Where to Start with Doris Kearns Goodwin: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Doris Kearns Goodwin — whether to begin with Team of Rivals, No Ordinary Time, or Leadership. A complete reading guide to the presidential biographer.
By Oliver Kane
Doris Kearns Goodwin (born 1943) is the American presidential historian and political analyst whose biographies of Lincoln, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and other American leaders have made her the most widely read presidential biographer of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. A Pulitzer Prize winner (No Ordinary Time, 1995) and decades-long television commentator on American politics, Goodwin writes biographical history that is accessible, sympathetically human, and grounded in primary source research. She worked as a researcher on Lyndon Johnson’s final years in the White House and on the staffs of several presidential campaigns; her personal proximity to power gives her writing an insider’s sense of how political leadership actually functions alongside the archival rigor of academic history.
Where to Start: Team of Rivals (2005)
The essential Goodwin — and the most widely read American presidential biography of the past generation. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was the least prominent of the four candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. William Seward of New York was the front-runner; Salmon Chase of Ohio had long expected the nomination; Edward Bates of Missouri was the choice of conservatives. Lincoln won the nomination against all three and then, as president, appointed all three to his cabinet.
Goodwin’s argument is that this act — politically astonishing, personally demanding — was the expression of Lincoln’s deepest political genius: his ability to subordinate his ego to his purpose, to recognise ability and use it even when it came with rivalry and contempt, and to hold together a coalition of men who all believed they were better suited to the presidency than he was.
The book is as much about Seward, Chase, and Bates as about Lincoln; Goodwin renders each of them fully before showing how Lincoln’s character changed the relationships. The result is both a portrait of Lincoln and a study in the specific kind of political leadership that consists not in commanding men but in understanding them and creating conditions in which they can do their best work.
Obama cited the book as his model for governance; it has been widely read in management and leadership education as well as American history.
No Ordinary Time (1994)
Goodwin’s Pulitzer Prize winner — the dual biography of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during World War II. The marriage between them (she had discovered his affair with Lucy Mercer in 1918 and never fully forgave him; they remained partners through the political marriage of mutual respect and permanent personal damage) is as compelling as the historical events. Eleanor’s advocacy for civil rights and social justice against the resistance of both her husband and the political establishment gives the book its moral centre.
Leadership: In Turbulent Times (2018)
Goodwin’s synthesis — comparing Lincoln, both Roosevelts, and Johnson as crisis leaders. More analytical than her individual biographies; useful for readers who want the comparative view of how American leaders have responded to catastrophic challenges.
The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys (1987)
Goodwin’s earliest major work and one of the best family biographies in American history — tracing two Irish-Catholic Boston families from immigrant poverty to the Kennedy White House across four generations.
Why Team of Rivals Is the Ideal First Book
For a reader new to Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals is the ideal first book because it is among her most celebrated works and a fine expression of her distinctive gifts, the masterful narrative history, the deep research, and the illuminating portraits of leadership and character. Team of Rivals tells the story of Abraham Lincoln and the political rivals he brought into his cabinet, illuminating his genius for leadership through his handling of the brilliant, competing men around him during the Civil War. As an entry point it is ideal, for it is one of her best-known books and a perfect example of her engaging, deeply researched, and insightful presidential history. It welcomes the newcomer with its compelling subject, its rich storytelling, and its insight into leadership, drawing the reader into history as she renders it. It is among her major works and a fine representation of her gifts, so the new reader encounters Goodwin at her most characteristic. For the newcomer, then, Team of Rivals is an excellent starting point.
What to Expect as a New Reader
As a new reader, you can expect Team of Rivals to be a masterful, deeply researched, and illuminating work of narrative history. You can expect a compelling subject, for the book tells the story of Lincoln and the political rivals he brought into his cabinet. You can expect insight into leadership, for Goodwin illuminates Lincoln’s genius for leadership through his handling of the brilliant, competing, often difficult men around him. You can expect deep research, for the book is grounded in extensive sources and brings its figures vividly to life. You can expect masterful storytelling, for Goodwin renders the politics and drama of the Civil War era with narrative power. You can expect rich portraits of character and a vivid sense of the period. You can expect a long but absorbing and rewarding read. Expect, in short, a masterful, deeply researched, and illuminating work of narrative history, a fine introduction to Goodwin’s gifts.
Going Deeper After Your First Book
Once Team of Rivals has introduced you to Goodwin’s gifts, the reader who wishes to go deeper can explore her other books, which apply the same masterful narrative history, deep research, and insight into leadership and character to other presidents and eras. Her acclaimed works include her portraits of other presidents and their times, her study drawing leadership lessons from the presidents she has written about across her career, and her intimate histories of presidential families and partnerships, each marked by her engaging, deeply researched style. Reading these after Team of Rivals deepens your appreciation of Goodwin’s distinctive gifts, the masterful narrative history, the deep research, and the illuminating portraits of leadership. Her characteristic strengths run through her work, and the reader who has enjoyed Team of Rivals will find them across her books. Building your reading journey through Goodwin is a matter of following her histories from Team of Rivals into her other books. The reader who begins here and continues will find one of the most beloved and accomplished presidential historians of her generation.
Reading Doris Kearns Goodwin
Begin with Team of Rivals — it is her most accomplished and most widely read book. Read No Ordinary Time for her Pulitzer winner. Leadership provides the comparative overview; The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys the family saga. All her books are standalone.
For the full Doris Kearns Goodwin bibliography, reviews, and biography, visit the Doris Kearns Goodwin author page on Editors Reads.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Doris Kearns Goodwin?
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (2005) is the most widely recommended starting point — Goodwin's account of how Lincoln won the 1860 Republican nomination over three more prominent rivals and then appointed all three to his cabinet, transforming political enemies into partners in preserving the Union. The book became a bestseller, was praised by President Obama as his model for governance, and is the most widely read political biography of recent decades. No Ordinary Time is the alternative, with its Pulitzer Prize for its account of FDR and Eleanor during World War II.
What is No Ordinary Time about?
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II (1994) is Goodwin's Pulitzer Prize-winning dual biography — following Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt through the World War II years as Franklin transformed America into the Arsenal of Democracy and Eleanor pushed civil rights and social justice against the resistance of her own husband's political calculations. The marriage between them — a partnership of mutual respect and profound personal disappointment — is as compelling as the historical events. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1995.
What is Leadership: In Turbulent Times about?
Leadership: In Turbulent Times (2018) examines four American presidents — Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson — asking how they developed the qualities of leadership in their earlier lives and how they deployed those qualities in moments of crisis. Goodwin draws on decades of research into all four figures; the book functions as both a synthesis of her career and a practical meditation on what leadership requires. More analytical than her individual biographies but accessible to general readers.
Do Goodwin's books need to be read in order?
No — all of Goodwin's major works are standalone biographies or biographical studies that can be read in any order. Team of Rivals and No Ordinary Time are the most widely read and the best starting points. Readers interested in specific presidents can select accordingly: Lincoln for Team of Rivals, FDR and Eleanor for No Ordinary Time, all four major presidents for Leadership. The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys is her earliest major book and remains an excellent multigenerational family history.
