Best Book I've Ever Read

Well, I finally finished it. Last night. Team of Rivals. Now, I can officially recommend this book. I had un-officially recommended it a while ago before I'd finished reading it. (Although I was several hundred pages into it at that point) I feel like you can't officially advise someone to read something unless you've read the whole thing in it's entirety.

It is hands down the best book I've ever read. ( in a secular light)

The mere humanity of the man of Lincoln; the kindness, goodness, compassion, gentleness, humility, good judgment, meekness, knowing how to take fault and blame when it was due him, accept responsibility, to find the good in others and give w/o getting, to grieve and mourn and empathize, to love deeply and be a good judge of character, to put away the wrongs done against him, and to forgive, forgive great things done towards him, to forgive great things said about him, to persevere amidst great and many opposition, to believe so strongly and firmly in ideals and principles, yet not be so firm and rigid in those ideals as to ostracize himself from those who felt differently; to smile and laugh, to be honest with no other option as a choice but honesty. To make others feel welcome, to not cast blame, to be strong in Character and morality, to live life unafraid, to fear God and know His control, to care so deeply for mankind that he ultimately gave his life for the preservation of the Union and the slavery that had so entwined it since it's birth.

This was a scratching of the surface of Abraham Lincoln. I wept through out the last chapter. I wept at different sections of the book. I'd think one would have to believe God is sovereign when you read this book. Or maybe it is that God's sovereignty is just so obvious to me through the life of Lincoln. Only that man, that one man; the man God designed for such a time as this, could have possibly did what he did at that time in history. God had him here on this earth for just the purpose he served.

Never before have I studied a single person in history as I did with this Lincoln book.

I feel like I know how and why Seward, who once so despised Lincoln after he lost the Republican nomination, came to love him like no other man.

The 'all business tough-as-nails' war secretary, Stanton, who had never ever showed emotion, couldn't contain his tears for days after Lincoln was shot.

Bates, his attorney general, who often disagreed w/Lincoln especially on the slaves, thought no better man had ever or would ever live.

Welles, his Secretary of the Navy, who so staunchly supported Lincoln, clashed with most of the rest of the cabinet, however, again, Lincoln knew this man would create a Navy that would rival any in the world. That is exactly what Gideon Welles did.

For Chase, who desired the presidency for himself and did almost anything to get it--all the while Lincoln appointing him to his cabinet, because Chase could and did handle the financial affairs of the country so well, better than anyone else. Like so often, Lincoln did what was best for the country, not necessarily what would be the best and easiest for him. Chase made his presidency quite difficult at many, many different times.

For Hay and Nicolay his devoted right hand men, his aides, who came to be more like his children than his staff. They loved the president like a father and did anything they could to help him weather the storm of the Civil War, knowing better than anyone, how exhausting, depressing and sorrowful it was for him.

I feel like I could hear Mary's tantrums and rudeness and how Lincoln never made excuses for his wife, but he never complained or put her down--no matter her behavior.

I can imagine seeing the compassion and grief on Lincoln's face as he walked with Grant after battles. I can feel his devotion to the Country, to all mankind, to God, in the eradication of slavery; to the unity of the Country he so loved and felt bound to uphold.

Anyway, this isn't a typical book review, not that I know how to do one anyway. I just want to say...if you are still with me. Don't borrow this book from the library. Go to Amazon and purchase it. It make take you a couple months to get through, like it did me. You may sit down and read it over the course of a few weeks. But...if you are an avid reader, you especially enjoy history (although even if you don't like to study history, this character sketch will move you beyond words) you most certainly will want to underline and highlight, dog-ear, wipe tears off the pages, and read and re-read passages. Purchase this book for the generations to come.

I'll end with a quote from Leo Tolstoy, as he spoke about Lincoln in 1908.

"Now, why was Lincoln so great that he overshadows all other national heroes? He really was not a great general like Napoleon or Washington; He was not such a skillful statesman as Gladstone or Frederick the Great; but his supremacy expresses itself altogether in his peculiar moral power and in the greatness of his character"

I found this to be true to the core.

****This is not for the faint of heart reader--it's almost 800 pages long.