The Young Hamilton: A Biography

Rating:
Summary: Well written bio captures Hamilton's romantic character
Review: Flexner vividly recounts Hamiltons life and career through age 26. This reads like Dickens writing history - from Hamilton's miserable, impoverished home life until age 10, his teenage life in his adopted country, (America), his career in the Continental Army, his love for Elizabeth Schuyler.

Flexner Brings the young Hamilton to life through his letters and actions in the revolution. This book has a vividness that is remarkable. The famous and not so famous participants in the story come to life also - George Washington, The Marquis de Lafayette, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, etc.

This book has been criticized for being overly "psycological". This aspect is not over done. Simply put, this is a great story - well told, well researched. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A MASTERFUL MIXTURE OF THE PERSONAL AND POLITICAL
Review: In the bibliography of this book Mr. Flexner wrote that he felt that the real Hamilton had become obscured through the years through the writings of people who were either too fawning or too critical, depending on their political biases. Mr. Flexner therefore tried to get back to original sources as much as possible. Reading quotations from Hamilton's correspondence is one of the great pleasures of this book. But there are many things that make this book special. The author has a smooth, easy-to-read style. I have read elsewhere, in connection with one of Mr. Flexner's volumes on George Washington, someone complaining that the style is stilted or "old-fashioned." I heartily disagree with that criticism. Mr. Flexner was born in 1908 and this book was first published when the author was 70, but there is nothing "old-fashioned" about the prose. The style is actually quite modern. Another thing I enjoyed about the book was that the author went into the psychiatric reasons for Hamilton's sometimes aggressive and impulsive behavior, but he did so in a reasonable manner. You didn't feel as though you were being bludgeoned with analytical arguments but Mr. Flexner "gently" gave some commonsense and logical reasons for why Hamilton behaved the way he did e.g.-the stigma of his illegitimate birth, his mother's irresponsible behavior, being brought up in the West Indies and being left to basically fend for himself at an early age, etc.

I also enjoyed the way Mr. Flexner concentrated on Hamilton's service as aide-de-camp to George Washington during the Revolutionary War. There is a lot of interesting military history here, dealing with the battles fought on Long Island and in Trenton and Princeton and Monmouth, as well as Yorktown. There are wonderful gems of information, such as Washington's propensity to lose his temper amongst his close aides, when he wasn't on "public view" and felt that he could "let his hair down" a bit. Other interesting scenes include: at the Battle of Princeton where a patriot cannonball went through the window of Princeton college and slammed into a portrait of George II that was hanging on the wall, "decapitating" the king. (The patriots took the portrait down and "repaired" it by having an artist paint a scene with George Washington in it!); The Battle of Trenton, where the patriot army celebrated by drinking up the liquor the Hessians had left behind. Washington wanted to pursue the Hessians but was forced to give up on the idea as his men were in no shape to do anymore fighting!; Finally, in the section dealing with the Battle of Yorktown, Mr. Flexner mentions that shortly before the battle word had spread that a British force, led by Benedict Arnold no less, had been so upset by the strong resistance they had encountered in trying to take a fortress in New London, Connecticut, that the British had executed the men who had wanted to surrender to them when the fighting was over. The patriot army at Yorktown wanted to get revenge on the British and Washington had to give a speech before the battle that he basically didn't want his men to "lower themselves" to that level. If British troops wanted to surrender the surrender should be accepted and they should be taken prisoner. The troops did obey Washington's directive...

On a final note, I felt Mr. Flexner was very fair in this book. The author looked at Hamilton from all angles and praised the good things about him- his intelligence and hard work and sincere interest in doing what he felt was good for the future of the country- but also criticized his sometimes rash and impulsive behavior, and the author didn't gloss over Hamilton's general disdain for humanity!

This was a really excellent book and well-worth your time.