Alexander Hamilton

One fault of the book, is that Chernow is so convinced of Hamilton’s excellence that his narrative sometimes becomes hagiographic. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Chernow’s account of the infamous duel between Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804. He describes Hamilton’s final hours as pious, while Burr, Jefferson, and Adams achieve an almost cartoonish villainy at the news of Hamilton’s passing.

A defender of the union against New England secession and an opponent of slavery, Hamilton has a special appeal to modern sensibilities. Chernow argues that in contrast to Jefferson and Washington’s now outmoded agrarian idealism, Hamilton was "the prophet of the capitalist revolution" and the true forebear of modern America. In his Prologue, he writes: "In all probability, Alexander Hamilton is the foremost figure in American history who never attained the presidency, yet he probably had a much deeper and more lasting impact than many who did." With Alexander Hamilton, this impact can now be more widely appreciated. --Patrick O'Kelley

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

A forgotten Founding Father!, 2008-10-07
Ron Chernow has written another well detailed and well researched biography of a man who is indeed not as well known in the formation of the government of the United States.
It seems Chernow's writings lean toward people who are often misunderstood. Such is the case on his biography of John D. Rockefeller.
Although Mr. Chernow is not an academic historian, he does the due diligence of an historian. As stated in Janet Mislin's New York Times Book Review, Mr. Chernow actually visited the jail cell in St. Croix where Hamilton's mother was imprisoned for adultery.
Also in Chernow's prologue of this book, we find out that Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, the widow of Alexander Hamilton was still alive into the 1850's. The last of a generation who was at the birth of the United States.
The author goes into the remarkable career of a bastard child who later became a man so crucial in the formation of our government. His exploits as a young officer during the Revolutionary War serving George Washington are well detailed by Chernow. His prominence as a key figure in the writings of the Federalist Papers which help to debate and form the Constitution of the United States is indeed apparent in Chernow's prose. Later Hamilton was responsible for the lasting effects of the formation of the U.S. Treasury. His plan of Assumption of the States debts and the formation of the Bank of the United States are the result of Hamilton's work.
Hamilton was opinionated and very aggressive in all his dealings. He indeed was a thorn in the side of Thomas Jefferson and also fellow Federalist John Adams. He was brilliant and verbose. He was indeed an agitator.
His hubris and beliefs led him to the plains of Weehawken where he was shot by Aaron Burr, the Vice President of the United States, and subsequently died.
That ended that! At the age of 49 Alexander Hamilton died of wounds suffered in a duel with Mr. Burr on July 12, 1804. Thirty-one hours later Mr. Hamilton passed away in New York City.
Chernow's book is excellent. Bully for him. Five Stars!!! If I could give six stars I would!!!!



0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Astounding, 2008-10-06
Takes forever to read (or listen to as I did) but by the end, the reader has not only a fantastic understading of the subject, but for the entire maelstrom from which this country sprang.


0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

I learned a lot about this interesting man, 2008-09-21
This is the first full-length biography about Alexander Hamilton that I have read. My only exposure to him has been in general history books, short biographical sketches and references to him in biographies of the other founding fathers. I had just finished watching the John Adams miniseries from HBO and had read his biography by David McCullough. In it Hamilton was depicted as quite fanatic. I wanted to get a broader picture of his life and had heard good reviews of this book. It was available in audio book format and I grabbed a copy to listen to on my commute. It turned out to be a fascinating listening experience.

The narrator was Scott Brick and his voice was perfect for a biography of this type. He has a clear and pleasant voice, and the time listening went by quickly.

I knew that Hamilton had contributed a lot to our countries early history, but had no idea how much he had contributed. I wasn't aware of how he was such a key part of George Washington's career as general and president. I didn't know that Hamilton was the key author of Washington's farewell address, considered one of his greatest speeches. I also didn't know his role in the federalist papers was so key. He was clearly a visionary and was way ahead of his time. It was interesting to get another perspective on the other founding fathers, especially Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.

Hamilton also had plenty of weaknesses and Chernow points those out freely. There is a lot for us to learn from him. It's tragic that Hamilton's life was cut short. It would have been interesting to see what else he would have accomplished if he had lived longer.

I highly recommend this book for all to read. The subject is fascinating and well written. It caused me to reflect on the importance of looking at both sides of a story and realize that even people with flaws can accomplish great things.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Our least well known Founding Father, 2008-09-19
I find tremendous inspiration in these stories of "dead white guys"(and I probably should read the bio of Frederick Douglass and others to round it out) who spent every minute of their adult life, up to their death, providing for their families AND building a country out of nothing. In addition, because of the lack of modern communication(phone/email_ as well as the lack of leisure time they journaled every thought and action they experienced in order that we may learn from them. Their idea of a fun event was maybe being at an inn while working and someone playing a fiddle as the hummed along. We need to get inside thier heads and find out what combination of mental, physical, and spiritual energy they experienced to undertake this monumental task when just staying alive and providing for a family took every waking moment of everyone's life.

Clearly the author grew to respect the role Hamilton played and felt that maybe the average reader may have been unaware(as I was) as to the various debates going on between Federalists and Republicans re: city v. country, farm v. industrialization, support of Britain v. France, etc.and Hamilton's influence (through Washington) on these events. He tried to capture the sense of adventure the young Hamilton experienced(in Nevis, then NYC, the catupulted into Washington's inner circle), the conflict between his family life(with Eliza who comes across very well here), and finally the events that drove his descent into a fatal resignation and eventually death.

All in all a LONG read (took me 3 weeks at 1-2 hours a day) but a worthwhile read.



0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Hamilton, 2008-09-06
Long, but an easy interesting read for anyone interested in the founding fathers and seeing our current problems of today were the same ones they strugled with.

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