Alexander Hamilton (Chernow)

Alexander Hamilton 
Ron Chernow, 2004
Penguin Publishing
832 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780143034759


Summary
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation.

In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, Ron Chernow tells the riveting story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America.

According to historian Joseph Ellis, Alexander Hamilton is “a robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all.”

Chernow’s biography is not just a portrait of Hamilton, but the story of America’s birth seen through its most central figure. At a critical time to look back to our roots, Alexander Hamilton will remind readers of the purpose of our institutions and our heritage as Americans. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—March 3, 1949
• Where—Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Yalae University; Cambridge University
• Awards—Pulitzer Prize, Biography; American History Book Prize; National Book
   Award, Nonfiction
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City


Ron Chernow was born in 1949 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating with honors from Yale College and Cambridge University with degrees in English Literature, he began a prolific career as a freelance journalist.

Between 1973 and 1982, Chernow published over sixty articles in national publications, including numerous cover stories. In the mid-80s Chernow went to work at the Twentieth Century Fund, a prestigious New York think tank, where he served as director of financial policy studies and received what he described as “a crash course in economics and financial history.”

Chernow’s journalistic talents combined with his experience studying financial policy culminated in the writing of his extraordinary first book, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (1990). Winner of the 1990 National Book Award for Nonfiction, The House of Morgan traces the amazing history of four generations of the J.P. Morgan empire. The New York Times Book Review wrote, “As a portrait of finance, politics and the world of avarice and ambition on Wall Street, the book has the movement and tension of an epic novel. It is, quite simply, a tour de force.”

Chernow continued his exploration of famous financial dynasties with his second book, The Warburgs (1994), the story of a remarkable Jewish family. The book traces Hamburg’s most influential banking family of the 18th century from their successful beginnings to when Hitler’s Third Reich forced them to give up their business, and ultimately to their regained prosperity in America on Wall Street.

Described by Time as “one of the great American biographies,” Chernow’s Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (1998) brilliantly reveals the complexities of America’s first billionaire. Rockefeller was known as a Robber Baron, whose Standard Oil Company monopolized an entire industry before it was broken up by the famous Supreme Court anti-trust decision in 1911. At the same time, Rockefeller was one of the century’s greatest philanthropists donating enormous sums to universities and medical institutions.

His 2005 book, a biography of Alexander Hamilton, was widely praised and inspired Hamilton, the highly successful 2016 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

In addition to writing biographies, Chernow is a book reviewer, essayist, and radio commentator. His book reviews and op-ed articles appear frequently in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He comments regularly on business and finance for National Public Radio and for many shows on CNBC, CNN, and the Fox News Channel. In addition, he served as the principal expert on the A&E biography of J.P. Morgan and has been featured as the key Rockefeller expert on a CNBC documentary.

Chernow is the Secretary of PEN American Center, the country’s most prominent writers’ organization. He lives in Brooklyn Heights, New York.

Book Reviews
Mr. Chernow sets himself a compelling task: to add a third dimension to conventional views of Hamilton while reaching beyond the limits of a personal portrait. If Alexander Hamilton reflects its subject's far from charismatic nature, it also provides a serious, far-reaching measure of his place in history. And Mr. Chernow has done a splendid job of capturing the backbiting political climate of Hamilton's times, to the point that no cow is sacred here. The "golden age of literary assassination in American politics," featuring Thomas Jefferson as a particularly self-serving schemer, sounds astonishingly familiar today.
Janet Maslin - New York Times


In Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow, the author of The House of Morgan, The Warburgs and Titan, a biography of John D. Rockefeller, has brought to life the Founding Father who did more than any other to create the modern United States.… In this magisterial biography, Chernow tells the story not only of Hamilton but also of his wife, Eliza, a remarkable woman who died at the age of 97 in 1854.
Washington Post


Chernow's achievement is to give us a biography commensurate with Hamilton's character.… This is a fine work that captures Hamilton's life with judiciousness and verve.… [This biography] could make Alexander Hamilton as popular with readers as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.
Publishers Weekly


Although quite sympathetic to Hamilton, Chernow attempts to present both sides of his many controversies, including Hamilton's momentous philosophical battles with Jefferson.… A first-rate life and excellent addition to the ongoing debate about Hamilton's importance in the shaping of America. —Robert Flatley, Kutztown Univ. Lib., PA
Library Journal


A splendid life of an enlightened reactionary and forgotten Founding Father.… Literate and full of engaging historical asides. By far the best of the many lives of Hamilton now in print, and a model of the biographer's art.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
These excellent questions have been graciously proviced by our "Associate," Jennifer Johnsnon, MA, MLIS, the Reference Librarian at the Springdale (Arkansas) Public Library. Thank you—again—Jennifer!

1. Consider what you knew before reading Alexander Hamilton. Did the author do justice to the historical figure of Alexander Hamilton and his legacy? How did this tome change what you knew and thought of the man, Alexander Hamilton?

2. According to Hamilton, when discussing his mother and her marriages:

'Tis a very good thing when their stars unite two people who are fit for each other, who have souls capable of relishing the sweets of friendship and sensibilities… but it’s a dog of [a] life when two dissonant tempers meet.

Looking back at his lineage, what lessons did Hamilton learn from his family? Despite his intellect, did he follow a similar star-crossed path as his parents?

3. Chernow identifies that Hamilton was the blockade in Aaron Burr’s professional career. Describe the relationship between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton? What actions or events ultimately fated them to their ends?

4. Sometimes, children from single parent homes or homes with difficult parentage can result in the child consciously or subconsciously seeking a “father” figure throughout their lives. Do you think that this is true in the case of Hamilton’s life? Can we identify any possible “father” or guardianship figures in his life?

4. Consider the relationship between Hamilton and the Schuyler sisters. In his popular Broadway play, Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda describes a complicated and often blurred relationship between Hamilton, Eliza, and Angelica. Consider the below lyrics –

[Hamilton sings]
Eliza, I don’t have a dollar to my name
An acre of land, a troop to command, a dollop of fame
All I have’s my honor, a tolerance for pain
A couple of college credits and my top-notch brain
Insane, your family brings out a different side of me
Peggy confides in my, Angelica tried to take a bite of me
No stress, my love for you is never in doubt.

[Angelica sings]
In a letter I received from you two weeks ago
I noticed a comma in the middle of a phrase
It changed the meaning. Did you intend this?
One stroke and you’ve consumed my waking days
It says:
My dearest Angelica
With a comma after “dearest.” You’ve written
My dearest, Angelica.

Do you think the portrayal of Hamilton as a lover, cheater, and scoundrel are an accurate portrayal?

5. Time and time again, we read how Hamilton was starved for knowledge, education, and self-improvement while also writing like he was literally running out of time. What could have caused this inability to be satisfied with one’s class, rank, etc.?

6. Chernow explains that…

In all probability, Alexander Hamilton is the foremost political figure in American history who never attained the presidency, yet he probably had a much deeper and more lasting impact than many who did.

Do you agree with Chernow’s conclusion? Please explain.

7. What did you think of the relationship between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison? How did they, after being party affiliated and co-authoring The Federalists Papers, become enemies?

8. Historians are often reviewing the relationship between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Why do you think this relationship was so difficult, combative, and rebellious? How did the relationship, do you think, change after Hamilton gave his nomination of Jefferson in the 1801 election?

9. According to Chernow, Eliza tasked her decedents – “justice shall be done to the memory of my Hamilton.” Why did she want justice for him and how did she prove that she was, according to Hamilton, the “best of wives and  best of women”?

10. Do you consider Ron Chernow to be a good biographer? Why or why not?

11. What are the successes of Alexander Hamilton as a man, politician / government official, and “man of letters”?

12. What are the failures of Alexander Hamilton? How have those failures marked him in the historical record?

14. What parallels can we identify between the political environment of the 1790s and early 1800s to our current political environment?

15. What was Hamilton’s view of slavery and how is it depicted in the book?

16. While Eliza preserved every possible item that Alexander wrote and document associated with him, how well did Eliza preserve her story? What do you think are the causes that gap the written record?

17. In the 1790s, Alexander faced political decline and withdrew from society. What do you think are the causes for that quietness and withdrawal?

18. Throughout the book, Hamilton is constantly fighting and taking every possible opportunity he could to rise higher in station. While he obviously faced many hardships throughout his life, who do you think were his champions – those who saw the potential in who he would / could become?

19. Do you think the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton could have been avoided? What factors / events led to the duel?

20. What similarities can you identify between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton? What differences can you identify between the two men?

(Questions submitted to LitLovers by Jennifer Johnson, MA, MLIS, Reference Librarian, Springdale Public Library. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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