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Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow
Alexander Hamilton
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4.39 155
In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, National Book Award winner 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 “a robust... show more
In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, National Book Award winner 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 “a robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all.” 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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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9780143034759 (0143034758)
ASIN: 143034758
Publisher: Penguin
Pages no: 818
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
Aren's Library
Aren's Library rated it
5.0 Alexander Hamilton
So I joined this "hot" book with the play and everything. I enjoyed it.
DaisyReads
DaisyReads rated it
5.0 Alexander Hamilton
This is my first book review on BookLikes, and I'm happy that it is for Alexander Hamilton. This is a five star book. This is one of those books that you wish would never end, and when it does, you have to sit and absorb everything you just read. Ron Chernow writes his biography so that it reads a...
Chris' Fish Place
Chris' Fish Place rated it
3.0
On the good side, this book is a very complete biography of Hamilton and highlights his importance to the history of the United States. On the bad side, at time it descends into hagiography. I found it practically interesting that Aaron Burr was condemned for womanizing, but Hamilton’s extramarita...
Heidi Hart
Heidi Hart rated it
4.5 Read This Book.
I majored in American History in college, but all through my education, I lamented that survey classes spent soooooooooooooooo much time slogging through the early years of the Republic such that more recent events of the 20th century got short shrift. I thought that I knew all I needed or cared to ...
timspaldingperson
timspaldingperson rated it
4.0 Alexander Hamilton
This is a rather decent book. But the rest of this review is a test. But the rest of this review is a test. But the rest of this review is a test. But the rest of this review is a test. But the rest of this review is a test. But the rest of this review is a test.
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