Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Alexander Hamilton may be the least known among our country's founding fathers. The two familiar facts of his reputation may be his presence on the ten dollar bill and the sad fact that he perished in a famous duel in 1804. Hamilton was born out of wedlock in the West Indies. There is uncertainty as to the identity of his father. Penniless, he migrated to New York, alone, in his mid-teens. Yet by the age of twenty-two he was the chief of staff to Washington during the American Revolution. He became an essential interpreter and promoter of the US Constitution in the first years of the republic. He was not only founder of the Federalist Party, the US Coast Guard and the New York Post, but as the first Treasury Secretary he implemented financial reforms and programs that secured the future of his young country.

Ron Chernow's biography is considered by many to be the best account of Hamilton's life. It is long and dense but, in the words of one critic, it is that happy rarity, "a popular biography that should also delight scholars." Hamilton's brilliance and foresight shine with dazzling effect in Chernow's storytelling and analyses. If we think that politics and the press are poisoned in our own time, we learn that the modern era may pale beside the vitriol of early America. It was not just reputations that were contested in such contentious times. The founding fathers argued over the direction of the country. There were fundamental differences over executive authority, the implied clause in the constitution, and federal precedence over states' rights  In short time, the two party system would emerge and dominate the politics of American culture. It is this background that leads to the fatal encounter between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton in July of 1804.

In 2015, Chernow's biography became the inspiration for Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda's blockbuster hip hop musical. Miranda read the book while on vacation in 2008. Seven years later, 700 people waited in line for lottery tickets for the opening night preview of his musical on Hamilton's life. While they waited they could have read the book.