Lincoln scholar Doris Kearns Goodwin launched the Bicentennial speakers series at Illinois State University last night with observations from her monograph, Team of Rivals. Referring to the reason for writing the book, she said, "I knew I wanted to go back to the 19th century and learn about the Civil War."She gave roughtly the same speech at Illinois Wesleyan earlier in the day, offering students the critical insight, "He never lost touch with regular Americans."
Meanwhile, Stanford University President John Hennesy welcomed students back to college yesterday in a speech built around Goodwin's Team of Rivals. Inspired by Goodwin , he urged students to "take intellectual risks." "[A]s Doris Kearns Goodwin describes so well, Lincoln was a master of personal interaction and grew from the experiences available to him."
Every student a Lincoln. Every student a risk taker. Every student in touch with regular Americans.
Why not?
p.s. If you would like to book Doris Kearns Goodwin for your next event, you can do so here. Be advised, however, that insights such as "He never lost touch with regular Americans" will cost you "$40,000 and up" per talk.
