Megatheriums for Breakfast

My fortnightly occasional summary of what I’ve been reading and listening to.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Hardcover, my own library

Amazon link

I finally finished this book, subtitled ‘The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln’. It’s a fascinating study of Lincoln and the men he appointed to his cabinet, several of whom had been his bitter rivals for the nomination of the Republican Party. Can we see a certain repeat of history today in that Lincoln appointed his main rival – the person whom almost everyone thought would win the nomination – as Secretary of State? Certainly we know that President Obama was reading this book between his election and the inauguration.

But modern parallels aside, I found this a really gripping read, as we see Lincoln practically lift himself up by his bootstraps from extremely humble beginnings, educating himself and then following the law and eventually stepping in to politics, to become the unlikely nomination of his party. This, however, was not mere luck. Lincoln had a careful plan and built up his support at the expense of his much richer and much more well-connected rivals – William Seward, Salmon Chase and Edward Bates – and snatched the nomination. Most people at the time, and certainly those rivals, thought it a bizarre and unwise choice by the party, and Lincoln was much disparaged as a ‘backwoods lawyer’ and a ‘rail-splitter’. This book demonstrates how Lincoln overcame those perceptions and built the initially grudging and then full-hearted respect of men like Seward, his Secretary of State.

The book also tells, of course, the story of the Civil War, but dwells only briefly on the campaign itself, and more on the personalities and the politics of the war which Lincoln shrewdly managed.

As an Australian, my knowledge of American history is only limited. I learnt a lot from this book, and enjoyed it greatly.

Current Reading

I’m currently part-way through:

• American Empire: Blood and Iron by Harry Turtledove (Audiobook).
• Angel’s Flight by Michael Connelly (Ebook).
• Ruled Brittania by Harry Turtledove (Ebook).
• American Journeys by Don Watson (Hardcover, my own library).

We’ve just returned from a short but very pleasant stay in Daylesford, Victoria.

Daylesford is currently being promoted heavily on television at the moment through a commercial which links images of young people having a very good time and a soundtrack of the song “Down in the river to pray” which was featured in the movie “Brother, Where Art Thou?”. It’s a beautiful song, but I have no idea how this religious lyric (inviting everyone to go down and pray in the river) relates to the luxurious and sybaritic lifestyle depicted in the visuals…

Despite this saturation advertising, we weren’t particularly influenced by it to chose Daylesford for a weekend away – it’s close to Woodend, and Castlemaine, where we’ve been many times, and it had been on our list to visit for some time.

Anyway, I took the above photograph while we were ambling around the lake in Daylesford, a comfortable 2 km walk. On the day we had arrived, it was raining heavily (much to be desired in our current drought conditions, but not so good for tourism), but on the next day it was absolutely perfect, not a cloud in the sky, and a mild temperature ideal for walking about.

That night after dinner, we went back down to the edge of the lake and stared up at the night sky. The spread of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds were very easy to see, and an absolute wealth of stars which are just lost to us in the city. It makes you yearn for the chance to escape the city and see such glory far more often.