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39th out of 95 books
—
56 voters
Alexander Hamilton, American
Alexander Hamilton is one of the least understood, most important, and most impassioned and inspiring of the founding fathers. At last Hamilton has found a modern biographer who can bring him to full-blooded life; Richard Brookhiser. In these pages, Alexander Hamilton sheds his skewed image as the "bastard brat of a Scotch peddler," sex scandal survivor, and notoriously do...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
April 12th 2000
by Simon & Schuster
(first published 1999)
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This brief overview of Hamilton’s life and philosophies is readable, if a little dry and sometimes vague. I thought the introduction was the best part of the book. The first chapter on his youth was nearly incoherent, and the last chapter about his infamous duel was unsatisfying - but then the book is more concerned with describing Hamilton’s passions and his hopes for his adopted country. Don’t expect a lot of details about his personal life.
I chose this as an alternative to the weighty but acc...more
I chose this as an alternative to the weighty but acc...more
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The book was a quick read, and although I didn't find it boring, it was infused with the author's own opinions (not necessarily a bad thing). It's funny that when I read a biography of John and Abigail Adams by Joseph Ellis and then David McCullough's long bio about Adams, I suddenly found myself greatly admiring Adams as a Founding Father and as a person. At times, throughout both of those books, Hamilton was often portrayed as the "bad guy," working behind-the-scenes of the Adams presidency in...more
Another great read by Brookhiser. I must admit that Hamilton is one of the founder fathers I tend to overlook. Realized he was an aid to GW during the war, youngest delegate at the Constitutional convention, national bank, etc. but never really read much about him. Maybe he was like Mike Mussina of his time. Mussina will have to wait for the Hall, but will have to contend with the Schillings, Johnsons, Maddox, etc. Hamilton may be a great figure, but over shadowed by the likes of Jefferson, GW,...more
A short and not particularly great biography of a man about whom I didn't know all that much. Hamilton is a fascinating character, yet Brookhiser manages to make him almost uninteresting.
Brookhiser shows brief flashes of good writing: he's at his best when summing up Hamilton's place in the early years of our Republic. But when delving into the details of Hamilton's life, he's less than thrilling. Often the writing is murky and hard to gain any understanding from. It's as if Brookhiser, having p...more
Brookhiser shows brief flashes of good writing: he's at his best when summing up Hamilton's place in the early years of our Republic. But when delving into the details of Hamilton's life, he's less than thrilling. Often the writing is murky and hard to gain any understanding from. It's as if Brookhiser, having p...more
Alexander Hamilton, founding father, but not even born and raised in the United States.
The book gives an account of Hamilton's childhood years in the Virgin Islands, excelling as a boy with not father or mother in his life. After making it to the mainland, he overcomes any feelings of inferiority due to his background and rises to be one of the central voices and idea men behind our nation's founding.
The book gives a good account of his strengths as well as his weaknesses.
The book gives an account of Hamilton's childhood years in the Virgin Islands, excelling as a boy with not father or mother in his life. After making it to the mainland, he overcomes any feelings of inferiority due to his background and rises to be one of the central voices and idea men behind our nation's founding.
The book gives a good account of his strengths as well as his weaknesses.
For those who do not want to read Ron Chernow's 800 page biography of Hamilton this 220 page version by Brookheiser will fit the bill. A brief history of Hamilton's extraordinary life is broken down into short chapters and covers the highlights of Hamilton's life. It doesn't go into great detail in any aspect but is a nice overview of Hamilton's life. For anyone wanting the full details of Hamilton's life they should read the above mentioned biography by Chernow.
This is the first biography I've read about Alexander Hamilton. With all of the news on financial crisis in Europe and the bad loans made by our own banks in 2008, I thought it would be interesting to read about the man who started our Financial System. Richard Brookhiser also writes some amazing articles for American History Magazine.
I actually liked the other Hamilton book I read better because it made the characters more alive. This book was more about facts, but I still learned interesting information about Hamilton. I learned about what was happening before Hanilton's plan, and how not being able to tax the states led the federal government to be unable to support their countries, and pay of debt that they owe to the other countries due to the revoluntionary war. I always thought that Hamilton, had the most experience ou...more
I just could not get into this book. I was disappointed as were most of the people in the book club. Too much politics and too many footnotes and not enough real personal stuff.
Brookhiser, of National Review fame, present a slim and survey look at Hamilton. Good quick read, at times comes across as necessarily academic.
I'm a little uncertain if this was the Hamilton book I read. I am pretty sure it is. I did not like the way it was written.
Diffcult to read
Too much information
More than you ever wanted to know about A Hamilton
Too much information
More than you ever wanted to know about A Hamilton
Enjoyable, concise - nice balance of the personal and the historical context.
I am currently reading this book so I cannot make a comment 'til I'm finished.
Hamilton is awesome! Not more to say.
Jul 25, 2011
Michael Taylor
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
american-history,
american-revolution
A readable biography, but does not deal with Hamilton's writings and political theory in a significant way.
Saw it at a discount bookstore for cheap...so I bought it. Didn't like it!
Good basic picture, easy read, interesting
Interesting, because of its interesting subject. However, it could have been better written, especially the opening chapters. Hamilton was a man of ideas and words, and these are not coherently portrayed until late in the work. Ultimately, though, it is of great interest, with particularized, insightful portraits of Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Monroe and others.
I did not finish this book, I only got about half way through so I cannot give it a fair review. There was a lot of lawmaking which went over my head and I lost interest. However, I did learn a lot, so nothing was lost.
Intriguing book. Hamilton is perhaps one of the most misunderstood of the Founding Fathers, and he is quite fascinating.
The book was a pretty good read; dry in some spots and lost focus in others. But overall the flow was nice, and the facts and background on one of the most brilliant minds in history was rather interesting.
The book was a pretty good read; dry in some spots and lost focus in others. But overall the flow was nice, and the facts and background on one of the most brilliant minds in history was rather interesting.
Brookhiser is a good author but not a particularly through writer. My main complaint with this is how it reads sort of like a political campaign biography. I got a lot more from Willard Sterne Randall's bio. Still, this is a good one day read for someone in need of knowing who & why of the guy on the $10.00 bill.
Brookhiser paints and interesting portrait of Alexander Hamilton, this novel mainly gives a brief biography and focuses on Hamilton as a lawyer, and how he later transforms government and the economy.
This is a quick read about Alexander Hamilton's life and thought. Brookhiser doesn't try to be objective, but interesting and informed. He succeeds.
very readable biography which i devoured years ago... don't remember much to critically review it other than i liked it. and flew through it.
i'm not a big hamilton fan, and this was written by a hamilton admirer. thus, i didn't really like the book.
Another fine biography from Richard Brookhiser - well worth reading.
Alexander Hamilton for president!...JK, that jerk was a plutocrat
A good introduction to an often underrated founder and patriot.
didn't finish -- d*** library
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