Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow

Alexander Hamilton

By Ron Chernow

  • Release Date: 2004-04-26
  • Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 1,169 Ratings

Description

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 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.

9780143034759

Reviews

  • Alexander Hamilton Written by Ron Chernow

    4
    By ansh2208
    Very detailed so a bit difficult to understand without assistance but our professor made it easier to understand. There is also a musical that this book was inspired by but it is slightly different.
  • hammy

    5
    By bellllf hi owndjdndkf
    AYE
  • This is a terrible book

    1
    By 173539435
    First of the author wrote things as facts when he couldn’t possibly know that they were true second this is the most racist book I have ever read
  • wonderful

    5
    By SpuddyBuddy2.0
    I dont know where to start but worth it beyond worth it
  • Oop

    5
    By Kyle but im a girl
    Lol I’m asking my mom if I can get this rn but she’s mad soooo I’m sad
  • More to learn about Hamilton

    5
    By desertsquirrel72
    This is a great biography about Alexander Hamilton. I knew that the musical was based on this biography. But I expected Aaron Burr to be as charming as out as Leslie Odom junior. Still all in all a wonderful biography where I learned much more about Alexander Hamilton.
  • Great reading

    5
    By Slim1921
    A detailed biography of one of America’s greatest founders who died too young. Enjoyable reading.
  • I never read a book better then this!

    5
    By EBFGamer
    Hello, I love this book I cannot just read one chapter! There is so much more I want to tell you all but ‘read’ for yourself get it read! Also just read the book so you can find cool stuff about Alexander Hamilton!
  • Great!

    5
    By Goofylake03
    I have read his books on Washington, Grant and now Hamilton. ....On to Rockefeller
  • Liberal history

    2
    By trebor j
    This book was a very hard book to put down. Hamilton was a very interesting and very important man and politician in are history. He had more accomplished before thirty then most people in their life time. I read up to chapter 25 and stopped. This is a very left leaning activist author and very anti conservative. History should be non bias. Research this author before you buy.