Ron Chernow’s biography seeks to fill the scholastic void concerning the life and motivations of the titular founding father, as well as rescue his reputation from decades of abuse at the hands of his enemies’ admirers. Chernow pours through a dizzyingly large collection of contemporary histories, historical documents and extensive historical records to construct the narrative of Hamilton’s life. He cuts through past depictions of Hamilton as a conniving bureaucrat and secret monarchist to depict the man as both a heroic trailblazer in American political history and truly human figure of both extreme merit and deep personal flaws.
Chernow’s story begins well before Hamilton’s birth with a history of his maternal family in the sweltering slave society of St. Croix in the Caribbean. Hamilton was born the natural son of a Scottish noble and a socially disgraced divorcee. His natural talents evident from a young age, Hamilton nonetheless suffered a tragic childhood that left him a penniless yet hot-blooded orphan with a dismal view of human nature and hunger for glory and prestige. Despite these miserable origins, Hamilton migrated north to college in an America poised to explode into rebellion. Hamilton’s remarkable oratory and writing skills along with his impressive work ethic and organizational talent allowed him to insert himself into the nascent uprising. A rising star, he caught the eye of a certain General Washington and became the central cog of his wartime staff and began perhaps the most impactful partnership in the fledgling nation. Though frustrated with riding a desk as others rode into battle, the ambition Hamilton nonetheless proves himself vocal and talented enough to win glory at Yorktown before the war’s end.
After settling in New York with a wife and children, the firmly principled and stubborn Hamilton entered the roiling world of New York politics. Quickly becoming frustrated with the incompetence of the Articles of Confederation and frustrated with George Clinton’s stranglehold on New York, Hamilton conspired with a young James Madison to call the Constitutional Convention. Though he expressed some decidedly undemocratic sentiments that would haunt him the rest of his life. Hamilton’ fifty-nine contributions to the eighty-seven essays of the Federalist Papers made Hamilton the preeminent voice of the Federalists and poised him to aid in the new government’s construction. Washington’s appointment of him as Secretary of the Treasury made him more responsible than any other man in actualizing the Constitution. Washington’s auspices allowed Hamilton, sensitive to attack and unskilled at subtle political intrigue, to steamroll the Jeffersonian opposition to his expansive and powerful centralized government. In doing so, Hamilton won near-total success but sowed the seeds of this later fall with his inability to answer a challenge with silence. His political fortunes waned as his sexual infidelities came to light and his many political enemies broke his poise and dismantled his support. Chernow’s extensive construction of Hamilton’s character and principles explains exactly how forty-nine-year-old Hamilton came to meet his end in a duel with Aaron Burr.
Chernow expertly crafts Hamilton as an ambitious, talented and pugnacious man with much to prove through his letters and actions. He also depicts Hamilton as principled and deeply spiritual as well as a flirtatious man possessing a large sexual appetite. Though the biography succeeds spectacularly in establishing Hamilton’s importance as well as his historical merit, Chernow’s chronicle still falls prey to a small but noticeable set of shortcomings. Most prominent among the shortcomings is his sometimes-anachronistic word choice, such as his repeated description of Hamilton as an “abolitionist” despite the nonexistence of abolitionism until at least fifteen years after his death. Chernow also frequently closes sections with speculation without the proper backing of historical evidence. These flaws do little derail this otherwise exemplary biography as Chernow more than makes up for his occasional flaws in historical writing in some areas with overwhelming success in almost all others.
Chernow's biography proves itself a remarkable summation of the life and character of one of America’s, both contemporarily and historically, most important and polarizing figures. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in learning about the founding fathers and the genesis of America’s governmental and economic success.
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Reviews with images
A Comprehensive Look at a Brilliant, Complex, and Flawed Hero. Casual and Objective Readers Beware!
As a "Hamilton Hipster" (someone who knew and loved him long before the musical, but who also LOVES the show), this is a fantastic book! It is a fully comprehensive exploration of one of the most unfathomably gifted and incredibly complex and flawed characters in our national history. I've read it twice now, once before discovering the musical and once after. I recently finished it for my second time, in preparation for seeing the stage musical. I was "blew me away" as I re-listened to his story, and love knowing some of the (intentional) inaccuracies of the story, like James Monroe being the boogeyman of the Mariah Reynolds affair, no shots being fired in the Laurens-Lee duel, Hamilton resigning from Washington's staff, Burr never being invited to work on The Federalist Papers, and Burr being a reportedly excellent shot who practiced his marksmanship in the run-up to the fateful duel.While I would highly recommend this book to history buffs and fans of biographies on America's revolutionary heroes, there are TWO CAVEATS that you should be aware of before buying it:*NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART: This book is not for folks who are casually interested in Hamilton's history or the backstory of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical. It's a whopping 731 pages long (with very large pages and small text), with 79 full pages of notes tacked onto the end. It can feel like a bit of a slog, so make sure you're good for that before putting it in your cart!*VERY KIND TO HAMILTON, NOT SO MUCH TO HIS OPPONENTS: Chernow is a staunch Hamilton defender and apologist throughout the novel, identifying his character flaws but not really "attacking" them. That’s not a bad thing and it's valuable for a biographer to defend their subject, but I’d also advise readers to be hesitant about forming a lasting impression of Hamilton’s many enemies (Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, etc.) using only this book. I'd highly recommend check out their own biographies for a fuller perspective, which will both increase your appreciation of the history and help you enjoy the musical even more!All told, I'm pretty sure that I'll circle back to this book again in the future, since Hamilton's life is a nearly-unparalleled "rags to riches" (without the riches part, though) epic and also forms a strong background for understanding the way the U.S. Executive Branch still works today. Enjoy!
Top reviews from other countries
Pedro Emeth Herrera Baselis
El libro que inspiró el musical.
Reviewed in Mexico on April 8, 2023
Penguin
A remarkable account; justice to Hamilton's legacy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2021
