Here's what I wrote in 2017 about this read: "Wow, those founding fathers has as many polical issues as we do today (and Hamilton was clearly a well-motivated genuis even if he occasionally exercised poor judgement)." Here's what I add here in 2024: "Great appreciation for Chernow's research to tell the story of this important American whose impact is lasting and world-reaching. We now live in a world of capitalistist excess; his genius did, at least in part, enable. ( )

Wow. Just wow! I will write a longer review when I get back from vacation, but this was simply stunning. ( )

I came to read an 800 page biography of Alexander Hamilton, a figure I had barely heard of two months ago, thanks to the brilliant musical based on his life. After reading rapturous recommendations of Hamilton, I listened to the soundtrack on spotify and was fascinated. The music is fantastic and Alexander Hamilton’s life story is extraordinary. Since I have previously derived great enjoyment from long books that inspired musicals (Les Mis), I then tried to hunt down a copy of Chernow’s biography. This proved difficult, as the University Library didn’t have it and it doesn’t seem to have been in print in the UK for a decade. However I was lucky enough to get a copy for my birthday, as my parents have had the kindness not to ask silly questions like, “Why do you want to read that?” since I was about five. As a caution, this book is so large that complete strangers will comment on the fact if you try to read it on a train. It isn’t as heavy as it could be, though, thankfully being softbound.

I found several distinct pleasures in reading ‘Alexander Hamilton’. One was locating songs from the musical in the narrative, even spotting the odd lyric reference. Another was the obvious enjoyment of a well-written, deeply engaging biography. A third, however, was learning about the American War of Independence and subsequent establishment of government. This was something I knew basically nothing about at all. In fact, I’m embarrassed to say that for many years I thought the War of Independence and the Civil War were one and the same. On the other hand, I have a long-term obsession with the French Revolution, so was very interested to both compare America’s revolution to it and note the influences that the two had on one another. The birth of acrimonious two-party politics in the US formed the most memorable part of the book for me. A major fissure between the two camps was relative levels of sympathy for revolutionary France and reactionary England. Alexander Hamilton took a (the?) lead role in the Federalist faction, opposed by the Republicans led by Jefferson. The machinations of the two parties under successive presidencies are brilliantly told.

Indeed, Chernow manages to mix strategic insight into events with appealing anecdote very well throughout. The astonishing industry and achievements of the Founding Fathers are contrasted with examples of their petty squabbling and personal flaws. In Hamilton’s case, perhaps his greatest gift was eloquence on paper, which sometimes became a curse when combined with his unwillingness to let things go. So he has left magisterial writings on the US constitution and other legal matters, but also a large number of angry pamphlets written in response to personal attacks, several of which massively sabotaged his political career. He really did have a very dramatic life and I can understand why it lends itself to the stage. He comes across as a gifted, extremely hard-working, flawed man who was trying to secure America’s future but worried deeply about the country’s prospects. He anticipated that civil war would come, as well as fearing invasion by France or possibly England at various points.

While his early life, time in the patriot army, and political career were certainly tumultuous, Hamilton’s death in a duel is perhaps the most striking element of his whole story. Throughout the biography, his killer Aaron Burr keeps popping up in various capacities. Chernow’s portrait of Burr makes an interesting counterpoint to Hamilton, although Burr is more of an enigma as he seems to have presented an ironic façade to the world. What makes the confrontation all the more bizarre is that Burr was vice president when he shot Hamilton, then proceeded to go on the run from a charge of murder. Whilst continuing to act as vice president. At the time, he was also bankrupt and fleeing creditors. In some ways, learning about the shenanigans of America’s first politicians throws a positive light on today’s lot. Then again, all the slander, philandering, hypocrisy, and plotting really demonstrates that nothing much has changed. Given that he continually warned against demagogues, I can imagine Hamilton’s ghost pointing at Trump and crying, “I told you this would happen!” ( )

I am very interested in Alexander Hamilton. I like the writing style. I like the narrators voice. Unfortunately, I got bored of the book because it’s too long and has too many trivial details about other people and situations that are not anything to do with Alexander Hamilton. It’s like he tried to stretch this book to make it as long as he possibly could with boring filler content, so I stopped listening. It would’ve been nice to learn about Alexander Hamilton for free, but I don’t have the patience to try and find the part in the book where he’s going to finally stop with the filler and actually get to the meat of the story. I even tried skipping around to various chapters, and I still couldn’t actually find the story of Alexander Hamilton amongst all the filler. ( )

I was inspired to read this after seeing the musical, Hamilton. I found the story of Alexander Hamilton's life fascinating. I was especially interested in the sections where the founding fathers were writing the Constitution and where Mr. Hamilton was building the treasury departments and other federal institutions.

I was struck by many similarities to today's political life. And surprised...we hear about the decline of thoughtful debate, the fierceness of partisanship, and how things used to be better. Yet the US Government ran a deficit in its earliest years. People declined Cabinet jobs because of public scrutiny. And members of Congress literally came to blows with canes and fireplace tongs. Plus ca change....

The book is very well researched and written in an accessible style. I think the author may have injected a little too much interpretation of Hamilton's words or actions at times, but overall he did a great job of bringing this part of U.S. history to life. ( )