Team of Rivals

The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

By: Doris Kearns Goodwin

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

Brought to you by Penguin.

The bestselling and prize-winning study of one of the most legendary American Presidents in history, Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is the book that inspired Barack Obama in his presidency.

When Barack Obama was asked which book he could not live without in the White House, his answer was instant: Team of Rivals. This monumental and brilliant work has given Obama the model for his presidency, showing how Abraham Lincoln saved America by appointing his fiercest rival to key cabinet positions. As well as a thrilling piece of narrative history, it's an inspiring study of one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen.

'A wonderful book . . . a remarkable study in leadership' Barack Obama

'A portrait of Lincoln as a virtuosic politician and managerial genius' The New York Times

'I have not enjoyed a history book as much for years' Robert Harris


Doris Kearns Goodwin is the doyenne of US presidential historians, and one of the most acclaimed non-fiction authors in the world. Her works include Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga, and No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1995.

© Doris Kearns Goodwin 2009 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critic reviews

A wonderful book ... a remarkable study in leadership (Barack Obama)

The most uplifting book that I have read in the last two decades. Sensational (Jon Snow)

I have not enjoyed a history book as much for years (Robert Harris)

A fabulously engrossing, exciting narrative in the grand old style ... overflowing with colour and character (Dominic Sandbrook)

A brilliant book ... I couldn't get enough of it (Alex Ferguson)

Goodwin's narrative abilities are on full display here. A portrait of Lincoln as a virtuosic politician and managerial genius (Michiko Kakutani)

A rich history of the place of slavery in American politics

A rich and unbiased view from history, of the place of slavery in American politics narrated through the life of a resilient and foresighted politician.

Astonishing! Powerful!

I cannot recommend it highly enough...a touching story about a man that is evidently larger-than-life. Crisply and brilliantly read.

Exceptional man, exceptional book.

Thank you John C Maxwell for recommending this exceptional book. Abraham Lincoln was an extraordinary man and this book brought his greatness as man and leader alive. This book deserves widespread distribution.

A team of councillors where all agree is just as good as one councillor

Intimidating length and a slow few starting chapters, but the narration is perfectly balanced between enunciation and exaggeration and as you go deeper into the book the inertia really catches you for the cataclysmic end we all know.

Read the book because of Steven Spielberg’s movie. The chapter about the vote for the thirteenth amendment wasn’t as long and detailed as I expected, but am thoroughly satisfied, specially for all the context and chronology of events.