A 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.
In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, 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.
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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"This is a damned good big biography of one of the most interesting figures in American history. Chernow takes us from Hamilton's mysterious Caribbean childhood to his Columbia education which a moving account of a hurricane in the island paper affords him to the battlefields of the revolution and George Washington's side, an unbelievable picaresque adventure if it wasn't true. From there, the biographer of the robber barons takes us into the structuring of the American economy. Hamilton comes off as genius, Jefferson comes off as evil, Madison treacherous, Washington wise (he guided and tamed Hamilton), Adams cranky and casting blame. Much more about sex scandals of the 1790s (Hamilton, Jefferson, Burr) than you'd ever thought there was. And in the end, the vice president shoots Hamilton in a duel several years after Hamilton's eldest son died the same way. And Aaron Burr turns out to have the blackest wit in the history of man ("If any male friend of yours should be dying of ennui, recommend him to engage in a duel and a courtship at the same time," "my friend Hamilton, who I shot"). Yes, entertaining and educational!"Ah, this is the constitution. Now, mark my words. So long as we are a young and virtuous people, this instrument will bind us together in mutual interests, mutual welfare, and mutual happiness. But when we become old and corrupt, it will bind us no longer." - Hamilton leaving office as Secretary of the Treasury, 1795"
— Ted (5 out of 5 stars)
“This is grand-scale biography at its best—thorough, insightful, consistently fair, and superbly written.”
— David McCullough, #1 New York Times bestselling author“Nobody has captured Hamilton better than Chernow.”
— New York Times Book Review“The precision of Grover Gardner’s astringent tones aids clarity, and his inflections—though sometimes studied—give details their proper color. He keeps the story moving.”
— AudioFile“Literate and full of engaging historical asides. By far the best of the many lives of Hamilton now in print, and a model of the biographer’s art.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“A biography commensurate with Hamilton’s character, as well as the full, complex context of his unflaggingly active life…This is a fine work that captures Hamilton’s life with judiciousness and verve.”
— Publishers Weekly“A brilliant historian has done it again! The thoroughness and integrity of Ron Chernow’s research shines forth…He has created a vivid and compelling portrait of a remarkable man—and at the same time he has made a monumental contribution to our understanding of the beginnings of the American Republic.”
— Robert A. Caro, author of The Power Broker" Excellent. Our history books do us a disservice by not including more about Alexander Hamilton, and all the rest of our Founding Fathers, for that matter. "
— Kaybates, 2/8/2014" Provides great insight into the mind and works of one of the founding fathers, from his birth on St. Croix through the Constitutional Convention and beyond. Many parallels with the early American government and the fledgling Iraqi gov't. Dispels any myth that the unity of the states was assured from the start. Only with the persistent and persuasive writing of Hamilton was the Constitution ratified and the federation made strong. "
— Greg, 2/7/2014" One of my favorite (so far) on our founding fathers. A very interesing man coming up from very humble beginnings. "
— Markhiller, 2/6/2014" One of my favorite (so far) on our founding fathers. A very interesing man coming up from very humble beginnings. "
— Markhiller, 2/6/2014" One of my favorite (so far) on our founding fathers. A very interesing man coming up from very humble beginnings. "
— Markhiller, 2/6/2014Ron Chernow’s first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award and the Ambassador Award for his contribution to the study of American culture. Washington: A Life won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography, and Alexander Hamilton was the inspiration for the Broadway musical. The Warburgs won the Eccles Prize for Excellence in Economic Writing in 1993 and was also selected by the American Library Association as one of that year’s best nonfiction books.
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.