Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Biography, An Enjoyable Read
Review: "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow is a fascinating, gripping biography of one of the most interesting and overlooked Founding Fathers.
Hollywood could have scripted Hamilton's life. His life began with his out of wedlock birth in the West Indies to a French mother and Scottish father; it ended forty-nine years later in a duel with Aaron Burr, then the Vice President of the United States. In between, he rose to prominence in the annals of American politics. He founded America's first bank, served as the country's first secretary of the treasury, and authored some of the most profound political treatises of his time or any other. Oh, and he became involved in this country's first really steamy sex scandal.
At times, Chernow is a bit too much of an apologist for Hamilton. He creates near-cartoonish figure of Jefferson, Madison, Adams and Aaron Burr, when they challenge Hamilton. All of these founding fathers were brilliant and brilliantly flawed men. I wish Chernow could have showed better how somehow these individuals manage to rise above their weaknesses and merge their strengths to design the architecture of the US government.
Still, this is a great read. I highly recommend it to lovers of US history everywhere.
Rating: 
Summary: See the Man on the ten dollar bill come vividly alive!
Review: Alexander Hamilton (1755-104) is a founding father most Americans know little about. Hamilton was born in Nevis in the West Indians and was born illegitimately. He was soon orphaned and worked in a counting house. Wealthy friends in the Caribbean raised enough money to send the lad to the English colonies. While a student at college in New York the young Hamilton became enflamed with the fire of independence for the British colonies.
The young soldier served as an aide to George Washington. The aloof Washington depended on Hamilton for outstanding service during the eight long years of the Revolutionary War.
With the end of the war Hamilton became a brillian attorney, married into the wealthy and politically influential Schuyler familey, sired eight children and carried on at least one amorous dalliance.
Hamilton wrote the bulk of the Federalist papers leading to conflict with America's leading Anti-Federalist Thomas Jefferson. As our nation's first Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton worked hard to make the executive branch of government the most powerful. He set up the Coast Guard and the Customs departments and made the federal government a strong source of order and stability in the infant nation.
Along the way Hamilton made many enemies and in 1804 was killed in a duel with the notrious Vice-President Aaron Burr.
Chernow's book is history but there is enough material in these crowded 800 pages for several novels!
Hamilton was a complex genius who died young but whose legacy of a strong central government remains. His advocacy of a strong Federal Constitution and fiscal responsibility paved the way for making the United States a world power.
Chernow writes well with his material being buttressed by outstanding research.
This book kept me busy for several hours each day for a week.
It is a book which will become a classic and the definitive popular work on Mr. Hamilton.
If you read one biography this year grab this one of the shelf and relish hours spent in the company of one of the giant founders of America. Excllent-should be a contender of the Pulitzer Prize if there is any justice!
Rating:
Summary: Hamilton, an awesome read
Review: All too often we have glorified our founding fathers. This biography humanizes Hamilton, the only founding father (other than Franklin) who did not become president. No one else did more to solidify the financial and political base of the national government. This is the ultimate rags to riches (and then on to tragedy) story. No other person in the history of our country had more to do with the founding of essential institutions including the Treasury department, the Coast Guard, the modern ideas of credit and deficit spending, and the unique role that government can play in trade and commerce. For anyone interested in the early republic this is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read For Any US History Fan
Review: As most reviewers have mentioned, Alexander Hamilton is a sadly overlooked character in American history classes, even though he was most likely the smartest of them all. I assume that it is because he was never a President; however our country will not be the great economic, and world power that it is now without him.
I will not get into details, some of the chapters seem unnecessary until one looks at them as an overview to understand the man and his motives. Anyone who will attempt to seriously read this wonderful biography will understand what I mean around page 400.
I could only imagine what would have happened if Mr. Hamilton would have lived to finish out his life and would have been elected president. The first (and probably only) president not born in the US.
I think any presidential candidate, and for that matter any high ranking government official, must read this book in order to understand the foundations, ideals, and basis this country was founded on.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling story of the man who foresaw modern America
Review: At long last, Alexander Hamilton has a biography worthy of his status as the ablest and most overlooked Founding Father. In an age when most people only know Hamilton as the man on the ten dollar bill, fewer realize that many of the elements of today's America both politically and socially were foreseen by Hamilton at the very founding of the nation. It is not too much of an overstatement to say that of all the men present at the creation, only Hamilton would recognize the nation that the United States has become.Chernow has assembled a wealth of research to provide a neatly chronological history of the man and his age, without bogging down too deeply in the typical elements of Hamilton's career -- his time by Washington's side during the Revolution, his job as the first Secretary of the Treasury (and de facto prime minister), his extramarital dalliances, and of course his fatal duel with Aaron Burr. Chernow moves the story right along throughout, although as another reviewer mentions he does sometimes fall into the biographer's trap of overstating the case for his subject. Unsurprisingly, Thomas Jefferson's role is portrayed in a non-flattering light, as well as James Madison's. Recent scholarship has certainly turned a more skeptical eye to Jefferson's qualities and flaws, but Chernow sometimes dials up the sarcasm a little high on the Jefferson/Hamilton dispute. The book is at its best covering the period from the faltering Articles of Confederation through to the end of Hamilton's public career in the Washington Administration. This is the world of high-stakes politics, personal attacks, and a real concern that the new government could actually fall apart again in the face of internal and external dangers. As is common with biographies, the tale trails off a little as Hamilton's public career dissipates, but Chernow recovers with a long and detailed description of the events leading to the Burr/Hamilton duel. I would have liked to see more coverage of Hamilton's out-of-character "return" to Christianity in the last years of his life after evincing little interest in the subject throughout his adult life. This is a minor complaint, however, in the context of a staggering achievement in bringing to life the most insightful, capable, and intriguing of the men who helped turn a rag-tag band of quarreling states into the United States of America.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Chernow should get a Pulitzer for this baby! I'm a big fan of George Washington (yes, I know he's dead), so if one really wants to understand the Washington presidency, one needs to understand Hamilton. I have not read much about Hamilton other than what was included in books on Washington, so Chernow's book offers a much needed focus on Washington's right-hand man. The assumption plan, funding plan, and the creation of the national bank are crucial components in the success of the new Constitutional government. Hamilton was the brain and will-power that made it all happen. I still can't believe they shot him!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely awesome
Review: Chernow's ALEXANDER HAMILTON was the best thing I read last year. Hamilton has always been something of a mysterious figure, pigeonholed as a meddler and a manipulator, and famed more for his duel with Aaron Burr than his accomplishments as a statesman. Chernow gets behind all that and brings the real Hamilton to life. It's no understatement to say that Hamilton was the founding father who most impacted the political and economic life of the U.S. It's amazing how completely right Hamilton was on so many issues.
Chernow can be criticized for idolizing his subject and casting Hamilton's failings in a rosy light. And, yes, Chernow is no fan of Jefferson and Madison. But then, it seems that a lot of historians are critical of Jefferson these days (and maybe Madison, too), so perhaps the panning is deserved.
Overall, though, this biography is very well researched and very well written. It's not often that I can say that I was completely fascinated by a political biography, but I was riveted by this book.
Kudos to Mr. Chernow for tackling this subject and producing such a winning biography.
Rating:
Summary: Rocket man
Review: Chernow's book has a faltering start, meandering in the unpleasant circumstances of Hamilton's childhood. But as Hamilton enters his teenage years, the narrative gets its focus. The story suddenly takes off. In a few short years, Hamilton rockets from an impoverished Caribbean youth to a brilliant leader of the American Revolution. Chernow takes us along for the ride. Amazing!
Rating:
Summary: wonderfully written, exhaustively researched
Review: Chernow's book is an event, a masterly appreciation of the man that will cast this important figure in a whole new light. Occasionally the prose is a little too highflown, but all in all the book is a tremendous effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Before You All Start Jumping On The Hamilton Bandwagon...
Review: consider this: This man wrote in THE FEDERALIST PAPERS (inarguably the most important piece of American Government writing after the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution) the following words, "The rich and well-born should have a fixed, permanent share in the Government, to check the common people, who seldom judge or determine right." If that sounds okay to you, or if the fact that our country has been reduced by, and reduced to, this practice over the last quarter-century is palatable to you, then by all means join the nouveau Hamilton love-fest. Otherwise, approach this book with all appropriate skepticism.
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