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Alexander Hamilton (Random House Large Print)

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Alexander Hamilton Paperback – Illustrated, March 29, 2005

by Ron Chernow (Author)

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The #1 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.

"Grand-scale biography at its best—thorough, insightful, consistently fair, and superbly written . . . A genuinely great book." —David McCullough

“A robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all." —Joseph Ellis

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.

9780143034759

From the Publisher

WARNING: California’s Proposition 65

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . [N]obody has captured Hamilton better than Chernow . . ." —The New York Times Book 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 splendid life of an enlightened reactionary and forgotten Founding Father. 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)

"A robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all." —Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

"A brilliant historian has done it again! The thoroughness and integrity of Ron Chernow’s research shines forth on every page of his Alexander Hamilton. 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 and The Years of Lyndon Johnson

"Alexander Hamilton was one of the most brilliant men of his brilliant time, and one of the most fascinating figures in all of American history. His rocketing life-story is utterly amazing. His importance to the founding of the new nation, and thus to the whole course of American history, can hardly be overstated. And so Ron Chernow's new Hamilton could not be more welcome. This is grand-scale biography at its best—thorough, insightful, consistently fair, and superbly written. It clears away more than a few shop-worn misconceptions about Hamilton, gives credit where credit is due, and is both clear-eyed and understanding about its very human subject. Its numerous portraits of the complex, often conflicting cast of characters are deft and telling. The whole life and times are here in a genuinely great book." —David McCullough, author of John Adams

About the Author

Ron Chernow is the prizewinning author of seven books and the recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal. His first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award; Washington: A Life won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography; and Alexander Hamilton—the inspiration for the Broadway musical—won the George Washington Book Prize. His other books include The Warburgs, The Death of the Banker, Titan, and Grant. A past president of PEN America, Chernow has been the recipient of eight honorary doctorates. He resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

On the night of April 18, 1775, 800 British troops marched out of Boston to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock and seize a stockpile of patriot munitions in Concord, Massachusetts. As they passed Lexington, they encountered a motley battalion of militia farmers known as Minutemen, and in the ensuing exchange of gunfire the British killed 8 colonists and then 2 more in Concord. As the redcoats retreated helter-skelter to Boston, they were riddled by sniper fire that erupted from behind hedges, stone walls, and fences, leaving a bloody trail of 273 British casualties versus 95 dead or wounded for the patriots.

The news reached New York within four days and a mood of insurrection promptly overtook the city. People gathered at taverns and street corners to ponder events while Tories quaked. The newly emboldened Sons of Liberty streamed down to the East River docks, pilfered ships bound for British troops in Boston, then emptied the city hall arsenal of its muskets, bayonets, and cartridge boxes, grabbing a thousand weapons in all.

Armed with this cache, volunteer militia companies sprang up overnight. However much the British might deride these ragtag citizen-soldiers, they conducted their business seriously. Inflamed by the astonishing news from Massachusetts, Alexander Hamilton, then a student at King’s College (later Columbia University), was that singular intellectual who picked up a musket as fast as a pen. Nicholas Fish recalled that “immediately after the Battle of Lexington, [Hamilton] attached himself to one of the uniform companies of militia then forming for the defence of the country by the patriotic young men of this city under the command of Captain Fleming.” Fish and Robert Troup, both classmates of Hamilton, were among the earnest cadre of King’s College volunteers who drilled before classes each morning in the churchyard of nearby St. Paul’s Chapel. The fledgling volunteer company was named the Hearts of Oak. The young recruits marched briskly past tombstones with the motto of “Liberty or Death” stitched across their round leather caps. On short, snug green jackets they also sported, for good measure, red tin hearts that announced “God and our Right.”

Hamilton approached this daily routine with the same perfectionist ardor that he exhibited in his studies. Troup stressed the “military spirit” infused into Hamilton and noted that he was “constant in his attendance and very ambitious of improvement.” Never one to fumble an opportunity, Hamilton embarked on a comprehensive military education. With his absorbent mind, he mastered infantry drills, pored over volumes on military tactics and learned the rudiments of gunnery and pyrotechnics from a veteran bombardier. There was a particular doggedness about this young man, as if he were already in training for something far beyond lowly infantry duty.

On April 24, a huge throng of patriots massed in front of city hall. While radicals grew giddy with excitement, many terrified Tory merchants began to book passage for England. The next day, an anonymous handbill blamed Myles Cooper, the Tory president of King’s College, and four other “obnoxious gentlemen” for patriotic deaths in Massachusetts and said the moment had passed for symbolic gestures. “The injury you have done to your country cannot admit of reparation,” these five loyalists were warned. “Fly for your lives or anticipate your doom by becoming your own executioners.” A defiant Myles Cooper stuck to his post.

After a demonstration on the night of May 10, hundreds of protesters, armed with clubs and heated by a heady brew of political rhetoric and strong drink, descended on King’s College, ready to inflict rough justice on Myles Cooper. Hercules Mulligan recalled that Cooper “was a Tory and an obnoxious man and the mob went to the college with the intention of tarring and feathering him or riding him upon a rail.” Nicholas Ogden, a King’s alumnus, saw the angry mob swarming toward the college and raced ahead to Cooper’s room, urging the president to scramble down a back window. Because Hamilton and Troup shared a room near Cooper’s quarters, Ogden also alerted them to the approaching mob. “Whereupon Hamilton instantly resolved to take his stand on the stairs [the outer stoop] in front of the Doctor’s apartment and there to detain the mob as long as he could by an harangue in order to gain the Doctor the more time for his escape,” Troup recorded.

After the mob knocked down the gate and surged toward the residence, Hamilton launched into an impassioned speech, telling the boisterous protesters that their conduct, instead of promoting their cause, would “disgrace and injure the glorious cause of liberty.” One account has the slightly deaf Cooper poking his head from an upper-story window and observing Hamilton gesticulating on the stoop below. He mistakenly thought that his pupil was inciting the crowd instead of pacifying them and shouted, “Don’t mind what he says. He’s crazy!” Another account has Cooper shouting at the ruffians: “Don’t believe anything Hamilton says. He’s a little fool!” The more plausible version is that Cooper had vanished, having scampered away in his nightgown once Ogden forewarned him of the approaching mob.

Hamilton knew he couldn’t stop the intruders but he won the vital minutes necessary for Cooper to clamber over a back fence and rush down to the Hudson. Of all the incidents in Hamilton’s early life in America, his spontaneous defense of Myles Cooper was probably the most telling. It showed that he could separate personal honor from political convictions and presaged a recurring theme of his career: the superiority of forgiveness over revenge. Most of all, the episode captured the contradictory impulses struggling inside this complex young man, an ardent revolutionary with a profound dread that popular sentiment would boil over into dangerous excess.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books (March 29, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 818 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143034758
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143034759
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1280L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #10,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #56 in Military Leader Biographies
- #88 in United States Biographies

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Ron Chernow

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Ron Chernow won the National Book Award in 1990 for his first book, The House of Morgan, and his second book, The Warburgs, won the Eccles Prize as the Best Business Book of 1993. His biography of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., Titan, was a national bestseller and a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.

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Customers find the book well-researched and educational. They praise the writing quality as believable and beautifully written. The biography is described as exemplary, true, and comprehensive. Readers appreciate the insight into Hamilton's intelligence and achievements. However, opinions differ on the length - some find it remarkably readable as a story, while others feel it's too long.

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Readability History value Writing quality Biography quality Intelligence Length Pacing Comprehension

2,187 customers mention "Readability"2,167 positive20 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They appreciate the historical context and how issues from those days still resonate today. The book is described as an enjoyable and educational read, with a remarkable story about Hamilton's youth in the Caribbean and migration to America.

"...relationships, accomplishments, and shortcomings together in a most enjoyable and educational read...." Read more

"...biography of Alexander Hamilton in modern times and this book tells it well with a fountain of scholarly research and new material...." Read more

"...Like any great book it should lead a reader to seek out other books. I cannot wait for Chernow's biography on George Washington due in October!" Read more

"...this is a fantastic book!..." Read more

1,774 customers mention "History value"1,684 positive90 negative

Customers find the book well-researched and detailed. They say it's one of the most educational books they've read, providing a comprehensive exploration of Alexander Hamilton's life. The author's research notes, bibliography, and index are included. Readers describe the book as compelling and powerful, recounting the life of a brilliant man.

"...Not only is this 800 + pg. book meticulously researched and extremely well written, but it seems as if the author did his groundwork thoroughly, and..." Read more

"...He is the author of numerous articles on politics, history, and science, including "Stalin's Mysterious Death" (2011) and "The Political Spectrum --..." Read more

"...Burr or others I think he brings enough evidence and directly quoted source material to back up his descriptions and accounts both good and bad...." Read more

"...It is a fully comprehensive exploration of one of the most unfathomably gifted and incredibly complex and flawed characters in our national history...." Read more

1,172 customers mention "Writing quality"1,049 positive123 negative

Customers find the writing quality engaging. They praise the author's skill in creating believable characters and a compelling story that reads like a novel. The book uses an extensive vocabulary and presents facts in an unbiased manner.

"...Not only is this 800 + pg. book meticulously researched and extremely well written, but it seems as if the author did his groundwork thoroughly, and..." Read more

"...I think Chernow gives very rich descriptions of the main characters in Hamilton's life...." Read more

"...entice the interested reader to pursue Chernow's lengthy but exceptionally well written and objective biography...." Read more

"...Elkins and McKitrick strike me as very balanced and express some of the same criticism that Chernow does. Ellis is also balanced...." Read more

694 customers mention "Biography quality"676 positive18 negative

Customers find the biography exemplary and fascinating. They say it makes an important contribution to our overall understanding of Alexander Hamilton and the other founding fathers. The book includes details about his early upbringing, military, legal, and financial trials, and portrays him as a true hero.

"...And even more important, in addition to a myriad of details about his personal life and, often, tumultuous relationships, the book carefully..." Read more

"This book is the most comprehensive biography of Alexander Hamilton in modern times and this book tells it well with a fountain of scholarly..." Read more

"...It is a fully comprehensive exploration of one of the most unfathomably gifted and incredibly complex and flawed characters in our national history...." Read more

"...to pursue Chernow's lengthy but exceptionally well written and objective biography...." Read more

453 customers mention "Intelligence"438 positive15 negative

Customers appreciate the book's intelligence. They find Hamilton an incredible thinker and fascinating individual. The book provides a comprehensive examination of the man, revealing his genius as well as his flaws. Readers praise the author's intuitive analysis and excellent job conveying Hamilton's genius.

"...Chernow does an excellent job of conveying Hamilton's genius; that is to say how his prodigious abilities to think, learn, speak, write, manage, and..." Read more

"...Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, arguably the greatest diplomat-statesman in history, who got to know Hamilton during his two year exile in..." Read more

"...Thank you. Hamilton's energy, intellect and ambition seep through practically every page...." Read more

"...most unfathomably gifted and incredibly complex and flawed characters in our national history...." Read more

452 customers mention "Length"215 positive237 negative

Customers have different views on the book's length. Some find it well-researched and written, while others feel it's too long. The information is presented clearly and the narration is praised.

"...Also, sorry, this is long...." Read more

"...intimated by the amount of source material which was obviously very thoroughly read...." Read more

"...This seemed to take up 25% of the book, and it was a very long book...." Read more

"Take it slow - this is a long book. At the same time, it's well written...." Read more

202 customers mention "Pacing"104 positive98 negative

Customers have different views on the pacing. Some find it fast-paced and enjoyable, while others find it slow and detailed.

"...As do his contradictions, impatience, sensitivities occasional hypocrisy...." Read more

"This took me forever to read, but it was very good. It was interesting and fun to connect events that I learned about from the musical Hamilton." Read more

"...The book is a long read but it moves fast and holds You until the index...." Read more

"...The book’s pace tends at times to be slow because it’s filled with historical details, some of which are repetitive...." Read more

136 customers mention "Comprehension"87 positive49 negative

Customers have different views on the book's comprehension. Some find it thorough and engaging, making them feel like they know the major topics well. Others find it tedious and difficult to understand at times, with confusing words and details that make it hard to grasp some parts.

"...inspiring drama filled with a stunning array of characters, interactions, romance and intrigues; a triumph of the human spirit; and moreover, the..." Read more

"...desire to prove to the reader how smart he is created a brutally difficult book to read...." Read more

"...exploration of one of the most unfathomably gifted and incredibly complex and flawed characters in our national history...." Read more

"...and as the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was brilliant, hardworking, and devoted to Washington...." Read more

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M. G. Michaels
Superb biography about U.S.' most fascinating Founding Father.
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2013
Verified Purchase

You may want to clear your calendar and prepare to lock yourself up in a private room for the duration of the reading of Ron Chernow's ALEXANDER HAMILTON. Not only is this 800 + pg. book meticulously researched and extremely well written, but it seems as if the author did his groundwork thoroughly, and then moved out of the way, allowing the full force, brilliance, and (on occasion) astounding naivete of the central character, Alexander Hamilton himself, to drive the riveting story of his extraordinary life and person. And even more important, in addition to a myriad of details about his personal life and, often, tumultuous relationships, the book carefully chronicles the essential role Hamilton played in the Revolutionary War, as George Washington's right hand man and most trusted advisor, as well as the construction and establishment of the federal government and banking system of the United States of America.

Chernow's rendition of Hamilton's life is not just another biography, but rather a full bodied feast of narratives; a soaring, inspiring drama filled with a stunning array of characters, interactions, romance and intrigues; a triumph of the human spirit; and moreover, the rise, fall, restoration, redemption, and ultimate demise of one of the great men of human history. In the entitled and litigious world we live in today, its hard to believe that Hamilton survived his difficult childhood and questionable parentage growing up and roaming in the rough streets of the British West Indies in tact. And that in subsequent years, he was able to excel with relative ease in his university studies, and then display the most remarkable courage on the battlefield during the Revolutionary War, eventually becoming one of the most powerful men in the early formation of what would become the United States of America. Chernow does an excellent job of conveying Hamilton's genius; that is to say how his prodigious abilities to think, learn, speak, write, manage, and charm with immediate eloquence and erudition enabled his rapid ascent to positions of social, intellectual, and political superiority. You get a real sense that Alexander Hamilton was not only essential in the formation of the U.S., but a man without peers.

In the personal realm, the tenderness of Hamilton's sincere love and devotion to his wife Eliza and his children is clearly expressed in letters exchanged throughout his married life, and yet he failed to remain faithful, and then failed again to realize the folly and consequence of his insatiable need to write a public confession, provoking further scandal and embarrassment for his family and friends. In addition, this strange contradictory element was also made manifest in financial matters. On the one hand, Hamilton, as the first Treasury Secretary of the United States of America, was enormously successfully in creating a financial system, including the first Central Bank, that would remain the economic foundation of what was destined to be the greatest country on earth, for many decades, and even centuries, to come. And yet, when his own resources were in question, at least in the end, Alexander Hamilton was deficient, even shockingly derelict in his duties and responsibilities.

Bottom line, Chernow does a marvelous job of weaving all the many aspects of Alexander Hamilton's life; his character, relationships, accomplishments, and shortcomings together in a most enjoyable and educational read. And I haven't even mentioned his relationship with Aaron Burr, which, appropriately, holds the reader in suspense to the end of the book. Highly Recommended for history and drama loving adults and precocious high school and college students. Enjoy!

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Dr. Miguel A. Faria
Alexander Hamilton -- American patriot, financial genius, builder of the United States!
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2014
Verified Purchase
This book is the most comprehensive biography of Alexander Hamilton in modern times and this book tells it well with a fountain of scholarly research and new material. Hamilton (1755-1804) was born in the West Indies (Nevis), descended from a Laird of Scotland from his father and from French Huguenots on his mother's side. Brought up in relative poverty, he was recognized as a child prodigy as a teenager by Hugh Knox, a Presbyterian minister in the islands. As an extremely proficient clerk at a Counting House in St. Croix, his employers also appreciated his precocity and intelligence. Knox arranged for young Hamilton, now age 17, to receive financial assistant from the admiring islanders, who backed Hamilton to travel to America and study on scholarship. America was then a land in revolutionary turmoil, rebelling against British rule. As a student, Hamilton soon became embroiled in the heat of politics and revolution. Hamilton studied at Kings College (later Columbia University) in New York, but as open rebellion erupted in America, he soon joined the ranks of the revolutionaries. He wrote incendiary articles, orated for the revolution, and when war came he served as an artillery officer in the New York militia. Discovered by George Washington, he was made an military adjutant, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Revolutionary Army. He was commissioned and served six years under George Washington (1776-1781), became a hero of the Battle of Yorktown (1781), served brilliantly as Secretary of the Treasury (1789-1795), and later as Deputy Chief of the U.S. Army (as Major General; 1799-1800).

A passionate and controversial figure, Hamilton established the basis for the economic powerhouse that the United States would become, only to be senselessly killed in a duel by Aaron Burr, the Vice President of the United States, across the Hudson River in Weehawken, New Jersey on July 12, 1804. Upon learning of his death there was general lamentation in New York, and other Federalist city strongholds, such as Boston and Philadelphia. Charles Biddle, Aaron's Burr friend, admitted there was as much lamentation as when George Washington died. Hamilton's public funeral was financed by the merchants of New York. Historian Ron Chernow describes the funeral scene: "... New York militia units set out at the head of the funeral procession, bearing their arms in reversed position, their muzzles pointed downward. Numerous clergymen and members of the Society of the Cincinnati trooped behind them.... Preceded by two small black boys in white turbans, eight pallbearers shouldered Hamilton's corpse, set in a rich mahogany casket with his hat and sword perched on top. Hamilton's gray horse trailed behind with the boots and spurs of its former rider reversed in the stirrups." (p. 711)

Hamilton was both hated and loved with passion. There was no middle ground for the sentiments he evoked during his lifetime. Nevertheless, both friends and foes marveled at his genius. Chernow's book has an interesting amalgam of opinions about Hamilton by famous contemporaries who knew him:

New York Judge Ambrose Spencer who frequently presided over legal courtroom battles opined that Hamilton "was the greatest man his country ever produced... In power of reasoning Hamilton was the equal of [Daniel] Webster... In creative power, Hamilton was infinitely Webster's superior." (p. 189)

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story: "I have heard Samuel Dexter, John Marshall, and Chancellor (Robert R.) Livingston say that Hamilton's reach of thought was so far beyond theirs that by his side they were schoolboys -- rush tapers before the sun on noonday." (p. 189)

Fisher Ames: "With other men, law is a trade, with him it was a science." (p. 190)

Rev. John M. Mason: "...the greatest statesman in the western world, perhaps the greatest man of the age." (p. 714)

Hamilton's friend Robert Troup: "I used to tell him that he was not content with knocking down [his opponent] in the head, but that he persisted until he banished every little insect that buzzed around his ears." (p. 190)

John Quincy Adams, son of one of Hamilton's most vociferous critics and intemperate enemy, John Adams, admitted that Hamilton's financial system "operated like enchantment for the restoration of public credit." (p. 481)

Occasionally political enemies rendered backhanded praise for Hamilton. Thomas Jefferson wrote to his friend and collaborator James Madison about the time of the Jay Treaty (a winning political issue for the Republicans) in 1793: "He is really a colossus to the anti-Republican party. Without numbers, he is a host [i.e., an army] within himself... We have only middling performances to oppose him. In truth, when he comes forward, there is nobody but yourself, who can meet him." (p. 496) Madison did not accept the challenge. He opposed Hamilton legislatively but not with the pen, and the Treaty was approved for the good of the country, which was totally unprepared for war.

When Jefferson was President of the United States, he charged Albert Gallatin, his new Secretary of the Treasury and a political foe of Hamilton, to rifle through files, dig up any financial material in the Department incriminating Hamilton of malfeasance. Gallatin went at it with gusto. Gallatin wrote years later: "Well Gallatin, what have you found? [Jefferson asked]. "I answered: 'I have found the most perfect system ever formed. Any change should be made in it would injure it. Hamilton made no blunders, committed no frauds. He did nothing wrong.' " (pp. 646-647) Despite their criticisms, both Jefferson and Madison as Presidents left the Hamiltonian economic system largely in place.

The praise was not restricted to sectarian Americans. The French Revolution exile, the duc de La Rochefoucald-Liancourt, noted; "the lack of interest in money, rare anywhere, but even rarer in America is one of the most universally recognized traits of Mr. Hamilton." In fact, although Hamilton would not take cases in which he deemed the defendant guilty, he frequently undertook to defend many indigent legal cases. (p. 188)

And the famous Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, arguably the greatest diplomat-statesman in history, who got to know Hamilton during his two year exile in America, opined: "I consider Napoleon, Fox, and Hamilton the three greatest men of our epoch and, if I were forced to decide between the three, I would give without hesitation the firs place to Hamilton. He divined Europe." Talleyrand further told an American traveler that he had known nearly all the marked men of his time, but that he had never known one on the whole equal to Hamilton. (p. 466)

Posterity, in the voice of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge has justly judged Hamilton: "We look in vain for a man who, in an equal space of time, has produced such direct and lasting effect upon our institutions and history." (p. 481) And Ron Chernow himself, who remained for the most part objective and dispassionate in the book, wrote: "If Washington was the father of the country, and Madison the father of the Constitution, then Hamilton is the father of the American government." (p. 481)

Hamilton succeeded with almost all the programs he conceived including the First Bank of the United States, the funding of the national debt, the American tax system, the efficient Custom Service, the inception of the Coast Guard; as Deputy Chief of the U.S. Army, Hamilton even contained the Whiskey Rebellion without bloodshed -- all of which promoted the peace and prosperity of the new nation. When asked, during a dinner meeting at the historic Fraunces Tavern, "Who was right about America, Jefferson or Hamilton?", another Hamilton biographer, Willard Sterne Randall responded briefly, "Jefferson for the eighteenth century, Hamilton for modern times." That is a good summation with which Chernow also would have agreed.

Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D. is Associate Editor in Chief and World Affairs Editor of Surgical Neurology International. He is Clinical Professor of Surgery (Neurosurgery, ret.) and Adjunct Professor of Medical History (ret.), Mercer University School of Medicine. Dr. Faria is the author of Cuba in Revolution -- Escape From a Lost Paradise (2002). He is the author of numerous articles on politics, history, and science, including "Stalin's Mysterious Death" (2011) and "The Political Spectrum -- From the Extreme Right and Anarchism to the Extreme Left and Communism" (2011 -- all posted at the author's websites: www.haciendapub.com & www.drmiguelfaria.com

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mcewin
Natural follow-up reading to the Musical
Reviewed in Canada on September 12, 2023
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My 12-yr-old daughter loved the musical, knows all the songs, and I surprised her with her first Big History Book. She loves it. This is one of the best entries to the early history of the Republic, through the eyes of an individual she likes rather than a welter of names and placenames. A born Canadian with American and Polish parents, she's now willing to entertain her American heritage, and memorize the States, Capitals, and Presidents. America has always been great, Aaron Burr aside.

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Excelente Fantastico
Reviewed in Brazil on July 9, 2023
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Uma vida brilhante, Hamilton foi uma pessoa certa na hora certa. Contribui imensamente para formação dos EUA. Um grande homem, assim como sua esposa Eliza foi uma grande mulher. Livro fantastico.

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Pedro Emeth Herrera Baselis
El libro que inspiró el musical.
Reviewed in Mexico on April 8, 2023
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Si te gustó Hamilton, el musical de Lin Manuel Miranda (Moana, Encanto), deberás leer ésta biografía. Una idea diseñada para instruir, entretener y honrar la memoria de uno de los grandes personajes históricos de Estados Unidos.

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Livio
Meraviglioso
Reviewed in Italy on June 18, 2023
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Che dire.
Ho letto più libri di Ron Chernow, un maestro di biografie.
Anche questa su Alexander Hamilton conferma la grande accuratezza nella ricerca delle fonti storiche, descrivendo la storia di quello che molto probabilmente, con George Washington, è stato il più grande Founding Father degli USA, con dovizia di particolari che rendono la lettura interessante, sempre più avvincente in un crescendo irresistibile.
Altri maestri come David McCullough e Joseph Ellis hanno celebrato questo libro, confermando, se ce ne fosse bisogno, quale straordinaria opera abbia partorito la mente di Chernow.
Imperdibile.

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Gran edición
Reviewed in Spain on April 3, 2022
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Una gran edición, cuidada y además ha llegado en buen estado. El libro en sí es un poco rígido pero el lomo no se ha estropeado. Recomendado.

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Alexander Hamilton Paperback – Illustrated, March 29, 2005

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5.0 out of 5 stars Superb biography about U.S.' most fascinating Founding Father.

5.0 out of 5 stars Alexander Hamilton -- American patriot, financial genius, builder of the United States!

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Natural follow-up reading to the Musical

5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente Fantastico

5.0 out of 5 stars El libro que inspiró el musical.

5.0 out of 5 stars Meraviglioso

5.0 out of 5 stars Gran edición

Superb biography about U.S.' most fascinating Founding Father.

Alexander Hamilton -- American patriot, financial genius, builder of the United States!

Natural follow-up reading to the Musical

Excelente Fantastico

El libro que inspiró el musical.

Meraviglioso

Gran edición