Team of Rivals

It's March and I've already made significant progress on my reading goals for the year.

If you'll recall from way back in January, one of my reading resolutions was to read Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, which tells the story of the diversity of Lincoln's cabinet members and how they came together to help the country through one of its hardest times.

I sought out this book to read because I thought that my mother-in-law recommended it. But when I mentioned to her that I had finally finished it, she said that she wants to read it next! Wait? She's never read it?
*facepalm* 
She had heard a glowing review of it on NPR, and that was the basis behind her recommendation. Oh well, all misunderstandings aside, the book was fabulous!

Goodwin managed to keep me interested all throughout the book, which at 900+ pages, is quite the accomplishment! Now granted, not all of those pages were text. There were many pages of wonderful period photographs and maps and a very thorough index and bibliography (which are all very important in a non-fiction work of this magnitude). 

She managed to tell the stories of so many lives in a seamless way. Everything interconnected beautifully, and I think one of the ways she did that was by keeping her main focus on Lincoln as the driving force behind the book.

I would recommend this book to Civil War buffs, obviously. But I would also recommend it to anyone who:

• Saw and enjoyed the recent movie Lincoln (2012)
• Has a passion for US History
• Wants to learn more about the Civil War
• Wants to learn more about our 16th president
• Just enjoys a good long read!

 So there you have it. Reading Goal #1 for the year: Accomplished! That's 944/4,480 pages read (and only 3,536 left to go)!