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 enlarge | Author: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $21.00
Buy New: $12.55
You Save: $8.45 (40%)
New (20) Used (13) from $12.55
Rating:  377 reviews
Sales Rank: 19
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 944
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.6
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 2.1
ISBN: 0743270754
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.7092
EAN: 9780743270755
ASIN: 0743270754
Publication Date: September 26, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A fantastic president November 18, 2008
We purchased this title as an audio book to listen on a driving trip we took this November. It proved to us what a great president and friend we all had in Abraham Lincoln, and what he did not just for this country but for mankind in general. I read a great deal of books about history and this one truly stands out.
Before I buy November 15, 2008
0 out of 13 found this review helpful
I have yet to read Doris Kearns Goodwins Book Titled, " The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln ". As one who has read the three volume tome of Shelby Foote on the Civil War from end to end, I need not find that subject covered in this book, and with the title, certainly would not expect to find such information. I expect this book to supply details about the well documented, and often written about life of Our Greatest President, that others have overlooked. I seek to learn from this book whether Lincoln's political genius offers us any lessons we can apply to the national politics of 2008. I offer this before I read, and return to write an actual review because I look forward to the experience, and wondered at the somewhat clueless reviews with one star on them that all missed the point of a book with this title, from such a talented author as Doris Kearns Goodwin has already proven herself to be.
Fantastic read November 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm not a history buff, but I fell in love with this book. The author did a wonderful job describing how Lincoln built his cabinet with his political rivals, the complex relationships between the men and dynamic personalities... I learned a great deal about Lincoln's presidency, Civil War and the various leaders from that era. It's a great read!
A must read before President-Elect Obama takes office... November 7, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Regardless of your political affiliations, if you are a political junkie and you want to see how great political minds work, this book is an absolute must-read...especially before Obama takes office.
While there are hundreds of biographies about Lincoln to choose from (and several good ones at that), this book examines Lincoln from the perspective of his diverse and often combative cabinet. All of these men were great leaders in their own right, and Doris Kearns is very good about detailing each of their lives and how they built their political careers during the years leading up to the Civil War. And it's precisely this examination of each cabinet member, in parallel with Lincoln's rise in politics, that helps explain Lincoln's true genius as a politician.
A lot of people thought that Bush 43 was going to be a fairly adept President because of the immense amount of experience and knowledge his cabinet had. But just having a smart staff in the White House doesn't mean the top executive is still going to make the right decisions. And there's not a finer book on Amazon.com that demonstrates the RIGHT WAY a President employs his staff than "Team of Rivals."
Seriously, you must read this book, before Jan. 20, 2009...it'll give you a lot more insight about the inner workings of the White House than any pundit or news show can give. Eat your heart out, "West Wing!"
 Data? Yes. Information? No. October 31, 2008
2 out of 32 found this review helpful
This book shows the value of used bookstores because it demonstrates that, if you want the best book on a subject, you may need to go back awhile. Back to the point where the scholarship on that subject reached its peak, when the last really important piece of information had been found yielding an appropriate portrait of the situation. You can find these perfect books (and cheap!) with some patience and they'll look classy on your shelves to boot. Think Joseph Quincy Adams' 1923 `Life of William Shakespeare'. What comes AFTER this point are the silly alternate theories or painfully focused studies of certain components of the story or, as in this case, the assembly of facts which had never been reported before because they lie outside the sphere of relevance. These books are written and published for the same reason new versions of computer programs are released - there's an industry that still needs to be fed after you no longer need anything from it. As with Conrad Black's FDR, you can find out in this book what song might have been playing when someone who was never really a factor in our hero's life danced with someone who lived in the town next to the famous figure's sister's birthplace. Data? Yes. Information? No. On a positive note, Goodwin doesn't seem to have stolen it from anyone this time and, if you know someone who loves all things Lincoln there is value here. Your friend had better be obsessed however or this book will just get tiresome.
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