| Alexander Hamilton
(2004)
|
| Front Cover |
Book Details |
Back Cover |
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| Genre |
Biography |
| Subject |
Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804; Statesmen - United States - Biography; United States - Politics And Government - 1783-1809 |
| Publication Date |
4/26/2004 |
| Format |
Hardcover (9.5
x
6.3
mm)
|
| Publisher |
Penguin Press |
| Language |
English |
| Extras |
Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover |
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|
| Description |
| From National Book Award winner Ron Chernow, a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation. Ron Chernow, whom the New York Timescalled "as elegant an architect of monumental histories as we've seen in decades," now brings to startling life the man who was arguably the most important figure in American history, who never attained the presidency, but who had a far more lasting impact than many who did. An illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean, Hamilton rose with stunning speed to become George Washington's aide-de-camp, a member of the Constitutional Convention, coauthor of The Federalist Papers, leader of the Federalist party, and the country's first Treasury secretary. With masterful storytelling skills, Chernow presents the whole sweep of Hamilton's turbulent life: his exotic, brutal upbringing; his brilliant military, legal, and financial exploits; his titanic feuds with Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and Monroe; his illicit romances; and his famous death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July 1804. For the first time, Chernow captures the personal life of this handsome, witty, and perennially controversial genius and explores his poignant relations with his wife Eliza, their eight children, and numberless friends. This engrossing narrative will dispel forever the stereotype of the Founding Fathers as wooden figures and show that, for all their greatness, they were fiery, passionate, often flawed human beings. Alexander Hamilton was one of the seminal figures in our history. His richly dramatic saga, rendered in Chernow's vivid prose, is nothing less than a riveting account of America's founding, from the Revolutionary War to the rise of the first federal government. |
| Personal Details |
| Store |
2nd & Charles |
| Purchase Price |
$9.95 |
| Acquire Date |
11/20/2020 |
| Condition |
Very Good/Very Good |
| Rating |
0 |
| Links |
Library of Congress
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|
| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
E302.6.H2 .C48 2004 |
| Dewey |
973.4092 |
| ISBN |
9781594200090 |
| Cover Price |
$35.00 |
| No. of Pages |
818 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
|
| Notes/Review |
Many years ago I began reading the whole-life biographies of American presidents. It wasn't a plan: I started with John Adams and worked my way through in order until I got to LBJ, where I went back and read Washington. So I've had glimpses of who Hamilton was from the point of view of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. He was a bit of a villain in most of those books. I finally get to a book where Hamilton is the hero.
I found the book well-written, well-researched, and fairly easy to read. I didn't get bogged down at any point and was engaged throughout.
These were all intelligent, capable, and interesting people, and the world would be a far different place had they not lived or had they not taken their parts in the founding of the United States. I'm sure it would be easy for someone who hasn't studied our Founding Fathers to have the impression that they mostly got along together, that they had somewhat similar ideas on how things should be done and that's why we are where we are today.
But they didn't get along. There were deep divides among them, and each of them imagined the others working against them; that each thought themselves a true patriot and many of the others working against the "right" and the "good".
With two-plus centuries of hindsight, it's quite a bit easier to see what was really going on. The nation was founded on compromise, and it was fairly difficult for some of these figures to compromise their beliefs.
Hamilton was, I think, one of the few "necessary" figures of the period. Substitute someone else in Hamilton's role and things would have turned out much differently, and not (in my opinion) for the better. He was a giant intellect (but not without his blind spots) who seems to have seen that the world was on the brink of the Industrial Age, even if neither he nor his biographer would put it in those terms.
This is essential reading for anybody studying the formation of the United States. |
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