Alexander Hamilton: A Life

Description

"Hamilton's turbulent life, the dramatic birth of a nation, all against the richly evoked gritty background of the 18th century--Randall's book is propelled with the page-turning intensity of an epic novel." - Ronald Blumer, Peabody Award-winning writer A new reissue of this important biography of Alexander Hamilton-arguably one of the most brilliant and complex of our nation's founders. From his less than auspicious start in 1755 on the Caribbean island of Nevis, to his unhappy fate in 1804 in Weehawken, New Jersey, at the hands of his enemy Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton's short life left a huge legacy. Orphaned at eleven and apprenticed to a counting house, Hamilton learned the principles of business that helped him, as the first Secretary of the Treasury, create the American banking system and invent the modern corporation. He served in the American Revolution, primarily as aide-de-camp to General Washington, and subsequently developed a successful legal career, co-wrote The Federalist Papers, and built a life in politics. Told in a highly readable style, Alexander Hamilton presents Hamilton's contributions to America, and what they mean today.

Willard Sterne Randall is the prize-winning author of thirteen books, including Ethan Allen: His Life and Times; A Little Revenge: Benjamin Franklin at War with His Son; Thomas Jefferson: A Life; George Washington: A Life; and Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor. A finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, he is a professor of history at Champlain College and lives in Burlington, Vermont.

"Hamilton's turbulent life, the dramatic birth of a nation, all against the richly evoked gritty background of the 18th century--Randall's book is propelled with the page-turning intensity of an epic novel." -- Ronald Blumer, Peabody Award-winning writer "If you are interested in the founding father who made the United States functional, you cannot do better than this lively, entertaining and informative book. Will Randall, a master biographer and renown historian, uses his considerable skills to bring Alexander Hamilton and his turbulent times to life." -- Rod Paschall, Editor MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History "A sturdy and readable life, in company with Randall's other portraits of the Revolutionary generation." -- Kirkus Reviews "This richly detailed, deeply sympathetic biography gives us a Hamilton we're compelled to know--hungry, human, brilliant and magnificant." -- Virginia Scharff, author of Twenty Thousand Roads "An arresting story told with wit, intelligence, and empathy. Randall has succeeded in getting under the skin of citizen Hamilton, who read the contours of America's future better than any other figure of his extraordinary generation." -- Gale E. Christianson, Biographer "Engaging...vivid." -- Publishers Weekly "Willard Randall has taken on one of the really difficult figures in American history and captured him with enviable narrative skill. This is biographical excellence--solid, first rate work." -- William H. Hallahan, author of The Day the American Revolution Began "A fresh look at the many-faceted career of one of the Founding Fathers." -- BookPage "Randall excels in describing the conflicts Hamilton created and weathered as a soldier, politician and lawyer; his capacity for making enemies; and the peaks and valleys of his tumultuous personal and professional life." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Assiduously researched and appealingly written, Randall's Alexander Hamilton: A Life is an informative and insightful portrait of a highly complex personality." -- Houston Chronicle "Readable and worthy." -- Washington Post "The life of Alexander Hamilton, vividly recreated. . . a fine biography." -- Boston Globe "An arresting story told with wit, intelligence, and empathy." -- Gale E. Christianson, Biographer "Excellent...brings alive the complex combination of unbounded ambition and sense of duty that made Mr. Hamilton an overachiever in an age of great individuals." -- New York Law Journal Magazine