i just finished this excellent book by Doris Kearns Goodwin, the pulitzer-prize winning historian, about the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and how he managed the Civil War along with the warring members of his Cabinet. it was a GREAT read and moved really fast, even at over 700 pages. it's not a simple biography, because it follows the lives of Lincoln's most important Cabinet members too, Secretary of State William Seward, Treasury Secretary and then Supreme Court Justice Salmon P. Chase, and War Secretary Edwin Stanton, who makes a late entrance but becomes the third most important character, behind Lincoln and Seward.
Lincoln is of course one of the most iconic figures in our history, but after reading this book you come to feel like you know him as a person, how his mind worked, his personality and sense of humor, his deep sense of pragmatism and rationality. he looms as such a myth in history, that i realized i'd never really thought of him as a normal person, more like a giant of some ancient past, who did great things but is practically looked at as a saint now. requiring no deep understanding, just a sort of hero worship. well, this book made me look at him completely differently. he was a man like anyone else, born with even worse circumstances than most, especially compared to his colleagues, most of whom also ran for the presidential nomination in 1860. born into utter poverty, he was ENTIRELY self-taught, never having received a single day of schooling. from the age of 8 years old, he read anything he could get his hands on, and when he was in his twenties he taught himself the law, by borrowing books from other people. he emerged as a dark horse candidate for the presidency in 1860, still not well-known outside of Illinois, but managed to secure the nomination due to the failure of the other candidates to gather a majority of the delegates. the votes were split, allowing him to sneak through in an upset win, after years of running for Congress and failing to be elected except for single congressional term in the 1840's. despite Lincoln's lack of education, he emerges as a deeply thoughtful, sympathetic, reasonable and pragmatic politician. what comes across the most frequently is his logic and reasoning. he applies it to every situation, reasoning out what course of action would make the most sense, benefit the most people and advance the cause furthest.
he also had a great sense of humor, surprisingly. he was constantly telling jokes, stories, and anecdotes that were analogous to whatever situation he was facing. Goodwin recounts a lot of the story through letters and correspondence, from Lincoln himself to all the members of his cabinet, plus their wives and family members. most of them kept long, detailed diaries as well, with remembrances from each day. some of Lincoln's own colleagues complained about his constant joke-telling at inappropriate times, while others thought he was hilarious. it's said that his humor kept him from despairing at the constant horrors of the war, which resulted in the deaths of over 650,000 americans, touching the lives of virtually every family in the country at that time.
almost everyone who ever met Lincoln ended up respecting him, thinking him a very intelligent, compassionate and wise man. he never held a grudge against anyone, and always gave someone a second, and even third chance to prove himself, or make up for a mistake. the composition of his own cabinet was made up of everyone who ran against him for the nomination, showing how magnanimous he was, and how important he thought it was to have the very best people for the job, no matter what they might be plotting against him (and some of them still harbored ambitions for the presidency themselves). despite a cabinet filled with strong and warring personalities, Lincoln was always the leader, as they soon came to find out. it was he himself who decided on the most important courses of action during the war, he himself who came up with even the idea for the Emancipation Proclamation, which he hid from the rest of his colleagues until he had already decided to do it. he did make some mistakes, and his willingness to compromise angered a lot of the more radical and anti-southern forces in Congress. at the time, there were a lot more virulently anti-slavery congressmen than i ever knew, and they were constantly pushing Lincoln to be more forceful on the slavery issue. he was always anti-slavery himself, but knew to wait until the time was right and it would directly impact the North's ability to win the war to act on it.
the book is so well-written and descriptive, with so many details of the time that you feel as if you were right there with them, in the room listening to decisions made about the Civil War. you come to know each character so well, as there are random details about their personal lives, their families, and each of their relationships with Lincoln himself. the second most important character is his Secretary of State, Seward, who was once the frontrunner to the nomination and his number one rival, but who soon becomes his closest ally and best friend. the two of them manage every important decision together and spend more time together than even with their families. on the night of Lincoln's assassination, there was also a failed attempt on Seward's life, as well as the vice-president at the time. it was supposed to be a triple assassination coordinated by 3 assassins, in order to take out the whole administration and horrify the North. that night is recounted so vividly it leaves you in breathless suspense, even though you know what ultimately happens.
there's going to be a movie made based on this book, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln. it's supposed to come out in 2012 and already i can't wait.
