Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln is a 2005 book by Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, published by Simon & Schuster.

The book focuses on Lincoln's mostly successful attempts to reconcile conflicting personalities and political factions on the path to abolition and victory in the American Civil War.

US President Barack Obama cited it as one of his favorite books and was said to have used it as a model for constructing his own cabinet, although he later wrote this was not the reason he chose Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State.

Goodwin stated that in dealing with the scandal, during which she had to apologize and make an out-of-court settlement to author Lynne McTaggart, she found Lincoln a consolation, particularly his philosophy "not to waste precious energies on recriminations about the past".

"[5] The book begins with an introduction where Goodwin explains how she plans to illuminate Lincoln's life: "In my own effort to illuminate the character and career of Abraham Lincoln, I have coupled the account of his life with the stories of the remarkable men who were his rivals for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination—New York senator William H. Seward, Ohio governor Salmon P. Chase, and Missouri's distinguished elder statesman Edward Bates.

The first chapter of Team of Rivals portrays four major contenders for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination on May 18, 1860, awaiting the results of the national convention by telegraph: New York Senator and former governor William H. Seward, widely considered the frontrunner; Ohio Governor Salmon P. Chase, a favorite of the party's more radical wing; former Missouri Attorney General Edward Bates, preferred by more conservative elements of the party; and Abraham Lincoln, a former U.S. Representative from Illinois.

Goodwin then describes how each candidate rose to national political prominence: Seward through a long alliance with New York political boss Thurlow Weed, Chase through his early advocacy of the abolition of slavery, Bates through a speech opposing President James K. Polk at the 1847 River and Harbor Convention, and Lincoln through a series of debates with Democratic rival Stephen A. Douglas in the 1858 Illinois Senate election.

At the same time, the letter he had written to prove his credentials to the Republicans had diminished the previous enthusiasm of conservatives and former Know Nothings"[7] Salmon Chase's candidacy was hampered by attacks from Ohio politicians like Judge McLean or Benjamin Wade and could not mount a serious challenge.

Lincoln was ultimately the victor at the 1860 convention through a superior political operation and by making himself the unobjectionable second choice of all Republican factions, and proceeded to win the presidency.

Lincoln oversees the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolishes slavery, and sees the war to its successful conclusion.

During the battle for the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, Lincoln uses all kinds of persuasion and incentives to get the required number of votes for ratification: "I am President of the United States, clothed with great power.

"[9] He also appoints Chase as the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, believing him the best man to secure the rights of newly freed black citizens.

[2] Allen C. Guelzo wrote in The Washington Post that "this immense, finely boned book is no dull administrative or bureaucratic history; rather, it is a story of personalities – a messianic drama, if you will – in which Lincoln must increase and the others must decrease.

"[12] In the Seattle Times, Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett praised the book's "ambitious, multi-strand structure", concluding, "This monumental effort is a gift; Goodwin's work clarifies and preserves Lincoln's legacy with rare skill.

[28] A number of critics noted that the final film, which focused almost entirely on the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment through Congress, was based on only a few pages of Goodwin's book, and that Kushner did substantial independent research composing the screenplay.