The #1 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.“Grand-scale biography at its best—thorough, insightful, consistently fair, and superbly written . . . A genuinely great … fair, and superbly written . . . A genuinely great book.” —David McCullough
“A robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all.” —Joseph Ellis
Few figures in American history have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Alexander Hamilton. Chernow’s biography gives Hamilton his due and sets the record straight, deftly illustrating that the political and economic greatness of today’s America is the result of Hamilton’s countless sacrifices to champion ideas that were often wildly disputed during his time. “To repudiate his legacy,” Chernow writes, “is, in many ways, to repudiate the modern world.” Chernow here recounts Hamilton’s 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 Washington’s 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 America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s 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 we’ve encountered before—from 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 Hamilton’s famous and mysterious death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July of 1804.
Chernow’s biography is not just a portrait of Hamilton, but the story of America’s 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.
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The biography is a detailed well-written account of an American giant and genius, who shaped the future of our nation.
With the apparent failure of democracy to take hold in Iraq, Libya, Egypt or Syria (though possibly in Tunisia), I’ve been interested in understanding how our founding fathers managed to achieve it. This book lets you realize how difficult that was – and just how much of that success is owed to Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton is inseparable from the times he lived in, and so the book also talks about the compromises these founding fathers made to get the US Constitution ratified by the states – compromises that resulted in the establishment of political parties and, eventually, the Civil War.
In US History class, I recall that we were taught that Hamilton wrote the Federalist Papers. But I did not recall just how instrumental they were in explaining the rationale for each the Articles of the US Constitution.
Many think of history books as characteristically dry. That was definitely not the case here. Indeed, I found this book very interesting and exciting.
This is an excellently researched and written biography of this amazing founding father in America. It took me a long time to finish it because the print is tiny and it is 730 pages long. But I loved it all, even the slow parts. It was a very thorough study of Hamilton’s personal, political, and spiritual life. I found the history of what American politics were like from the very beginning fascinating. Often, we erroneously believe that politics back then were more puritanical, not so divisive as today. This book showed with ample proof from the writings of leaders of that day and newspaper articles that it was just as contentious and divisive and often uncivil as today’s arena has become. Hamilton thought Jefferson would bring about the demise of the fledgling nation and wrote critical and scathing articles against him because of this. And Jefferson gave back as good as he received. They both believed the other side was evil and would bring about the end of the freedoms for Americans (sound familiar?). And yet, they were both devoutly patriotic men who were trying to do what they believed best for this country (and they had polar opposite views of how to do this). Was Hamilton right and Jefferson wrong? No. Hamilton’s genius at the time proved right for that time period with Washington, but he made glaring mistakes as well later in life. Jefferson’s views didn’t gain traction until later (thank goodness, or we’d still be a backwards third world nation), but when he became president, he did much good.
I loved the history of this book and learning more about Hamilton and other leaders from that time period. But I think my biggest takeaway was that we all need to chill out some with politics. No one side is evil and trying to destroy the country as both sides like to yell on social media and other news media outlets. Are there bad elements? Definitely, and you can find these in both parties. But overall, political differences are just different ways of seeing the world. Each party has flaws and each has strengths. Certain party platforms work miracles at certain critical times in history, and at others, they would mire the country in debt or economic crisis. Neither party has the moral high ground to say they are always right and never wrong. That wasn’t true back in Washington and Hamilton’s days, and it’s not true still. You should never believe blanket statements like that from any person, party, or group in life, if you’re wise. You realize as you look back on history that America is stronger because of the two-party system. Both parties provide a natural checks and balances so that one party (either one) doesn’t run the country into the ground.
Anyway, if you want to delve deeper into history, this book was a great one for the period of before the American revolution on up to the early 1800’s. I read this book after seeing the Broadway musical, and I felt most of the play is portrayed historically accurate. There are a couple parts jazzed up with Angelica to make the musical more interesting. Overall, I loved this book even if it wasn’t super easy read. It was a fulfilling and enlightening look into the past.
Amazing historical information. The book that inspired Playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda to compose and write Hamilton for the stage.
It’s obvious the author loves his title character. Compared to Grant, which I think was
a better book, Hamilton gets his loving devotion almost unquestionably. Made me want to read the Federalist Papers.
Excellent in every possible way!
Just ok
There are many books out about Alexander Hamilton, and Ron Chernow’s is an engaging and informative one. It is a thick book, but it is an easy read, not a dry textbook. Readers follow Hamilton’s life from the beginning and learn about his humble beginnings. That puts his achievements in an even brighter light than one may have done before.
The settings are well drawn, and readers will be able to picture those places, from an island to New York etc. Details not only help us to see and feel the surroundings but also play a part in shaping Hamilton’s views. What he saw impacted him, and this would play a role in his activities later on.
Readers get to see other famous historical figures through Hamilton’s eyes, and this is particularly interesting if one has read about Hamilton’s opponents. The comparison is enlightening. Though the book is written with obvious admiration for Hamilton by the author, it is done fairly, as would be expected of such a respected historian. Readers will learn more than just Hamilton’s past; they will discover or review important events in the nation’s history. Some of those things will be familiar, but others will be new. This book is well worth the read whether or not you are a fan of Hamilton.
Long but very interesting in-depth biography of an extremely complex Founding Father!
I was interested in the book that inspired the musical. It is a fascinating look at the beginning of the US and the people who dreamed of what the country could be.
The book is quite long but fascinating. Alexander Hamilton was a genius with a brilliant financial mind as well as a gifted writer. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned so much about the foundations of our government. A must read, in my opinion.
Thebookws just Ok. I did not get what all the fuss was about before turning it into the play Hamilton which received rave reviews
You’ve seen the play, now read the book.
What can one say about the classic on Hamilton. It brought us a great musical, of course. Moreover, it is any easy and interesting read about a complex man that contributed to the United States important principals.
Chernobyl superb onnhamilton
Well researched and written.. Author did not seem to have an agenda
Never knew why, if Washington D.C. was our nation’s capital, did its financial center become New York. This explains that, among other things.
None of those words even begins to describe HAMILTON. It is history on an epic scale, bringing to light unknown facts of history. The aspect of Alexander Hamilton wrote 52 of the Federalist Papers which legally have no standing in law, but have been used as a basis for Supreme Court rulings. The brilliance of Hamilton is amazing.
Before reading this book, most of what I knew about Alexander Hamilton came from a biography of Thomas Jefferson who didn’t think much of Hamilton. After reading this, it seems that Hamilton didn’t think much of Jefferson either. Each of them seemed to believe that the other might bring about the destruction of The United States. Fortunately for us, they were both wrong about that.
Loved reading this. As with any well-written book, I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next, but the enjoyment was tempered by the knowledge of how Hamilton’s life ended. He was mostly self-taught, but brilliant. He did well at everything he set his mind to.
He could have made himself wealthy in his law practice, but he threw himself into being Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury, and that didn’t pay very well. Even when he went back to being a lawyer, much of his energy went into politics, so when he died at age 49, he left his large much-loved family in debt.
He had one scandal in his life which, when it became known, precluded his running for higher office. One has to wonder what he could have accomplished had his reputation been unblemished or had he lived longer.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
I don’t want to go into too much detail here, don’t want to spoil it for you (haha it’s history! Can’t be spoiled.) This book was 731 pages long in Kindle form and it sure felt like it. It took me two and a half months to read it but man, was it the most thorough and extensive biography! I was inspired to read it when I saw the broadway play, Hamilton, on Disney+ and I am so glad I decided to compare to the book because it was interesting. The author uses some really great words which translated well into the musical and these have become my favorite part of both. I think the language was what I loved most about this biography. I now know more about Hamilton that I ever thought I would know, as well as Jefferson, Adams, Monroe, and Washington. I loved seeing a different side of the founding fathers and their contributions to the nation now. I feel this biography was prevalent to the state of our nation today. Hamilton truly is an inspiration, especially for me as an author. The man could write and write and write, and he was witty and well-spoken too. He worked hard and it paid off for him. He rose to the top of the nation because of it, not to say he didn’t have his own setbacks and grief, because he sure did. If you’re a fan of the broadway musical or a fan of history, this biography is compelling and enticing!