Alexander Hamilton

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Alexander Hamilton

Ron Chernow

Biography & Memoir

Jul 31, 2018

Early in his fascinating biography of perhaps “the foremost political figure in American history who never attained the presidency,” Ron Chernow writes that Alexander Hamilton’s “life was so tumultuous that only an audacious novelist could have dreamed it up.” Or, as time would tell, an audacious musical theater impresario: Prompted by his reading of this deeply researched yet compelling tome, Lin-Manuel Miranda would turn its subject’s life into a groundbreaking polyrhythmic spectacle. If Hamilton was not fated to become president, he would, as a consolation prize, become something of a rock star two centuries after his death. “No immigrant in American history has ever made a larger contribution than Alexander Hamilton,” Chernow tells us—and he did it all before his death at forty-seven in a duel with Aaron Burr, our third vice president. He was too protean, too smart, too reckless and charismatic a figure for his full likeness to be caught in a statue, much less on the ten-dollar bill, so one is grateful to Chernow for capturing it in these pages, and for inspiring others to rejuvenate his legacy.

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