Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

There is a near endless supply of biographies of Abraham Lincoln. Team of Rivals sets itself apart by focussing on Lincoln's strength in working with his political rivals. He was regularly pulling in his erstwhile rivals as allies. Some, like Seward went from rivals to strong allies. Others never become close. 

Lincoln was seen as a political neophyte. He was not deemed as having much of a chance of gaining the Republican nomination for president. However, he was able to help use the conflicts among the primary candidates to eventually secure the nomination. He helped bring many of the rivals into his cabinet. His cabinet also included many people across party lines. Things were never super stable, with many resignations and attempted resignations. Lincoln worked hard to hold them together.

The focus is on the political maneuvering. As such, the final term of Lincoln's presidency passes by quickly. By then, people were mostly in order. The big conflicts were outside his provenance. The story of the assassination is covered in a way that ties together Seward and his experience with Lincoln. We will never know how Lincoln's conciliatory ways would have worked with reconstruction.