Alexander Hamilton
Ron Chernow
Paperback
(Penguin Books, March 29, 2005)
A New York Times Bestseller, and the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton!Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation.In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, Ron Chernow tells the riveting story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America. According to historian Joseph Ellis, Alexander Hamilton is âa robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all.âFew figures in American history have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Alexander Hamilton. Chernowâs biography gives Hamilton his due and sets the record straight, deftly illustrating that the political and economic greatness of todayâs America is the result of Hamiltonâs countless sacrifices to champion ideas that were often wildly disputed during his time. âTo repudiate his legacy,â Chernow writes, âis, in many ways, to repudiate the modern world.â Chernow here recounts Hamiltonâs turbulent life: an illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean, he came out of nowhere to take America by storm, rising to become George Washingtonâs aide-de-camp in the Continental Army, coauthoring The Federalist Papers, founding the Bank of New York, leading the Federalist Party, and becoming the first Treasury Secretary of the United States.Historians have long told the story of Americaâs birth as the triumph of Jeffersonâs democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power. His is a Hamilton far more human than weâve encountered beforeâfrom his shame about his birth to his fiery aspirations, from his intimate relationships with childhood friends to his titanic feuds with Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Monroe, and Burr, and from his highly public affair with Maria Reynolds to his loving marriage to his loyal wife Eliza. And never before has there been a more vivid account of Hamiltonâs famous and mysterious death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July of 1804.Chernowâs biography is not just a portrait of Hamilton, but the story of Americaâs birth seen through its most central figure. At a critical time to look back to our roots, Alexander Hamilton will remind readers of the purpose of our institutions and our heritage as Americans.âNobody has captured Hamilton better than Chernowâ âThe New York Times Book Review Ron Chernow's other biographies include: Grant, Washington, and Titan.