Aaron Burr: The Conspiracy and Years of Exile, 1805-1836 (Hardcover)

~ Milton Lomask (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T); book club edition (November 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374100179
• ISBN-13: 978-0374100179
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,896,049 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The wacky world of Aaron Burr, May 9, 2005

By	trainreader (Montclair, N.J.) - See all my reviews

This extremely compelling (and, unfortunately, out-of-print) biography picks up Aaron Burr's life after he killed Alexander Hamilton in U.S. history's most famous duel (which, by the way, took place in Weehawken, New Jersey, along the bank of the Hudson River) and after the conclusion of his vice presidential term. In fact, Jefferson and Burr were sworn enemies, and their mutual hatred only increased over time (Burr was vice president for only the first of the two terms that Jefferson served).

In 1805, the cash-strapped Burr, already widely considered a scoundrel, became basically a con artist, who attempted to raise money by telling people of means what they wanted to hear. To ambitious Americans, he was leading an army to "conquer" portions of the now-southern United States and Mexico, which were controlled by Spain, if and when the U.S. and Spain went to war. For those less aggressive, he was simply leading a group of pioneers to settle what were known as the Bastrop lands. The story he told to potential Spanish and British backers was quite different: he was raising an army to conquer "western" U.S. States bordering the Mississippi, which would then be allied to Spain or Britain (depending on whom he was talking to) although no one could ever prove that this was his real intention. While some of his backers and allies were sincere, others, like General Wilkinson, the "dictator" of New Orleans, and on the payroll as an agent from Spain, turned out to be an even bigger scoundrel than Burr, and betrayed Burr to Jefferson. When Jefferson began taking the threat of Burr seriously, an army was raised to defeat Burr's "army" which consisted of 60 to 100 men, women and children which could not have invaded a small island, not to mention an entire State.

Ex-Vice President Burr was then put on trial for treason, presided over by Chief Justice John Marshall acting in his capacity as a circuit judge, and, after hearing from 50 or so witnesses, a jury eventually acquitted him of all charges (thanks in large part to Marshall's instructions to the jury regarding the law). Burr than fled to Britain to escape his numerous creditors, and criminal charges in different states (including the murder of Hamilton). In Europe, he basically lived like a nobleman at night, and a pauper during the day. Eventually, he returned to the U.S. and, at a relatively old age, resumed his profession as a lawyer, but always remained in debt, and in search of a "get rich quick" scheme. Always, throughout his life, Burr stayed extremely close to his daughter, Theodosia, one of the few people who Burr ever truly respected. Late in life, he also developed relationships with the children of various women he had affairs with after his wife died.

Burr's life was incredibly bizarre, much stranger than fiction. Milton Lomask does an admirable task in trying to convey Burr's life, although I got the feeling that he grew maybe a little too sympathetic to his subject. Lomask, however, is not in the same class of biographers as, for example, David McCullough or Ron Chernow. That is why I believe the definitive book about this fascinating and complex man has yet to be written. I do, however, recommend Lomask's book about the second half of Burr's life, and I plan on reading his other biography about the first half.