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Ron Chernow, acclaimed biographer, wrote a compelling biography of Alexander Hamilton, one of the most brilliant and important men in early America. It is the story of one who shaped an emerging nation and set it on a course to greatness. Chernow writes a detailed and exciting account of the man and his times. He takes to task Hamilton’s political opponents, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and of course, Aaron Burr.
Synopsis
Alexander Hamilton was born out of wedlock on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean to an already married woman and the fourth son of a Scottish lord, who subsequently abandoned the family. The mother moved to St Croix and died there, leaving Hamilton a destitute orphan. Barely a teenager, he took a job as a clerk at a shipping firm. He wrote a letter about a devastating hurricane that had struck the island on August 31, 1772, and it was subsequently published in a local newspaper. “It does seem wonderous that a seventeen-year-old self-educated clerk could write with such verve and gusto. Clearly, Hamilton was highly literate and already had a considerable fund of verbal riches.” (Chernow p 37)
The letter literally made Hamilton’s future; it so impressed the denizens of the island that they took up a fund to send him to North America for an education. He eventually matriculated in King’s College…