Chernow - Alexander Hamilton

Praise for Alexander Hamilton

In Alexander Hamilton , Ron Chernow, author of The House of Morgan, The Warburgs, and Titan and a biography of John D. Rockefeller, has brought to vivid life the founding father who did more than any other to create the modern United States[a] magisterial biography.

Michael Lind, The Washington Post

Ron Chernows new Hamilton could not be more welcome. This is grand-scale biography at its bestthorough, insightful, consistently fair, and superbly written. It clears away more than a few shopworn misconceptions about Hamilton, gives credit where credit is due, and is both clear-eyed and understanding about its very human subject. The whole life and times are here in a genuinely great book.

David McCullough, author of John Adams and Truman

Ron Chernow ranks as one of todays best writers of history and biography. Not only is his work compelling but, unusual among such writers, Chernow also has a sound understanding of finance and economics. These skills shined through in his previous books. They are once again on full display in Alexander Hamilton .

Raymond J. Keating, Newsday

Chernows Hamilton is a success. Rarely does a biographer uncover so much new information about a long-dead, much-chronicled individual. Rarely does a biographer fill in the gaps with such incisive, justified speculation. Rarely does a biographer write narrative so well.

Steve Weinberg, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Ron Chernow has produced an original, illuminating, and highly readable study of Alexander Hamilton that admirably introduces readers to Hamiltons personality and accomplishments. Chernow penetrates more deeply into the mysteries of Hamiltons origins and family life than any previous biographerChernows accounts of Hamiltons contributions to political theory, politics, and the law are compelling.

Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs

Like a few hundred thousand other people, Ive been reading Ron Chernows enthralling biography of Alexander Hamilton. It serves as a timely reminder that the era of the founding fathers, which we usually think of (correctly) as a time of high-minded philosophical discourse, was also full of venomous vituperation that has no parallel in modern America.

Max Boot, Financial Times

A brilliant historian has done it again! The thoroughness and integrity of Ron Chernows research shines forth on every page of his Alexander Hamilton . He has created a vivid and compelling portrait of a remarkable manand 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

Fascinating.

People

Chernows gripping story sheds new light not only on Hamiltons legacy, but also on the conflicts that accompanied the republics birth. Alexander Hamilton is based on prodigious research, and it will likely prop up Hamiltons reputation in the same way David McCulloughs biography bolstered John Adamss. impressive detail.

Matthew Dallek , Washington Monthly

Magisterial. Mr. Chernow has done a splendid job of capturing the backbiting political climate of Hamiltons times. Mr. Chernow delivers a comprehensiveness that rivals Hamiltons[and gives] the full measure of such a tireless, complex, and ultimately self-destructive man.

Janet Maslin, The New York Times

A superb study. Chernows book is remarkablefor his unblinkered view of Hamiltons thought and behaviorChernows Hamilton is a whirlwind of a man, always in action, always in pursuit of a goal not quite within his grasp, and beset by the demons that have so often afflicted great minds. It has been said that Hamilton was a great man but not a great American. Chernows Hamilton is both.

Edmund Morgan, The New York Review of Books

Alexander Hamilton has been overshadowed by the founding fathers he served under, notably George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Ron Chernows magisterial new biography will certainly change that. The first must-read biography of 2004.

John Freeman, TimeOut New York

A splendid new biographyChernow unearths new information about Hamilton, but more importantly this beautifully written book recounts the formidable obstacles he surmounted to become, next to George Washington, the indispensable American founder. Chernows Alexander Hamilton is the best biography of Hamilton ever written, and it is unlikely to be surpassed.

Stephen F. Knott, Claremont Review of Books

SuperbChernow is a shrewd student of power, and he couldnt have chosen a more compelling subject.

James Aley, Fortune

Chernow writes beautifully and skillfully, and opens up aspects of Hamiltons life that others have not yet understood.

Andrew Burstein, Chicago Tribune

Now, Ron Chernow, whose previous books have chronicled the American Beauty roses and kudzu vines of mature American capitalism Warburgs , Morgans, John D. Rockefeller, Sr.examines the man who planted the seeds. Alexander Hamilton is thorough, admiring, and sadjust what a big book on its subject should be.

Richard Brookhiser, Los Angeles Times

TerrificRon Chernows magisterial Alexander Hamilton treats the first secretary of the treasury with the weight and gravitas of a nineteen-century novel.

John Freeman, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

PowerfulChernows magisterial work combines a biography of Hamilton and a political history of the United States in the early years of the republic. Exhaustively researched and beautifully written, the volume tells us a great deal about the founding fathers and helps restore one of them to his rightful place in the pantheon.

Terry W. Hartle, The Christian Science Monitor

Chernow has chosen an ideal subject. No other founding father more richly deserves the modern-eye-on-the-colonial-guy treatmentelectrifyingChernow does an admirable job.

Justin Martin, San Francisco Chronicle

[T]he life of Alexander Hamilton was so tumultuous that only an audacious novelist could have dreamed it up. Such is the assessment of Ron Chernow in this splendid new biography of Hamilton.

Steve Raymond, The Seattle Times

In this engaging new book, Ron Chernow reassesses the historical legacy of the brilliant founding father, political theorist, and politician Alexander Hamilton. Lively and beautifully written.

Anne Lombard, The San Diego Union-Tribune

Alexander Hamilton is a balanced portrait of the man and his many contradictionsAdmirers of David McCulloughs John Adams or Walter Isaacsons Benjamin Franklin will thoroughly enjoy this excellent book.

Roger Bishop, BookPage

On July 11, 1804, on a ledge overlooking the Hudson River in Weehawken, New Jersey, Burr mortally wounded HamiltonFor thirty days, the citys residents wore black armbands. The extraordinary and improbable career of Alexander Hamilton had come to and end, and here we have another fitting tribute to it: Ron Chernows massively researched and beautifully written biography.

James Chace, The New York Observer

Ron Chernows absorbing, exhaustively researched Alexander Hamilton justifies his claim that Hamiltons was the most dramatic and improbable life among the founding fathers. Chernow, who won the National Book Award for The House of Morgan , shows all Hamiltons complexity.

David Gates, Newsweek

Chernows splendid, thorough and brilliantly written biography of Hamilton gives us a new understanding of Hamiltons vital role during the war and immediately after as secretary of the treasury. There have been other biographies of Hamilton, but Chernows is far and away the most comprehensive and compelling of any I have read. It is a fitting tribute to the man who set the U.S. on the path that has made our nation the economic leader of the world.

Caspar W. Weinberger, former secretary of defense, and chairman of Forbes