Alexander Hamilton

The lawyer, founding father, war hero, and politician that is central to one of Broadway’s biggest hits of the past decade is so much more than what you probably know about him.  Alexander Hamilton’s story is a true underdog tale.  An illegitimate son born in the West Indies.  An absentee father and a mother who died young.  Hamilton overcame adversity, putting hard work and diligence to the test to become a leading actor in nearly every important moment in the early life of the American country.

Ron Chernow delivers a detailed and extensive biography in Alexander Hamilton beyond anything I could have prepared for.  This book is truly the story of man haunted by not only the sins of his parents, but his own troubled actions, and the toll those sins took on the lives of everyone he encountered.  So many of the challenges in Hamilton’s life are still relevant today – the medical controversy during Yellow Fever epidemic is reminiscent of the COVID-19 struggles, and the stunted presidency of John Adams reminded me of recent presidential terms.

I give Alexander Hamilton 3 out of 5 stars.  This book read like a textbook and the reading was often weighed down by the extensive amount of detail Chernow included.  Even Chernow alludes to this with the first sentence of the Acknowledgements stating, “Any biographer foolhardy enough to attempt an authoritative life of Alexander Hamilton must tread a daunting maze of detail” (p 733).  With 40 pages of Notes and 8 pages of Bibliography, this is a very well researched and documented historical biography.  Chernow includes extensive quotes from Hamilton’s written communications, but they did not make the text any less daunting to read.

I recommend this biography to history students and anyone needing to research Alexander Hamilton’s life.  Maybe it would be a good book for someone with a lot of free time, too?  It took me 21 hours, 20 minutes, and 25 seconds to finish this book over the 9 days it was my active read.  I definitely would not read this book if you were looking for a quick read, an easy read, or a fun read.  That is not what this book is. 

I chose Alexander Hamilton as my historical biography for January.  I actually picked this up at the book sale for my local Friends of the Library a few months back for maybe $3.  It was a great buy given it’s 800+ pages.  I’m also on a kick of reading biographies of the founding fathers and histories of the American Revolution, so this fit in well.  This marks the 9^th book I have finished in 2023.  With a goal of 104 books for the year, I need to read 8-9 books each month – I’m excited to say I am on target with this lofty goal!

If you are brave enough to take on this biography, you can get your copy in our Bookshop store.  Every purchase from Bookshop.org helps to support independent bookstores!

This post contains affiliate links.

What I’m reading

• Current print book: Wild Dances, William Lee Adams
• Current audio book: China Rich Girlfriend, Kevin Kwan
• Book I’m most looking forward to: The Color Purple, Alice Walker