by Doris Kearns Goodwin

This book has literally been on my nightstand and has been part of my regular reading routine since I received it as a Christmas present. In 2005. It's not that it's boring or bad, quite the contrary. It's just that I seem to be slipping into my father's habit of reading just before bedtime, which consists of spending five minutes trying to figure out where I left off and then re-reading the last three pages of the five total that I had read the night before while nodding off.

This book is fascinating, though; otherwise, it wouldn't have lasted so long on the nightstand. We all know the story of Lincoln: born in a log cabin, self-educated country lawyer rises to the presidency, captains the country through the Civil War, assassinated in Ford's Theatre. Somewhere in that narrative, we are supposed to also learn of his greatness as a moral leader.

Regarding Lincoln's moral fiber, there was some doubt among Lincoln's more ardent contemporaries concerning his position on slavery and race; however, a careful study shows that, whatever his personal attitudes, he was clearly on the side of ending slavery. Where Lincoln was unique and what made him truly great was his political skill. Yes, above all, Lincoln was a consumate politician, with all (maybe more) of the personal ambition and thirst for power typical of that profession. One of Lincoln's famous quotations spells out his particular form of ambition, when at age 23 he was campaigning for the Illinois General Assembly:

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin uses this as the theme of her book as she describes how Lincoln was able to gather and manage a cabinet composed of his chief political rivals. All of these men were likely the most talented for their positions, but they were also the most willful, ambitious, and contentious collection of egos ever assembled into one team (except for maybe the '03-'04 Lakers). Lincoln did not just keep these competing egos in check--sometimes using almost Machiavellian behind-the-scenes machinations--he also provided a common direction and purpose for the cabinet and the country. It was Lincoln's ambition, his drive for making himself worthy of our esteem, that was the true source of his enduring political and moral legacy.