Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Alexander Hamilton
Book Review: Amazing Story
Summary: 5 Stars
It is amazing to learn about someone's childhood, and the events throughout their life that shape them into the very person which they become. Alexander Hamilton had an unusual upbringing which motivated him throughout his life, and I found it fascinating to learn about the trials and tribulations, and the tenacity of this very important founding father. His success as Secretary of the Treasury, and his distinction as a leader and aide-de-camp to Washington, will reveal the great capacity and integrity of this man. Also, along with learning the fate of Hamilton, this book will also show how our country was shaped, and how our government system came to be. You will also have peeks into the lives of: Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Washington, whom had consequential impact on the future of our country. If you enjoy American history, this book will not disappoint you.Book Review: An amazing book that I know I will read again someday!
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely loved this book. The research and detail was amazing, and I found it to be well balanced. It's not a short book by any means and is in no way a "quick read." It took me a few weeks to finish. The biggest obstacle for me was the language used in the 18th century that is no longer used today. I am an avid reader and a college graduate, but I found many words I had not seen before (such as "hegemony" and "shibboleth"). I ended up buying a small Merriam-Webster Dictionary that I kept handy while reading this book.
I have a much greater respect and understanding of Hamilton than I did before, despite his many flaws. Also, I am much more disappointed and not overly fond of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson after reading this biography. After I read "American Sphinx" by Joseph Ellis, I wasn't that enamored of Jefferson. Now I understand why in more detail.
You'll be amazed at Hamilton's abilities and accomplishments after reading this book.
Book Review: Complete Look at Perhaps Our Most Important Founding Father
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first picked up this book, I was not sure if I was going to enjoy the subject. Alexander Hamilton is most famously known for dying in a duel, and his major contributions to our country involved his economic proposals. With that said, Chernow takes Hamilton's story and brings it to life. While reading this book, I felt like I was reading a fast-paced novel. The story of Hamilton's life from his earliest years through college and into the revolution were fascinating. The intellect of Hamilton was second to none and his story of rising up on pure talent during an age where family background was everything is inspirational. The story actually became more interesting when Hamilton became Washington's Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton basically invented our American credit/capitalist system and Chernow tells the story in a way that is easy to understand and completely enlightening. A fabulous book that I would recommend to any fan of history.Book Review: Detailed, wonderfully written biography
Summary: 4 Stars
Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton was a great read that included a remarkable amount of information on the man, as well as all the important characters who shared the stage with Hamilton during his 49 years. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, which felt nothing like its length.
It was an enlightening experience to read the book because much of my knowledge of Hamilton came from biographies on his many rivals or books on the period. Hamilton was an opinionated, controversial and insecure man, but he was quite ethical in his professional life. I was worried that a Hamilton book would be bogged down with too much economics, but Chernow did a great job of presenting that important information is an understandable manner.
The reason I can't quite give this book a 5-star rating was its overly sympathetic nature. Yes, most bios are partial to the subject, but this one took that to the extreme. Chernow gave ample coverage to the controversial events in Hamilton's life, though he tended to make excuses for them. Every sentence written about Jefferson, Adams and post-1789 Madison was very negative, as Chernow selected the unflattering quotes from those men in a way that would elevate Hamilton. If you were to read the second and third volumes of Dumas Malone's series on Jefferson, and follow it up by reading Chernow's book, you'd think they were writing about completely different eras, or that they were family members of their respective subjects.
But since this book is eye-opening and filled with so much information, in a beautifully written account, I highly recommend it. It made me see Hamilton in a different light and understand more fully why he was such a powerful figure in the early American republic.
Book Review: Engrossing.
Summary: 5 Stars
A complex man in a complex age, deeply involved in the experiment of self governance, all Americans should be thankful for Alexander Hamilton.
Depending on the focus currently in vogue, states rights or the lack thereof, Hamilton and his nemesis, Thomas Jefferson, periodically go in and out of American History's doghouse. It is easy to take sides. It is difficult to remember today that all of the Founding Fathers were feeling their way, that the American experiment, while previously talked about, had never really been tried. With Hamilton being autocratic, seeing things in black and white, and Jefferson the master of indirectness, seldom taking a firm stand, these two had to clash.
The Founding Fathers had much at risk. They were gambling their futures. Moreover, they could only view their futures through their pasts. So it was quite natural for the leaders of the day to become personally involved and, just as we see in today's political environment, those on the extremes tend best to define the problems. Those who represent consensus never really are capable of problem definition as they do not frame the issues in an "I win, you lose manner." However, as we now understand, democracy needs all three positions, rightists, leftists and centrists. For every Jefferson, we need a Hamilton and for every Jefferson-Hamilton combination, a Washington is required.
Ron Chernow does an excellent job of helping us understand the evolution of the American Republic as we know it today. At the start, there were no parties, just former comrades in arms. But as the Nation moved forward, more and more we needed to define just what kind of nation we wanted to become. It was this self defining, more than anything else, that established the 2 party political system in the United States. Hamilton headed the rightists, the Federalists; Jefferson headed the leftists, the Republicans. Hamilton was for urbanism, Jefferson for agriculture. Hamilton was for centralization, Jefferson for decentralization. Both were necessary to the evolution of the democratic process, yet each saw the other as the arch villain of our new nation, the Devil incarnate!
No one did more for the stabilization of the United States early on than these two protagonists. And Chernow does an excellent job of sticking to the facts, presenting each in an unbiased manner, as these two Founding fathers go at it hammer and tong. Federalism and Republicanism are each called different things today and both sides, Democrat and Republican, quickly wrap themselves in the mantra of Hamilton and Jefferson whenever they can. We owe much to these two Founding Fathers and it is the ultimate compliment to each that everyone wants to claim them as there own.
This is the story of Alexander Hamilton's Federalism, why it was necessary and how, in certain instances, it went too far. But make no mistake; Federalism was necessary to our survival. Ours is a nation of checks and balances we say today. I wonder if Hamilton and Jefferson realized that was their role from 1787 until Hamilton's untimely death in 1804, that in only 17 years they framed the issues that govern our behaviors today. I doubt it, their hatred was too intense.
This is a remarkably good work.