The first page of Team of Rivals finds attorney Abraham Lincoln restless in his modest, sparsely furnished home in Springfield, Illinois, with wife Mary Todd, young sons Robert, William and Tadd, and various other loyal friends. It was May 18, 1860 — the day when the fledgling Republican Party made its decision for a presidential nominee.

Meanwhile, a confident William Henry Seward, the jovial Senator from the state of New York, waited in Auburn, certain that the Republican nomination was his; Ohio governor Salmon Chase gathered his two daughters for a morning reading of Scripture while awaiting the balloting returns; and devoted family man Judge Edward Bates and wife Julia waited with confidence and security for the nomination results.

The election decision — that Lincoln was the nominee — stunned the nation. But this unknown, self-made man raised in poverty became the leader that the country desperately needed as Southern states seceded from the Union and civil war threatened.

His affable, tolerant personality led Lincoln to include Republican rivals in the close embrace of his inner circle. How he accomplished this — and then guided the country through the more difficult years of its history — comprises Goodwin’s 2005 political biography. Included also are the stories of the Lincoln family, as well as the three rivals and their families.

Barack Obama is a fan of this treatment of Lincoln’s presidency. The book gained national recognition after his 2008 election when he announced he was using the model from  A Team of Rivals as a template for the formation his own cabinet.

Doris Kearns Goodwin has won the Pulitzer Prize in history for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. Her other works include bestsellers Wait Till Next Year, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, and Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream.

Please join the Eclectic Evenings Book Discussion in reflecting on Team of Rivals. Meet on November 10 at 7:00 pm in Howard County Central Library’s story room. Team of Rivals is available for pick-up in Playaway format and on CD, as well as in print at the Central Library Fiction Desk. For further information, call 410.313.7834.

Jeanie Pfefferkorn – Central Library

Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton is a novel I feel I should have read years ago. The plot is essentially a very simple one — Stephen Kumalo, an aging black Anglican priest from the small South African village of Ndotsheni, embarks on a mission to recover his son Absalom from the perils of the more modernized (dehumanized?) Johannesburg. Without having much information, he enlists the companionship of a fellow priest named Msimangu, and immerses himself in a world in which he and his people have no place.

Other characters, both black and white, are introduced along the way who share their own struggles with Kumalo, and a theme begins to emerge. Truly this is a story of not only a prodigal son, but of the yearning of an entire people for the return of dignity, hope, and justice.

I found Paton’s writing style to be jarring at first, but I was quickly able to adapt to his unique sentence structure. Along the journey, you will become familiar with new words and names in this thoroughly literate and profound account of soon-to-be apartheid South Africa. It is also worth noting that this edition contains a series of very interesting and informative introductions pertaining to the history of the book.

Dan Curry – Savage Branch