Would you consider the audio edition of Team of Rivals to be better than the print version? This is a very good read, but should not be the only Lincoln history one reads.įelt Like an Easedropper at Lincoln's White House The author even guesses at Lincoln’s pre-marital sexual experience based (it seems) on little more than guy talk and common sense (both notoriously unreliable). Instead of presenting the evidence questioning the author’s point of view and refuting it, such incidents are just left out. The downside is Team of Rivals has a strong point of view about Lincoln as a politician and a heroic man. The best part of Team of Rivals is the portraits of the men in Lincoln’s cabinet which are given short shrift in other histories.

Team of Rivals was more fun to read than Carwardine’s or Donald’s Lincoln, but both of those books portrayed much more flawed, balanced, and believable Lincoln. Although Lincoln was, and should be, a hero, a good history should show him as human, with all the faults and weaknesses that make heroism so extraordinary. For me, the book was interesting, but it seemed to systematically leave out anything essentially negative about Lincoln himself. If you just read this book, knowing what most people know about Lincoln, you will likely learn a lot and enjoy the read. 'Rivals' is destined to go down as one of the definitive accounts of Lincoln's life, and any reader with even the most fleeting interesting in the 16th president would do well to delve into it. I listened to this shortly after listening to '1861: The Civil War Awakening' (Adam Goodheart) which makes a fascinating companion piece to 'Rivals' for its more colorful descriptions of the times, and its different perspective on figures such as Gustavus Fox. Readers/Listeners will be surprised at how well they'll come to know Lincoln's cabinet and family, and how heartbreaking it is to consider the untimely deaths of three of his four children, not to mention the tragic histories that haunted both Salmon P. I could listen to her talk all day, and she made some of the dull spots easier to get through. Narrator Suzanne Toren breathes life into the story, and even into the nearly all-male cast of characters. Strange to say, but by the time Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theater, I had almost willed myself into thinking Lincoln was a character who could figure out the trap, and avoid it somehow.

And I was surprised by how moved I was by a story that I, essentially, already knew. I was surprised by how beautifully told this story is. I was surprised by how much I didn't know about Abraham Lincoln. 'Team of Rivals' surprised me in so many ways. Beautiful, Heartbreaking, and Informative

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