This week’s topic for the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge from Long and Short Reviews is the non-fiction book everyone should read, and why they should read it.

My choice will probably come as no surprise for anyone who has followed my blog for any great length of time.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

I’d heard about this book long before I ever read it, but didn’t have a copy of my own. I just added to my To-Read list and plugged along with other things related to history, etc. After the movie “Lincoln” came out in 2012 and I learned that the movie was based on the last several chapters of this book, I decided it was time to sit down and read it.

This book is a must-read for every Lincoln enthusiast, for every student of the American Civil War and American history.

And it is a must-read for every American. Especially right now.

Goodwin’s tome (yes, the thing is like two and a half, maybe three inches thick) is a hefty, time-consuming read. But it’s worth it. It’s imperative. Goodwin, as with all of her work that I’ve had the privilege to read, provides amazing historical detail, context, and copious references, while managing to make this academic magnum opus read almost as a narrative at times.

This is not just about Abraham Lincoln, or about his presidency and the things he did during the Civil War and his tenure in the White House. Goodwin takes us back to the very beginning, to Lincoln’s childhood and formative years. She paints a vivid picture of his development as a lawyer, statesman, and eventually leader of a country bitterly divided over the stain of slavery.

This is also a book about the men who will become integral members of his cabinet – William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates – after losing the first Republican primary to Lincoln in 1860. We learn about these three men alongside Lincoln, how they came to the political fore, and most importantly, why Lincoln brought them into his inner circle when he gained the presidency. Goodwin weaves the ins and outs of the political convolutions Lincoln brilliantly (IMHO) executed in order to steer the country toward not just the salvation of the Union, but the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

But she doesn’t stop there. As is true today, the wives of these four powerful men had their own intrigues and social workings that mirrored the drama playing out on the political stage, both in public and behind closed doors.

We also get to learn about the maneuvers Lincoln used with members of Congress, the evolution of his stance on equality for Black Americans, and the inner turmoil and private sufferings of a man who presided over the deadliest conflict in this country’s history. At the last, Goodwin shows us the immediate aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination just days after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox in such a way that the question remains – what would have happened if Lincoln had been able to serve out his second term in office?

America is on the cusp of an election that, in many ways, is not too different from the election of 1860. That election sparked a civil war that claimed the lives of an estimated 750,000 American men (per recent reevaluations of data) and fundamentally changed the definition of American citizenship and democracy. Team of Rivals may be daunting, but it should be read by every American who plans to cast a vote a month from now, as it illustrates with amazing detail how even bitter rivals can work together for the good of this country.