Books That Probe the Life of Lincoln

As April 15 marked the 160th death anniversary of Abraham Lincoln, take a look at various books that narrate the life of the 16th president of the United States

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My interest in Lincoln was driven by the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. As a student of leadership, I found it one of the most insightful books on the theme. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and esteemed presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, this is a modern classic about Abraham Lincoln (note: this is not a biography), his unlikely presidency and his cabinet comprising former political foes. The book received a great deal of attention in 2008 when the then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama declared that if elected, he would want ‘a team of rivals’ in his Cabinet. Obama acknowledged the influence of Goodwin’s book several times during his presidential campaign. It won the Lincoln Prize and was the inspiration for the Oscar-winning Lincoln written by Tony Kushner and directed by Steven Spielberg, with Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead role.