Alexander Hamilton: A Biography [Paperback]

Forrest Mcdonald (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.; 1st Publ. as Norton Ppbk 1982 edition (September 17, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039330048X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393300482
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #855,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( H ) > Hamilton, Alexander

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Story, Very Well Written, May 15, 2000

By 

Wayne A. Smith (Newark, DE) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alexander Hamilton: A Biography (Paperback)

You won't want to put this book about the architect of American government down. McDonald has written an extremely well researched book about Alexander Hamilton, the man who arguably did more to set the American government in motion than any of the other founders. Not only thorougly written, but the author weaves the events of Hamilton's most interesting and significant life into a very readible book. The author is a first class biographer and writer.

Although George Washington has been described as the "indispensible man" of the Revolution, the title "indispensible man of the first administration" rightly belongs to Hamilton. He faced major issues that would define how the government operated and whether or not our fledgling nation would rest upon a sound financial system.

Hamilton succeeded brilliantly. Against long odds, he dealt with the assumption issue (state debts incurred during the revolution), coinage, taxation and the establishment of the nation's credit. This was after effective adminstrative service during the Revolution as Washington's aid (as well as other important posts such as leading the storming of Redoubt No. 10 at Yorktown), writing the Federalist Papers with Madison and Jay, and pushing the ratification of the Constitution through a reluctant New York General Assembly.

The book also provides fascinating glimpses of political manuvering among the founders. Although brilliant when establishing our plan of government and enshrining ideals into our framework of governance, they plotted and schemed like the best Tammany Hall politicos. Jefferson is shown to be an idealist even in dealing with current issues. Monroe arguably commits treason when revealing confidential information of President Washington to sympathizers of the French Directorate in order to gain them advantage over the Administration. Madison, so noble in structuring the Constitution, is shown as one of the ablist congressional gamesmen ever to have played.

These are not necessarily criticisms of the founders. While they rightly hold their reputations for having created our Constitutional govenrment, the portrait of their workings within the system -- buffetted by parochial interests, vanity, ambition and all of the other factors at play on public officials, makes them more human and accessible.

Throughout all, Hamilton is a steadying influence on events. Guided by the principals of establishing a system of administration and government that will constrain the bad habits of public men and force their ambitions to work toward the public good, as well his overriding drive to put the nation on sound financial footing, Hamilton is revealed as the keystone of the early Federalist period. Without his steadfastness and talents, it is possible that our ideals may have only been words on a paper labled "Constitution" as a backward nation wallowed in debt and succumbed to the machinations of forces from within and without who would use the United States for their own purposes.

Great book about a Great man.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Alexander Hamilton, August 18, 2002

By 

Paul J. Rask - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alexander Hamilton: A Biography (Paperback)

This book drastically changed my opinion about Alexander Hamilton. Up to the time I opened it (after four idle years on my book shelf), James Madison and Thomas Jefferson had been considered the primary gilt-edged heroes of the Revolution and main pillars upon which the Constitution was formed. Mr. Hamilton? Well, he was relegated to the less-than-heroic rank as a self-promoting, money-centered, cold and heartless calculator, notable only for his unpopular battle to establish a federal bank and his life-ending duel with Aaron Burr.

But Mr. McDonald's fascinating review of Alexander Hamilton's life added texture to the stereotype and a sympathetic understanding of Hamilton's character and intellectual brilliance.

Perhaps it was because he had few intellectual peers that Hamilton was feared and disliked by the likes of Madison and Jefferson. Perhaps it was precisely for that reason Hamilton became a favorite of George Washington and served as his aid and advisor. As General and as President, Washington maintained an Olympus view of the men of his times. He appreciated Jefferson and Madison for what they offered to our young nation. But he seems to have valued Hamilton more.

Hamilton's view of government, money and banking, his integrity and his admirable regard for honor have never really been accurately nor fully told in school room history.

But thanks to Mr. McDonald, they are easily discovered in this well-written effort, a book which is highly recommended.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Man, Great Book, December 4, 2000

By 

Fred "Technology is your friend." (CHAPEL HILL, NC, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alexander Hamilton: A Biography (Paperback)

I wanted to learn more about Hamilton as the founder of the US financial system, and to understand more of his background in relation to the other founding fathers. This book did a great job of both, the author being a well published historian who has focused on the early American economy.

Mr. McDonald does a very good job of developing Hamilton's life, and the various philosophical influences that influenced him most significantly. Starting with his early life on St. Croix, his early abandonment and subsequent David Copperfield-esque determination to achieve fame in life, we are able to watch as Hamilton starts first by pursuing glory in the Revolutionary War, his close service with Washington, and how he then went to work as an attorney, and following Washington's election returned to serve his country as the first Secretary of the Treasury.

Hamilton's ambitions for the fledgling financial system are solidly shaped by his own background and hard work. It is quickly apparent how different his own background was from other founding fathers, most notably those of the South, and most poignantly Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton held himself to very high standards, his own need to be honest about an extra-marital affair is a lesson to our current politicians, and he frequently ran afoul of others because of his strong will and confidence that he was morally in the right. Hamilton was above repute with his financial dealings, preventing himself from benefitting from his own legislation and actions in an age when such was the norm. His ability to clearly divine a situation and act decisively led him to be not only an excellent litigator and legislator, but also an indispensable agent for the Government, his importance being most noted during Washington's second term in office.

All in all the author does a very good job of putting Hamilton into both the proper historical context, and helping the reader understand how he was viewed in his own time.

Favorite Excerpts:

"I would willingly risk my life tho' not my Character to exalt my Station... I wish there was a War." - Hamilton (page 5)

"He never ceased to dream of grand and heroic accomplishments, but he tempered his dreams with regular habits, reliable behavior, systematic and persistent application, and constant attention to self-improvement. He despised laziness, disorderliness, unpredictability, impropriety, procrastination, drunkennes, sloght - the ways of the islands and, as he would come to believe by 1779, the ways of most Americans as well." - McDonald on Hamilton (page 10)

"As a general marches at the head of his troops, so ought wise politicians... insomuch that they ought not to wait the event, to know what measures to take; but the measures which they have taken, ought to produce the event." - Demosthenes (page 35)

"Nothing is more common than for men to pass from the abuse of a good thing to the disuse of it." - Hamilton (page 42)

"As Hamilton learned in doing his research for the report [to congress], few American farmers knew whether farming was more or less profitable than other enterprises, for almost none kept any records. The lack of information did not, however, prevent them from having opinions." McDonald (page 233)

Jefferson had, "a womanish attachment to France and a womanish resentment of Great Britain." - Hamilton on Jefferson (page 265)

"Having contributed to place those of the Nation on a good footing, I go to take a little care of my own; which need my care not a little." - Hamilton on his resignation (page 303)

"Real firmness is good for everything - Strut is good for nothing." - Hamilton (page 334)