Reviews

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

gadicohen93's review against another edition

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3.0

Listened to audiobook — 3.5, nothing special, a description of Abraham Lincoln's managerial skills. Seemed like a great head of HR. Articulates a philosophy of leadership as aggressive consensus-building, which seems correct. Seward was an interesting character, a big personality, rival turned friend; Chase was a holier-than-thou radical, McClellan an incompetent general. The Gettysburg Address is quite a beautiful and vital short speech, read fully here, that caused the audience to sit in a shocked silence. Spoiler alert: Lincoln dies in the end, but the context, the milieu, the aftermath is missing. The book never goes into full analytical detail of movements on the ground, and while seamlessly written, it doesn't really pack a punch.

ubergusterfan's review

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dark emotional informative inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

I wept at the end. What a great man Abraham Lincoln was. 

superdewa's review against another edition

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5.0

Crying too hard to write a review. Obviously I knew he was going to die, but oh, what a loss!

kindlereads's review

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challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

This book could have used another editor, there were often too many details, I wanted to know less. However at the same time this was such an interesting and informative story. 

This country was deprived of a truly great president when Lincoln was assassinated. He was fair, balanced and honest. 

hubsct's review

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informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

rainbowpademelon's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

martha_imani's review against another edition

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informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

smiles11's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

apace99's review

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informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

alidottie's review against another edition

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5.0

After almost 2 full weeks, yesterday I closed the cover of this book for the final time! It kills me to read one single book for such a long time, but this nonfiction history of Abraham Lincoln's bid for the presidency and consequent Civil War presidency was well worth the effort! I found myself growing so fond of Pres. Lincoln that I was hoping that some how history could've changed and we could have had this great man guide the country through Reconstruction and live to be old and write his own memoirs!
It was interesting because I have read other books about Lincoln (mainly With Malice Toward None) and I didn't grown to love him and respect him the way I did reading Goodwin's story told along side the stories of the men who started as his rivals and mostly grew to be his respecters and firm colleagues.