Winner of the Lincoln Prize

Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln's political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become president.

On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry.

Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war. That Lincoln succeeded, Goodwin demonstrates, was the result of a character that had been forged by experiences that raised him above his more privileged and accomplished rivals. He won because he possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling, to understand their motives and desires.

It was this capacity that enabled Lincoln as president to bring his disgruntled opponents together, create the most unusual cabinet in history, and marshal their talents to the task of preserving the Union and winning the war.

We view the long, horrifying struggle from the vantage of the White House as Lincoln copes with incompetent generals, hostile congressmen, and his raucous cabinet. He overcomes these obstacles by winning the respect of his former competitors, and in the case of Seward, finds a loyal and crucial friend to see him through.

This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln's mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation's history.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 10/25/2005
ISBN: 9780684824901
Pages: 916
Weight: 3.04lbs
Size: 9.48h x 6.76w x 1.96d
Award: New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association Award - Winner
Award: Quill Awards - Nominee
Award: National Book Critics Circle Award - Nominee
Award: L.A. Times Book Prize - Finalist

Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 06/15/2005 pg. 50
Ingram Advance 10/01/2005 pg. 40
Publishers Weekly 09/26/2005 pg. 74
Booklist 09/15/2005 pg. 4
Kirkus Reviews 10/01/2005 pg. 1062
Library Journal 10/15/2005 pg. 63
Entertainment Weekly 11/04/2005 pg. 81
New York Times 11/06/2005 pg. 1
New Yorker (The) 11/07/2005 pg. 126
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/01/2006 pg. 8
Choice 10/01/2006 pg. 359
New York Review of Books 10/19/2006 pg. 46
New York Review of Books 11/02/2006 pg. 26
People Weekly 01/14/2013 pg. 65
Library Journal 01/01/2015 pg. 47