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The Rivalry
Academy Award-nominees Paul Giamatti and David Strathairn star in this electrifying dramatization by Norman Corwin of the history-making Lincoln-Douglas debates. The fierce rivalry between rising legislator Abraham Lincoln and incumbent Senator Stephen A. Douglas tackled some of the day's most passionate and controversial issues - above all those of slavery and the American concept of freedom. As seen through the eyes of Douglas' young wife Adele (Lily Rabe), the play illuminates two of the most charismatic politicians of any era. Nominated for two 2010 Audies Awards for Best Audio Drama and Best Multi-Voiced Performance. Directed by Academy Award-winner Eric Simonson. A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, James Gleason, Lily Rabe and Shannon Cochran.
Audio CD
First published January 15, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
July 28, 2013
Good acting. Though some of the speeches had me nodding. But considering it is drawn on the actual debates, that isn't really surprising.
Wonderful timing between the cast.
Wonderful timing between the cast.
October 8, 2020
Refreshing debate of old...when both sides made logical arguments and actually debated rather than yell incoherently.
May 29, 2010
As I prepped for my Memorial Day-weekend road trip, I felt the familiar urge to pick out an audio book for the drive. The Rivalry sat waiting for me on a display shelf at the public library. And facing a 5-hour drive, this 2-hour/2 disc presentation was a perfect choice.
The Rivalry is a staged play, with the actual stage actors lending their talent to this audio recording. Yet, for all the trappings of a live audience and intermission, this is more of a history lesson than a play. There isn't much of a plot until the last third of the script.
Nevertheless, so long as you want the history lesson, this play is a great way to get it. The director and cast are top quality. I've always been a fan of Paul Giamatti and David Strathairn. Of the two, Giamatti has a more interesting and multi-faceted role to explore as Douglas, portraying a man horrifically prejudiced against people of color while also stalwart in his loyalty to the Union. This latter trait challenged me in a healthy way, so that I could not dismiss him.
The debate scenes are very engaging. It's interesting to watch Judge Douglas use states' rights to justify slavery, and to accuse Lincoln and the Republican Party of trying to force unwanted change via the courts. There is of course an ironic (and not very subtle) parallel here to today. But as I mentioned before, thanks to Douglas's character arc, every audience member is likely to feel challenged at times. And the bond these two political icons forge in spite of deep differences casts a hopeful light on the potential for our nation and its leaders to come together again.
Bottom line: If you've never read/studied the Lincoln-Douglas debates, this dramatic work is a great primer. Give it a try.
The Rivalry is a staged play, with the actual stage actors lending their talent to this audio recording. Yet, for all the trappings of a live audience and intermission, this is more of a history lesson than a play. There isn't much of a plot until the last third of the script.
Nevertheless, so long as you want the history lesson, this play is a great way to get it. The director and cast are top quality. I've always been a fan of Paul Giamatti and David Strathairn. Of the two, Giamatti has a more interesting and multi-faceted role to explore as Douglas, portraying a man horrifically prejudiced against people of color while also stalwart in his loyalty to the Union. This latter trait challenged me in a healthy way, so that I could not dismiss him.
The debate scenes are very engaging. It's interesting to watch Judge Douglas use states' rights to justify slavery, and to accuse Lincoln and the Republican Party of trying to force unwanted change via the courts. There is of course an ironic (and not very subtle) parallel here to today. But as I mentioned before, thanks to Douglas's character arc, every audience member is likely to feel challenged at times. And the bond these two political icons forge in spite of deep differences casts a hopeful light on the potential for our nation and its leaders to come together again.
Bottom line: If you've never read/studied the Lincoln-Douglas debates, this dramatic work is a great primer. Give it a try.
July 1, 2018
This was an excellent play about the Lincoln Douglas debates. The actors are masters of their craft and they use all of that talent here to create a play that is over an hour and a half long but feels like it is only 30 minutes. This is definitely something that I am going to buy and use in a classroom, and I would greatly suggest to anyone looking to study the debates. It is awesome to hear them act and put tone and inflection to the words one woud normally read on the page. I give this book a five out of five.
August 28, 2012
Pound for pound, or rather, page for page, this is really high quality stuff. It is a short little play, and yet by its faithfulness to the words of Lincoln and Douglas, the reader or audience will learn much about them and their times. Fans of The West Wing will appreciate that the dynamics of political power and the insecurity of people who seek it has not changed that much since the 1850s.
I think it was particularly effective to have Stephen Douglas's wife play such a prominent role. By narrating, and by playing the foil to her prominent husband, she gives a warm and earthy tone to the story. Her interactions with her husband's rival are particularly moving.
I think it was particularly effective to have Stephen Douglas's wife play such a prominent role. By narrating, and by playing the foil to her prominent husband, she gives a warm and earthy tone to the story. Her interactions with her husband's rival are particularly moving.
January 16, 2026
The Rivalry proceeds from an ambitious and fascinating idea for a play. The Lincoln–Douglas debates of 1858 led to Douglas being elected to the Senate, but they also allowed for a sustained public debate over slavery—and gave Lincoln far more name recognition than the Illinois lawyer had previously enjoyed. These debates were long affairs, typically consisting of hours of back-and-forth speeches. It is a testament to the nineteenth-century attention span that debates and lectures of this sort were popular entertainment. (Robert G. Ingersoll, for example, used to deliver lectures three hours long—and spoke to standing-room-only crowds.) The central issue in these debates was popular sovereignty—the doctrine that territories could choose for themselves whether to permit slavery. To Douglas, this was a perfectly sensible approach that made national policy on slavery unnecessary. To Lincoln, it opened the door to slavery’s expansion and relied on the idea that the worth of some people could be decided by the mass opinions of others.
Norman Corwin takes some of the most historically potent moments from these debates and reshapes them into a series of far shorter exchanges between the two men. These are punctuated by brief scenes in which a Republican Party leader announces events, or Lincoln encounters Douglas’s wife, Adele, on a train and they converse. These interludes are not fluff: in Lincoln’s conversation with Adele Douglas, I recognized many of the same historic arguments Lincoln made to the Little Giant himself, though delivered in a much different way — casually, rather than caustically. They also serve to give Lincoln a definite sympathetic advantage, as virtually all of Douglas’ screentime is when he is arguing (and generally on propositions current readers would object to), whereas Lincoln gets to ruminate with Adele and entertain her and the audience with his folksy stories. (Said stories are entertaining, as are his ripostes. It would be interesting to pit Lincoln against Reagan in joke-off.)
Both Paul Giamatti and David Strathairn are superb presences, and Lincoln’s humor is smartly worked in—and well delivered. I enjoyed this very much, though I have been reading about this era for several months now and am a fan of both actors; in fact, I watched films led by each of them shortly before listening to this. As someone who has encountered the debates in books such as 1858 and And There Was Light, I thought Corwin’s adaptation—rendered in a form intelligible to the modern listener—was particularly well done. While the focus remains firmly on the debates themselves, the production includes ambient effects such as cheering crowds, music, and cannon fire. While I imagine this kind of production has a small audience, it’s VERY well done. I must say, I’m loving Los Angeles Theater Works productions, and evidently I’ve enjoyed two of their prior works without realizing they were the source.
Norman Corwin takes some of the most historically potent moments from these debates and reshapes them into a series of far shorter exchanges between the two men. These are punctuated by brief scenes in which a Republican Party leader announces events, or Lincoln encounters Douglas’s wife, Adele, on a train and they converse. These interludes are not fluff: in Lincoln’s conversation with Adele Douglas, I recognized many of the same historic arguments Lincoln made to the Little Giant himself, though delivered in a much different way — casually, rather than caustically. They also serve to give Lincoln a definite sympathetic advantage, as virtually all of Douglas’ screentime is when he is arguing (and generally on propositions current readers would object to), whereas Lincoln gets to ruminate with Adele and entertain her and the audience with his folksy stories. (Said stories are entertaining, as are his ripostes. It would be interesting to pit Lincoln against Reagan in joke-off.)
Both Paul Giamatti and David Strathairn are superb presences, and Lincoln’s humor is smartly worked in—and well delivered. I enjoyed this very much, though I have been reading about this era for several months now and am a fan of both actors; in fact, I watched films led by each of them shortly before listening to this. As someone who has encountered the debates in books such as 1858 and And There Was Light, I thought Corwin’s adaptation—rendered in a form intelligible to the modern listener—was particularly well done. While the focus remains firmly on the debates themselves, the production includes ambient effects such as cheering crowds, music, and cannon fire. While I imagine this kind of production has a small audience, it’s VERY well done. I must say, I’m loving Los Angeles Theater Works productions, and evidently I’ve enjoyed two of their prior works without realizing they were the source.
July 2, 2025
What a marvelous play!!! As painful as it was to listen to Douglas's arguments that the Black man deserved to be a slave because of his inferiority, Lincoln's beguiling logic about the right of a superior white man ( say in education ) to enslave another white man with less learning was amazingly wonderful. There are laughs and tears in this production. It is interesting to hear that Douglas believed that the "Spanish" race was adulterated and inferior thus supporting the Mexican - American war and our seizure of California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona, the western half of New Mexico, the southwestern corner of Wyoming, and the western quarter of Colorado as our due as the superior race. It breaks my heart today as ICE ( wearing masks - if they are legal and proud of what they are doing, why the face masks???) seizes and attempts to deport people of color, mostly Mexican, Central and South Americans because of the color of their skin. They are not seizing Norwegians who may be here to study on a visa... Those who do not know and understand history are doomed to re-enact it. Agent Orange believes the Declaration of Independence was the basis for the Civil War. Wrong war - Revolutionary instead. I cry for our country as I would have cried had I heard these debates. Kristi & Abby Tabby
September 29, 2020
This short play discusses so many issues our nation faces, and I found it fascinating to listen to a debate from history that sounds like a political debate we could have today. The explanations of the Declaration of Independence language was also interesting to me.
July 11, 2019
I'm extremely glad to have discovered the work of Norman Corwin through this stellar production.
June 4, 2020
Fun. Respectful. Historically relevant. Also a chance to hear successful television actors on stage before they made it really big.
May 1, 2021
Contains vital truths that we need to remember today.
August 17, 2022
A short but extremely satisfying look at the Lincoln-Douglas Debates as told through the eyes of Mrs. Douglas.
July 25, 2025
Of alll the plays I have listened to this last year, this is the one I would recommend the most. For its historical importance, as well as its profoundly engaging performance.
January 31, 2013
CAPTIVATING! AMAZING!
“That argument’s as thin as a soup made from boiling the shadow of a starving pigeon.” –Abe Lincoln
L. A. Theatre Works absolutely rocks. Paul Giamatti, as Stephen A. Douglas and David Strathain, as Abraham Lincoln, are captivating in this audio production of Norman Corwin’s stage play, ‘The Rivalry.’ I’ve listened to this audiobook twice—in the less than one day since I downloaded it—and i'm looking forward to hearing it through again, at least once more, before returning it to the L. A. County Library. It is amazing.
I can’t wait to find more L. A. Theatre Works productions to listen to.
Recommendation: Even radio, in the days before television, wasn’t this good (although it was pretty good).
Overdrive MP3 Audiobook (listened to on an iPad—haven’t had a chance to download it to my iPod, yet), on loan from http://overdrive.colapublib.org
“That argument’s as thin as a soup made from boiling the shadow of a starving pigeon.” –Abe Lincoln
L. A. Theatre Works absolutely rocks. Paul Giamatti, as Stephen A. Douglas and David Strathain, as Abraham Lincoln, are captivating in this audio production of Norman Corwin’s stage play, ‘The Rivalry.’ I’ve listened to this audiobook twice—in the less than one day since I downloaded it—and i'm looking forward to hearing it through again, at least once more, before returning it to the L. A. County Library. It is amazing.
I can’t wait to find more L. A. Theatre Works productions to listen to.
Recommendation: Even radio, in the days before television, wasn’t this good (although it was pretty good).
Overdrive MP3 Audiobook (listened to on an iPad—haven’t had a chance to download it to my iPod, yet), on loan from http://overdrive.colapublib.org
May 30, 2014
It's been awhile since I've read a book on the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. This audio presentation of the play "The Rivalry," which only takes about 1Hr and 40 mins of your time, brings the protagonists to life and, although there are many things in their political arena that will remind us of our own era, particularly the negative ones, where today they have increase 0ne Hundred fold, there are some that make us wish that some of those old fashioned values had continued on until today. Particularly the example Stephen Douglas set by working with his opponent for the good of the country. The final Lincoln tribute to Douglas says it all.
December 23, 2012
books-aesop fables, MacBeth, robinson crusoe, pilgrims progress, lessons in education, from Carwardine book. Jefferson and Lincoln no slavery in new territory, leave slavery to extinction vs agitation, a man keeps his own bread, demeaning mexico by douglas, imperialist views of mexico and cuba, enslave people to govt is equally demeaning as done today, douglas against dissolution yet agitation of issue accelerated dissolution via southern democrats, Douglas helped keep IL in union and against southern dems, if one is ok to trample on rights of others not long before trampled upon as well.
January 10, 2014
Having read only the first 400 pages of "A Team of Rivals" (a start which resulted in me actually purchasing my own copy and committing to start from the beginning) I thought this a good supplement. Still, I was surprised by the effect of this enactment upon me.
Although reluctant initially, I found the performances to be wonderfully moving - easily evoking a relationship between two competitors who (in the end) held some respect for one another.
This is a performance worthy of thoughtful listeners and one which could leas to much dialogue (particularly in a school setting).
Although reluctant initially, I found the performances to be wonderfully moving - easily evoking a relationship between two competitors who (in the end) held some respect for one another.
This is a performance worthy of thoughtful listeners and one which could leas to much dialogue (particularly in a school setting).
May 14, 2020
L. A. Theatre Works productions are always great and this one is no different. The two actors, Paul Giamatti and David Strathairn , play Paul Douglas and Abraham Lincoln in the Douglas-Lincoln debates of 1860. Most of the dialogue is taken from the original transcript of the debate. We see the humor of Lincoln and the staidness of Douglas, but also see the worthiness of each candidate. The two later worked together for the sake of saving the union. A wonderful way to listen / read history. Highly recommended.
October 24, 2012
I don't give too many reviews 5 stars but this dramatization of the Lincoln-Douglas debates is stellar. Well written and portrayed. Regardless of the topics of debate (Slavery, the constitution and the concern of secession)the use of logic is richly portrayed. Brilliant communicators with quick minds. Will gladly listen to this one again.
February 2, 2017
This was very interesting. I listened to it in a stage production. The narrator was Mrs. Douglas and I quickly liked her. The Lincoln Douglas Presidential debates are famous, but this was better than reading them. The actors were brilliantly cast in their roles.
Rather short in length, about 1 hour 45 minutes and worthy of your time.
Rather short in length, about 1 hour 45 minutes and worthy of your time.
April 27, 2010
Synopsis: Lincoln takes Douglass apart in the debates. Honestly, I'm not sure how any reasonable person could have voted for Douglass. This was good for a theatre production, but not terribly interesting.
This was my first audio book after The Help. Unsatisfactory, but almost any book would be.
This was my first audio book after The Help. Unsatisfactory, but almost any book would be.
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March 13, 2013Lincoln is very funny.
Douglas is hard to sympathize with... by design.
I think he would not have been elected if he were this much of a cad.
Adele Douglas is interesting.
Need an intro to the Douglas-Lincoln debates? this is fun.
Need history? not so sure yet.
Douglas is hard to sympathize with... by design.
I think he would not have been elected if he were this much of a cad.
Adele Douglas is interesting.
Need an intro to the Douglas-Lincoln debates? this is fun.
Need history? not so sure yet.
January 13, 2015
This is a play turned audio book on the Lincoln Douglas Debates, and is excellent! David Strathairn plays a witty Lincoln, and Paul Giamatti a passionate Douglas, with Lily Rabe as the calm and wise Adele Douglas.
March 21, 2015
Love Paul Giamatti and David Straithairn. There voices brought much much life to this story. Lily Race was the nice counterpoint to both these forces. Time flew listening to this rendition. Great choices.
September 9, 2012
Basically, I've had this on repeat in my car for a week. So well done.
March 27, 2014
Spectacular. This is not to be missed by any lover of history or Lincoln.
July 25, 2016
An entertaining and educational reenactment taken from the transcripts of the Lincoln - Douglas Debate voiced by Paul Giamatti and David Strathairn.
August 20, 2016
Excellent adaption of Lincoln Douglas debates and fight to preserve the union.
May 1, 2015
Fascinating debates.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews