kearns Goodwin and with Lincoln she does not disappoint. A thoroughly researched book into the life of the 16th president makes the case that Mr. Lincoln was indeed our finest president. His time, of course, was during a fragile era in our republic. What interests me is that when Lincoln sought the best men for his cabinet, it included his foes! A lesson here on getting along with others is valuable to this reader. Towards the end, I actually cried when Lincoln's fate was introduced in the book. One little quibble: the author seems to include all of her research in this book. There are only so many times you can read about the menu of state dinners.

This is a very in-depth, intriguing work, chronicling a less-reviewed side of Lincoln: his Cabinet. A book about the rivals of Abraham Lincoln; the top politicians and leaders of the day, who he was smart enough to have near him. It took awhile to digest this one, but it is worth the read.

While it dwelt a bit too much on the social lives of some of the cabinet members and their families for my taste, the book laid out in great detail how Lincoln arrived at some of his positions on major issues of the day (Emancipation, Reconstruction, etc..). It was a real pleasure to discover the likes of Stanton, Seward, Grant, and even Chase (to a lesser degree) and the book leaves one feeling the damage done by the premature departure of one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known.

Sally Field will play Mary Todd Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, with a screenplay by Tony Kushner. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as the 16th President of the U.S. Filming will begin this fall for an anticipated release in the fourth quarter of 2012, Deadline.com reported. "I'm excited to be working with Sally for the first time," said Spielberg. "I've admired her films and she has always been my first choice to portray all the fragility and complexity that was Mary Todd Lincoln."

Typical Goodwin writing; lots of human interest to bring historical figures to life