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Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin ~ Book Club Online

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Team of Rivals
by
Doris Kearns Goodwin-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         

"More books about Abraham Lincoln line the shelves of libraries than about any other American. Can there be anything new to say about our 16th president? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. - ..... Doris Kearns Goodwin has written an elegant, incisive study of Lincoln......." - New York Times

The Team:
William H. Seward
Salmon P. Chase
Edward Bates.........     Links:
NPR Review
Wilmot Proviso
Dred Scott Decision
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Fugitive Slave Law.........
March 1 -  Chapters l-3
March 8 -  Chapters 4-7
March 15 -Chapters 8-11

March 22 - Chapters 12-15
March 29 - Chapters 16-19
April 5 -      Chapters 20-23
April 12 -    Chapters 24 -26
To Consider

1.  Putting Lincoln to one side, which of the men (the rivals) would you most like to meet and why?  Which (if you were a woman) would you most likely marry and why?  Start a business with?

2.  What one quality do each of these men have in common, including Lincoln?  Is that quality necessary for any person who enters politics?

3.  Seward said he discovered “politics was the important and engrossing business of the country.”  Does it still seem that way to you?  How important is it to have a two-party system in our government?

4.  Lincoln had a very strong desire to “engrave his name in history”  and believed that” ideas of a person’s worth are tied to the way others perceive him.”   Do you believe this?  Is this contradictory to the belief in yourself and your own worth?  Your religious faith?

5.  Lincoln had a “strained” relationship with his father.  Is there a possibility that Lincoln was inspired to become a better man, a more educated man, one with a future because of his father?

6.  At an early age, Lincoln lost two of the women he most needed and loved - his mother and sister.  What affect did this have on the boy, if any?

7.  Can ambition ruin a marriage?   Does a wife influence her husband?  Is it necessary to be married to have a political future?

8.  Were you surprised at the passion in the letters quoted in the book? 

Discussion Leaders: Ella & PatH

Ella Gibbons:
WELCOME EVERYONE! 

Here we are on a nice clean page, ready to start our discussion of Goodwin's Book.  It's a good one, isn't it?

We had an interesting time in the pre-discussion which was, in good part, about Lincoln, but here we will concentrate on his rivals and what they meant to him, how they helped or hindered his administration.

There are questions in the heading on the first three chapters of our book.

Let's get started!  The first question is one that you, alone, can answer, having read what the book says about these men, the first three chapters of the book.  This is going to be fun! 

YOUR OPINION, PLEASE!

PatH:
Hi, and welcome to all.  I'm still a bit jet-lagged, so I'll be back in a few hours.  It's good to have started.

hats:
PatH and Ella,

I'm sorry. I have decided not to be a part of discussion. I feel the book is over my head. I will read some of the comments. I hope all of you will have a wonderful and meaningful discussion.

JoanK:
Here we go!! I must admit, in spite of Goodwin's careful writing to introduce us to these men, I still get them confused. I'd have to look again to see whether I'd like to marry one.

But the short answer is no way!! I'd have to be a politicians wife, meaning I'd spend my life doing all the things I dislike the most: dressing up and meeting and greeting people I didn't know, being endlessly cordial and spending hours listening to boring speeches. And when I was made, the tact-bone was left out: it would only be a matter of time before I stuck my big foot in my mouth and ruined my husband's career. Never mind a career of my own: in that time, it would have been difficult to have one. But not impossible.

I have a question: Goodwin says these four men illustrate the paths taken by ambitious young men to rise at that time. How do you see these paths differing from the paths taken by such young people today?

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