Team of Rivals
I just finished my 750 page book on Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet members, Team of Rivals, and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say that it is an easy read or even remotely a quick read, but it was well worth the time and energy spent on it. Not only am I even more fascinated by Lincoln as president, but I felt a surprising sense of remorse over how things ended. He had just accomplished the greatest challenge of his life and then didn’t have the opportunity to build from there. The insights from this book concerning Lincoln’s leadership and character with others is something that has shaped my own views and will continue to for years to come. Here is a quote from Leo Tolstoy in the book:
“Now, why was Lincoln so great that he overshadows all other national heroes? He really was not a great general like Napoleon or Washington; he was not such a skillful statesman as Gladstone or Frederick the Great; but his supremacy expresses itself altogether in his peculiar moral power and in the greatness of his character. Washington was a typical American. Napoleon was a typical Frenchman, but Lincoln was a humanitarian as broad as the world. He was bigger than his country–bigger than all the Presidents together.”
This is the personal blog of Jeremy Jernigan. Husband, father, teaching pastor, and student of truth.
I added that book to my list of books to read.
Have a great day, Jeremy!
Congrats, Jeremy on finishing it!! Lincoln has always been my favorite president primarily for the reason Tolstoy stated in his quote…”a humanitarian as broad as the world”!! I did a number of papers about him in college and what particularly intrigued me was that Lincoln’s difficult marriage didn’t deter him from achieving greatness but actually helped prepare him for it. Apparently his wife, Mary Todd was a bit of a handful with a hot temper to boot! I recently read an article about their relationship and will try to find it for you.