Every new biographer of Abraham Lincoln must confront a century-old question: Why write a new book about the most exhaustively chronicled person in American history? Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin provides a persuasive answer to that challenge with this impressive life of the Great Emancipator. With a deep understanding of how power works, this former confidante of Lyndon Johnson couples the story of Lincoln's rise to the presidency with the stories of Lincoln's "team of rivals," the remarkable men he defeated and then drafted into his cabinet. Utilizing thousands of primary documents, Goodwin masterfully reveals the growth of Lincoln's political genius within the context of his times. This meticulously researched ten-year labor of love is a joy to read.