Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
This book traces the story of our first truly self-made President whose storytelling gifts and debating skills made him a natural politician. He won the nomination in 1860 over three men who were better known and generally thought to be far more qualified. Lincoln made an incredibly brave choice of picking those staunch political rivals to populate his cabinet and the relationship each had to the president and each other is studied here.

It has been said that wartime leadership is a necessary component of a great Presidency. No one had a harder task than to govern during the fractious war between the states. Lincoln was far from perfect, as evidenced by his first several choices of men to lead the Union Army. It wasn’t until he appointed Grant that he found someone with as much determination as himself to finish the job of defeating the Confederate forces. Nevertheless, he stands as our greatest President because he didn’t have a vindictive bone in his body and knew how to bring out the best in people around him. This book should be mandatory reading to anyone aspiring to the Presidency — or maybe just anyone dreaming of a better one.

–Sean Coakley