Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
List Price:
Our Price: $9.92
You Save: $30.03 (75%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.81 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ron ChernowNarrator: Grover Gardner
Edition: Music CD
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Published: 2004-04-26
ISBN: 0142800430
Number of pages: 11
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Book Reviews of Alexander Hamilton
Book Review: 6 stars - I didn't want it to end
Summary: 5 Stars
From what I learned of American history as a schoolboy, Hamilton was certainly considered as one of the founding fathers, but he was relegated to the periphery among the founders; and he and the Federalists, according to this teaching, needed to be constantly restrained by the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson or else they would have reverted the country back to a monarchy. After reading this book, I still think there is truth to the need for Jefferson's restraint, but overall, I think that my education was prejudiced and myopic. As the author notes, because Jefferson, Madison and Adams all became President (along with another Virginian James Monroe) and they had many more years to write about events, their legacy gained the upper hand and history has probably skewed their importance relative to Hamilton.
This really outstanding book tips the balance of viewpoint in the other direction. Some have criticized the book because they maintain that it habitually depicts Jefferson, Madison, and Adams in the worst of ways, such as only showing the worst of what they wrote. They may have a point, but the author is showing what Hamilton was up against - sometimes unreasoning opposition; and he makes a very strong case that Hamilton more than any of the founders was responsible for setting up the American government as we know it today. Hamilton recognized, with a force that no one else could exert, that a strong union was the best hope to avoid all the evils and conflicts of Balkanization. No doubt that Jefferson and Madison provided a much needed counterbalance, especially since Hamilton did not recognize the importance of the Bill of Rights; and Washington also provided a needed check to his military proclivities. But Jefferson and Madison in their Virginian politics that favored a sectionalized state-empowered confederacy molded from a slave-based agrarian economy held views that have fallen by the wayside, whereas Hamilton set in motion the means whereby the United States could get a grip on itself and move into the modern age.
It is a fascinating story of a life that leads to a well-known tragic conclusion. It starts in one of most beautiful of places but also one of the worst scenes of human degradation - the sugar trade in the West Indies. The fact that Hamilton's relatives could never succeed in such a place was probably a credit to them, for it must have taken an extraordinary brutality to keep a majority population of slave labor at bay. Hamilton left the place at the first available opportunity, and took advantage of the time and his abilities to make a continuing success of himself during the Revolution and its aftermath. Beside being blessed with a brilliant mind (John Marshall said that beside him he felt like a candle to the midday sun) and being a relentless worker, he showed that he was a man of principle, and all through his life he hardly deviated from that sense of principle. His enemies did not want to separate his personal life from his private life, but there is every indication that he hardly ever wavered in that regard, despite the folly of the Maria Reynolds scandal. Despite all the investigations, no one was able to find a shred of evidence that showed that while he was Secretary of Treasury and setting up the banking system - or any other time for that matter - that he did anything untoward or for his own benefit. In fact, he had to quit his post because he became too deeply in debt to support his family. Yet, the slander followed him everywhere, and a lack of restraint on his part encouraged the attacks. In the end, the need to clear his name and a strong sense of honor - so important to his politics - had set him on an irrevocable course.
Summary of Alexander Hamilton
Building on biographies by Richard Brookhiser and Willard Sterne Randall, Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton provides what may be the most comprehensive modern examination of the often overlooked Founding Father. From the start, Chernow argues that Hamilton's premature death at age 49 left his record to be reinterpreted and even re-written by his more long-lived enemies, among them: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Monroe. Hamilton's achievements as first Secretary of the Treasury, co-author of The Federalist Papers, and member of the Constitutional Convention were clouded after his death by strident claims that he was an arrogant, self-serving monarchist. Chernow delves into the almost 22,000 pages of letters, manuscripts, and articles that make up Hamilton's legacy to reveal a man with a sophisticated intellect, a romantic spirit, and a late-blooming religiosity.One fault of the book, is that Chernow is so convinced of Hamilton's excellence that his narrative sometimes becomes hagiographic. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Chernow's account of the infamous duel between Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804. He describes Hamilton's final hours as pious, while Burr, Jefferson, and Adams achieve an almost cartoonish villainy at the news of Hamilton's passing.
A defender of the union against New England secession and an opponent of slavery, Hamilton has a special appeal to modern sensibilities. Chernow argues that in contrast to Jefferson and Washington's now outmoded agrarian idealism, Hamilton was "the prophet of the capitalist revolution" and the true forebear of modern America. In his Prologue, he writes: "In all probability, Alexander Hamilton is the foremost figure in American history who never attained the presidency, yet he probably had a much deeper and more lasting impact than many who did." With Alexander Hamilton, this impact can now be more widely appreciated. --Patrick O'Kelley
From National Book Award winner Ron Chernow, a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation.
Ron Chernow, whom the New York Times called "as elegant an architect of monumental histories as we've seen in decades," now brings to startling life the man who was arguably the most important figure in American history, who never attained the presidency, but who had a far more lasting impact than many who did.
An illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean, Hamilton rose with stunning speed to become George Washington's aide-de-camp, a member of the Constitutional Convention, coauthor of The Federalist Papers, leader of the Federalist party, and the country's first Treasury secretary. With masterful storytelling skills, Chernow presents the whole sweep of Hamilton's turbulent life: his exotic, brutal upbringing; his brilliant military, legal, and financial exploits; his titanic feuds with Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and Monroe; his illicit romances; and his famous death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July 1804.
For the first time, Chernow captures the personal life of this handsome, witty, and perennially controversial genius and explores his poignant relations with his wife Eliza, their eight children, and numberless friends. This engrossing narrative will dispel forever the stereotype of the Founding Fathers as wooden figures and show that, for all their greatness, they were fiery, passionate, often flawed human beings.
Alexander Hamilton was one of the seminal figures in our history. His richly dramatic saga, rendered in Chernow's vivid prose, is nothing less than a riveting account of America's founding, from the Revolutionary War to the rise of the first federal government.
General Books
- Biographies & Memoirs: Historical: General
- History: Americas: United States: General
- Parenting & Families: Parenting: General
- Biographies & Memoirs: Historical: United States: General
- Books on CD > Biographies & Memoirs
- Parenting & Families > Parenting
- History > United States
- General
- Parenting & Families > Parenting
- Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military > United States Civil War
- People, A-Z > ( H ) > Hamilton, Alexander
- History > Americas > United States > Revolution & Founding > General
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in 15 Piks & Pans---Advice on what one reviewer read in 2007
The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulagby Chol-hwan Kang, Pierre Rigoulot
Basic Books; Published: 2005-08-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.78
Price in other shops:
The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushimaby Constantine Pleshakov
Basic Books; Published: 2003-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.00
Price in other shops:
Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathersby Michael Barone
Crown; Published: 2007-05-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.65
Price in other shops:
On The Wealth of Nations (Books That Changed the World)by P. J. O'Rourke
Atlantic Monthly Press; Published: 2006-12-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.80
Price in other shops:
Europe: Today and Tomorrowby Pope Benedict XVI
Ignatius Press; Published: 2007-03-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.94
Price in other shops:
Waterloo: June 18, 1815: The Battle for Modern Europe (Making History)by Andrew Roberts
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.99
Price in other shops:
Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitutionby Richard Brookhiser
Free Press; Published: 2004-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops:
Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Differentby Gordon S. Wood
Penguin Audio; Published: 2006-05-18; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $7.84
Price in other shops:
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jeffersonby Joseph J. Ellis
Vintage; Published: 1998-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.05
Price in other shops:
Alexander Hamiltonby Ron Chernow
Penguin Audio; Published: 2004-04-26; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $18.03
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.by Ron Chernow
Vintage; Published: 2004-03-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.07
Price in other shops:
Thomas Jeffersonby R. B. Bernstein
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-09-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.90
Price in other shops:
The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Financeby Ron Chernow
Grove Press; Published: 2001-09-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.79
Price in other shops:
His Excellency: George Washingtonby Joseph J. Ellis
Vintage; Published: 2005-11-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
Trumanby David McCullough
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1993-06-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.19
Price in other shops:
His Excellency: George Washingtonby Joseph J. Ellis
Knopf; Published: 2004-10-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.73
Price in other shops:
John Adamsby David McCullough
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2002-09-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.27
Price in other shops:
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generationby Joseph J. Ellis
Vintage; Published: 2002-02-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.20
Price in other shops:
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jeffersonby Joseph J. Ellis
Vintage; Published: 1998-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.54
Price in other shops:
Benjamin Franklin: An American Lifeby Walter Isaacson
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2004-05-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.75
Price in other shops: