Alexander Hamilton, American [Paperback]

Richard Brookhiser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2000

Alexander Hamilton is one of the least understood, most important, and most impassioned and inspiring of the founding fathers. At last Hamilton has found a modern biographer who can bring him to full-blooded life; Richard Brookhiser. In these pages, Alexander Hamilton sheds his skewed image as the "bastard brat of a Scotch peddler," sex scandal survivor, and notoriously doomed dueling partner of Aaron Burr. Examined up close, throughout his meteoric and ever-fascinating (if tragically brief) life, Hamilton can at last be seen as one of the most crucial of the founders. Here, thanks to Brookhiser's accustomed wit and grace, this quintessential American lives again.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The man on the $10 bill is probably the most overlooked Founding Father. This book--not a names-and-dates biography, but an appreciation and assessment in the tradition of Plutarch--should help change that. Richard Brookhiser is an outstanding writer well known for his previous books (especially the wonderful Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington) and journalism (in National Review and the New York Observer); Hamilton could not have asked for a better advocate. A signer of the Constitution and author of roughly two-thirds of the Federalist Papers, Hamilton became the first secretary of the treasury at the age of 32. In this capacity, Brookhiser argues that the scrappy Caribbean native gave birth to American capitalism by developing the country's financial system. Brookhiser also reveals the sex and violence of Hamilton's life: he survived personal scandal but was shot down by Aaron Burr in an 1804 duel. The end came too soon for Hamilton--and it also helped elevate the reputation of his nemesis, Thomas Jefferson. Alexander Hamilton: American is by turns learned, funny, and inspiring. A model of popular biography, it convinces us why we should care deeply about a remarkable man who lived two centuries ago. --John Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Brookhiser (Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington) rediscovers another founding father. Hamilton was one of the epochal figures of the Revolutionary period?he collaborated with Madison on the Federalist papers, served as secretary of the treasury under Washington and, along with Jefferson, is largely responsible for the modern two-party system?but he was also one of the most controversial. John Adams called Hamilton a "bastard" and a "foreigner" (both charges held some degree of truth); Jefferson thought he was secretly "against the liberty of the country," an accusation Brookhiser emphatically disproves. Hamilton's death only increased his infamy; he fell in a duel with then Vice President Aaron Burr, an event that remains one of the most bizarre in American history. ("Imagine Al Gore shooting Donald Regan," Brookhiser writes.) In this slim but rewarding book, Brookhiser traces the entire course of Hamilton's professional and personal life. Though he doesn't shrink from the more unsavory episodes, such as Hamilton's adulterous affair with a married woman and her subsequent blackmail of him, the author clearly admires his subject. The only blemish is Brookhiser's occasional use of bubblegum psychology, as when he writes of Hamilton's desire to "be his father" as a driving force behind Hamilton's infidelity. Although he doesn't provide a substantive analysis of Hamilton's work (just four pages are given to the Federalist papers, arguably the most important contribution of Hamilton's career), Brookhiser gives us a valuable, incisive portrait both of Hamilton's character and of the character of young America.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1st Touchstone edition (April 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684863316
• ISBN-13: 978-0684863313
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( H ) > Hamilton, Alexander

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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Introduction to a Great Man, May 27, 2000

By 

John B. Maggiore (Buffalo, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alexander Hamilton, American (Hardcover)

What a wonderful book! "Alexander Hamilton, American" manages to pack quite a bit into 217 pages: the story of Hamilton, a plausible version of his essence and personality, and a survey of the clashes of Revolutionary War generation titans. Richard Brookshiser accomplishes all this beautifully in this brief, highly readable book.

Brookshiser is not interested in all the little details of Hamilton's life and times. He is not interested in reproducing volumes of Hamilton's writings, letters to Hamilton, or articles about Hamilton. He is interested in telling a story, and then making points about the role of words, rights, and passion in Hamilton's character.

I'm guessing that most Americans don't know the story of Alexander Hamilton, the relatively poor immigrant who became one of this nation's most important founders. Hamilton today is respected, but not always revered as some of his opponents like Jefferson and Madison are. Brookshiser reveres him. But he writes with a kind of awe for many who did not share the same feelings for each other. "It is impossible not to love John Adams," (p. 130) Brookshiser writes. Really? Who loved him back then? Not Hamilton, not Jefferson. Hamilton and Jefferson were, of course, at odds with each other, too. But not enough so as to prevent them from joining forces against Aaron Burr in 1800, who eventually killed Hamilton in a duel four years later.

The soap opera intrigue of the founders as highlighted by this book stands out as more severe than any product of current politics. Indeed, all of what people don't like about politics today was magnified and exaggerated in Hamilton's' time: back-biting and betrayal, partisan extremism, grandstanding and demagoguery, biased media, long political careers, abuse of power, corruption, racism, and sex scandals.

Hamilton was the central figure in America's first sex scandal. During his tenure as Washington's first Secretary of the Treasury (Washington alone rises above the fray in Brookshiser's early America), Hamilton was accused of financial shenanigans. Proof lay in payments he made to a shady character named James Reynolds. Hamilton's defense was a detailed confession to an affair with Reynolds' wife - the payments were more or less hush money. Reynolds himself was guilty of many things, including apparently using his wife as bait in this sordid blackmail scheme. Hamilton denied financial malfeasance, but admitted adultery like no American politician since.

I'm not sure if Brookshiser intended his Hamilton to be compared to Bill Clinton, but I couldn't get the comparison out of my head. Hamilton and Clinton share much in common up to a point. Both came from highly inauspicious beginnings but rose to the pinnacles of power. Both came from broken homes with unreliable father-figures who abandoned them early in life. Both were highly intelligent Ivy-League lawyers. Both had faith in the federal government. And both were accused of using their office for personal financial gain, only to have a love affair reveled instead. If this comparison is intentional, Brookshiser may be inviting a contrast between Hamilton's choices at crucial moments and Clinton's. Hamiton, during his war, joined the army and served faithfully under General Washington. Hamilton did not lie about his affair, or even hide any of the details about it (although neither was he proud of the matter - he seemed genuinely regretful). Hamilton was a principled lawyer who used words and law to try to unveil natural rights, not simply win or propel his ambition. To illustrate this last point, Brookshiser uses Burr as Hamilton's foil. But Brookshiser's Burr could also be a more violent stand-in for Bill Clinton. Even if the specter of Clinton is purely illusionary (Brookshiser does not mention him), the personalities and situations of the founders as Brookshiser writes about them are highly accessible to the modern reader.

Brookshiser doesn't let the reader forget that we're reading a book. Brookshiser includes asides, such as the number of words in the book (78,000 - p. 156). Many of these asides are highly humorous, in a very contemporary way - "William Cobbett...wrote under the name Peter Porcupine (not drawn form Plutarch or Livy)" (p. 138); "Tallyrand would serve a republic, an emperor, and three kings, though the only king to whom he was loyal was Brie, the king of cheeses" (p. 136). Somehow, none of this detracts from the book. Brookshiser includes many examples of the founders' own humor as well, suggesting that his writing is in the same vein.

But ultimately "Alexander Hamilton, American" is a serious and respectful book about a serious and important historical figure. Brookshiser clearly believes in the "great man" theory of leadership, and further believes that Hamilton qualifies. Regardless of whether Hamilton was great, this book is a great introduction to the man, and a good story too!

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth Reading for the Non-Expert, August 6, 2001

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alexander Hamilton, American (Hardcover)

I think some of the criticism leveled here is from people with expertise on Hamilton: In only 217 pages, much detail is necessarily left out. For the newcomer, however, Brookshiser sheds light on one of the most interesting on the "Founders," a self-made man who became the leading exponent of Federalism and brought economic structure to the foundling (and sometimes floundering) country.

Brilliant, visionary, and enormously articulate, Hamilton was quick to argue his positions, most notably in "The Federalist Papers," in a series of anonymous letters to newspapers, and in the courtroom. His belief in a strong central government drew him into conflict with other luminaries, including Virginia Thomas Jefferson. His politics and simmering rivalry with Aaron Burr culminated in a famous duel. Today, when we think of Jefferson et al. as apolitical "statesmen," it is instructive to view the ferocious politics of the era.

Brookshiser's non-academic, breezy style enlivens the characterization of the people, the times, and the economic issues. Unfortunately, this style sometimes works against him: Describing the Hamilton/Burr communiques preceding the duel, Brookshiser merely states "It would dignify the mummeries that followed to describe them in detail." Still, Brookshiser's book is a welcome addition to the literature on the Revolution and early American politics. Recommended.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointed Hamiltonian, January 29, 2001

By 

Gerard W. Langton (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alexander Hamilton, American (Paperback)

Richard Brookhiser's "Alexander Hamilton, American" ultimately fails to convince the reader that this book was well researched or written. The vagueness and ambiguity of the author's language on the man who is the least understood, most important and inspiring of the founding fathers does not give Hamilton his due. Brookhiser simply gives the basic facts about Hamilton, but unfortunately does not offer any real concrete scholarly insights. When compared to earlier works such as Clinton L. Rossiter's "Alexander Hamilton and the Constitution," Brookhiser's account will soon be forgotten. For those students who wish to get a more comprehensive study on Alexander Hamilton's life and philosphy, the definitve book is "Alexander Hamilton and the Constitution" if it can still be found in print! Also, two recent books seemingly capture Hamilton at his best. The first is "Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the Future of America" by Thomas Fleming and "Founding Brothers," by Joseph J. Ellis. Both books are well written and researched, and describe Hamilton in the context of his time with new scholarly insight.