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Outstanding
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Booklist Brad Hooper
The knowledge gained here about these three significant figures who well attended Lincoln gain for the reader an even keener appreciation of the rare individual that he was. [15 Sep 2005, p. 4]
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Outstanding
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Boston Globe Douglas Brinkley
A brilliantly conceived and well-written tour de force of a historical narrative.
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Outstanding
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Los Angeles Times John Rhodehamel
This splendid, beautifully written biography is the best book on
Lincoln's Cabinet ever written and one of the very best on Lincoln as a man and president. [25 Oct 2005, p. E1]
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Outstanding
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The New York Times Book Review James M. McPherson
Doris Kearns Goodwin has written an elegant, incisive study of Lincoln and leading members of his cabinet that will appeal to experts as well as to those whose knowledge of Lincoln is an amalgam of high school history and popular mythology.
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Outstanding
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Wall Street Journal Jay Winik
Ms. Goodwin's affection for Lincoln bursts forth on every page. But in this lovingly rendered and masterfully fashioned book, her story-telling gifts are most on display when she tracks the satellites around the presidency.
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Outstanding
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Andrew Cohen
In Team of Rivals, the political genius of Abraham Lincoln meets the historical genius of Doris Kearns Goodwin. [26 Nov. 2005, p. D22]
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Favorable
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Washington Post Allen C. Guelzo
This immense, finely boned book is no dull administrative or bureaucratic history; rather, it is a story of personalities--a messianic drama, if you will--in which Lincoln must increase and the others must decrease.
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Favorable
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Chicago Tribune David W. Blight
This tome will reward lovers of biography, while it may annoy those readers who comprehend historical change through more than the acts of powerful individuals. But all will have a good read. [11 Dec. 2005]
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Favorable
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New York Observer Ted Widmer
It's true that Team of Rivals is more a chronicle than a biography, and that Ms. Goodwin is more in love with politics than metaphysics. But she does politics very well, and no story of Lincoln should stray too far from the roar of the crowd. [14 Nov 2005, p. 25]
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Favorable
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Publishers Weekly
Goodwin supplies capable biographies of the gentlemen on whom she has chosen to focus, and ably highlights the sometimes tangled dynamics of their "team." [26 Sep 2005, p. 74]
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Favorable
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San Francisco Chronicle Sanford D. Horwitt
Goodwin serves as an engaging, insightful chronicler of Lincoln's Civil War presidency, although she strays from time to time from her stated intention of keeping the lens focused on Lincoln and his 1860 rivals, who, in turn, were often feuding with others in Lincoln's Cabinet.
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Favorable
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Chicago Sun-Times Debra Bruno
Goodwin tells us it took her ten years to finish this book. And it appears to have paid off.
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Favorable
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Christian Science Monitor Randy Dotinga
In this immense and immensely readable work, Ms. Goodwin uncovers how Lincoln's unusual combination of forgiving human spirit and savvy political instincts converted his enemies into (mostly) loyal friends and advisers.
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
Illuminating and well-written, as are all of Goodwin's presidential studies; a welcome addition to Lincolniana. [1 Oct 2005, p. 1062]
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Mixed
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Library Journal Gayla Koerting
Goodwin's use of primary-source materials is exhaustive (120 pages of notes and no bibliography), but her overuse of exact quotes often detracts from the flow of her analysis. [15 Oct 2005, p. 63]
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Mixed
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The New York Times Michiko Kakutani
After so many recent books focusing on narrow personal aspects of Lincoln's life (his moods, his sexuality, his marital difficulties), after so many books dwelling on negative aspects of his philosophy and politics, it is refreshing to be reminded of the myriad challenges he faced in waging the Civil War and holding the Union together, and his palpable if incomplete achievements in helping to reinvent the nation and set it on a more just course.
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