Alexander Hamilton: A Life

This book was surprisingly readable and rescued me from the quicksand I found myself in trying to get through Chernow's recent classic. Let me first say that I am not one who can spend more than a half-hour or so reading in a single sitting....my schedule just does not allow. Chernow's biography is a great work but the level of detail kept me backing up and restarting. Time was short....I had tickets to see the play "Hamilton" in NYC in less than a month and I had to bone up so as not to be too ignorant on the mans life prior to seeing the play. This book grabbed me from page one and was so good I went out of my way to find opportunities to squeeze in a few more minutes to read here and there. Chapter one hooks you from the opening line and follows with the description of the last day of Hamilton's life (take a peek with the LOOK INSIDE feature). From that point my interest to know more was off to the races. Reading this book was sheer pleasure and was a wonderful lesson on the politics and personalities of part of the Revolutionary War. In high school history bored me ( I'm more of a math/science guy) , but now 50 years later books like this one (along with cruising google maps to see exact locations of sites described) puts a whole new spin on it. I will probably still read Chernow's "Hamilton" but it is likely that Randall's book will be the one I remember with greater fondness.

I marveled at how a orphaned boy with very little early formal education could be so creatively intelligent! How he knew things about how finance and banking should work that his older and better educated founding fathers did not know. He had a gift from God that helped start America on the right path. I learned so much from this book and found it extremely interesting. My only complaint was how it ended. His story ended absolutely abruptly with the duel that killed him! Then what happened?! What was the reaction of the people, his friends, his enemies, his family? Another page or two or even a chapter to summarize his life and legacy would have been helpful. Oh well.

An interesting read showing the use of power and position throughout Hamilton's lifetime. It also shows the importance of reputation and friendships during the time of the Revolutionary War and the early years of the Constitution.

This is a mostly thoroughly researched, well written, and highly readable account of Alexander Hamilton's remarkable rise from Caribbean island orphan to American Founder, although as other reviewers have pointed out, Randall seems to strangely tire at the end as he rushes through the last 13 years of Hamilton's life in 20 pages. This appears to be a pattern of Randall's; his monsterously sized biography of Jefferson relegates the Virginian's two presidential terms to less than 50 pages. The result, in the end is, unfortunately considering the strength and vividness of most of the biography, one that doesn't create any effect for the reader of the sadness befitting the loss of one of America's leading Founders cut down in the prime of life, wondering what might have been had he lived to old age. Nevertheless, Randall's careful portrait of Hamilton's beginnings and particularly, his war service and association with George Washington, is enough to make Alexander Hamilton: A Life a worthy contribution to the literature on the Founders and a well worthy read.

I got interested after watching the Broadway show. But this earlier biography lowered its Amazon price, so I went with it. No less topical though. . An\ I learned so many derails about him. For instance, he wrote Washington's farewell no foreign entanglements' speech. He was thew President's speech writer.

As an American History major, I certainly knew the basics about Hamilton, his involvement in the Revolutionary War, his support for the new Constitution and the Federalist papers, and his huge role in our National banking system. But I did not know all the fascinating aspects of his personal life. And what a really interesting life he had! For some modern people today who do not think that immigrants contribute enough to the American way of life and our Democratic system, I would point to Alexander Hamilton as an early example of an immigrant who helped forge our young country in a very positive way. He certainly rates as a fine example to prove the anti immigrant folks wrong! What a huge difference this man made in the formative years of our young nation. This book is well written. I highly recommend it!

An interesting perspective on the life of an important figure in our history. I was most impressed by the amount of detail about the American Revolution in the book. I think that in our general education we all learn broad outlines about that period in our history, but there are volumes of information that we never hear about -- and some that I'm not happy to know! It's not an easy read, but certainly worth the time and effort it takes to plow through it.

This is a well written biography about Hamilton. Starting in the aftermath of his fatal duel. Then going to his childhood in the Caribbean onto his life in the US. Although there is a lot of written Hamilton. The author does introduce new ideas such as wether Hamilton had more that one mistress in his lifetime.The book also does a good job of showing how close and influential he was to Washington. This is an excellent book for anyone looking to learn about Hamilton.

The detail included in the book demonstrates the brilliance and frailty of a founding father in revolutionary America. It also provides insight into the battle between State and Federal jurisdiction.

Wow,Go go Alabama!