Alexander Hamilton - by Willard Sterne Randall (Paperback)

About the Book

Orphaned at thirteen and apprenticed in a counting house, the precocious Hamilton learned principles of business that helped him create the American financial system and invent the modern corporation. But first the staunch, intrepid Hamilton served in the American Revolution, acting as General Washington's spymaster. Forging a successful legal career, Hamilton coauthored the Federalist Papers and plunged into politics. Irresistibly attractive to women, he was a man of many gifts, but he could be arrogant and was, at times, a poor judge of character.

In this meticulously researched, illuminating, and lively account, Willard Sterne Randall mines the latest scholarship to provide a new perspective on Alexander Hamilton, his illegitimate birth, little-known military activities, political and diplomatic intrigues, and sometimes scandalous private life.

Book Synopsis

"Hamilton's turbulent life, the dramatic birth of a nation, all against the richly evoked gritty background of the 18th century--Randall's book is propelled with the page-turning intensity of an epic novel." -- Ronald Blumer, Peabody Award-winning writer

A new reissue of this important biography of Alexander Hamilton--arguably one of the most brilliant and complex of our nation's founders.

From his less than auspicious start in 1755 on the Caribbean island of Nevis, to his unhappy fate in 1804 in Weehawken, New Jersey, at the hands of his enemy Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton's short life left a huge legacy.

Orphaned at eleven and apprenticed to a counting house, Hamilton learned the principles of business that helped him, as the first Secretary of the Treasury, create the American banking system and invent the modern corporation. He served in the American Revolution, primarily as aide-de-camp to General Washington, and subsequently developed a successful legal career, co-wrote The Federalist Papers, and built a life in politics. Told in a highly readable style, Alexander Hamilton presents Hamilton's contributions to America, and what they mean today.

From the Back Cover

From his less than auspicious start in 1755 on the Caribbean Island of Nevis to his untimely death in a duel with his old enemy Aaron Burr in 1804, Alexander Hamilton, despite his short life, left a huge legacy.

Orphaned at thirteen and apprenticed in a counting house, Hamilton learned principles of business that helped him create the American financial system and invent the modern corporation. But first the staunch, intrepid Hamilton served in the American Revolution, acting as General Washington's spymaster. Forging a successful legal career, Hamilton coauthored the Federalist Papers and plunged into politics. Irresistibly attractive, he was a man of many gifts, but he could be arrogant and at times a poor judge of character.

In this meticulously researched, illuminating, and lively account, Willard Sterne Randall explores Hamilton's life--his illegitimate birth, little-known military activities, political and diplomatic intrigues, and scandalous affairs--and its indelible impact on modern America.

Review Quotes

"Readable and worthy." - Washington Post

"The life of Alexander Hamilton, vividly recreated. . . a fine biography." - Boston Globe

"An arresting story told with wit, intelligence, and empathy." - Gale E. Christianson, Biographer

"Excellent...brings alive the complex combination of unbounded ambition and sense of duty that made Mr. Hamilton an overachiever in an age of great individuals." - New York Law Journal Magazine

"Willard Randall has taken on one of the really difficult figures in American history and captured him with enviable narrative skill. This is biographical excellence--solid, first rate work." - William H. Hallahan, author of The Day the American Revolution Began

"A fresh look at the many-faceted career of one of the Founding Fathers." - BookPage

"Randall excels in describing the conflicts Hamilton created and weathered as a soldier, politician and lawyer; his capacity for making enemies; and the peaks and valleys of his tumultuous personal and professional life." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Assiduously researched and appealingly written, Randall's Alexander Hamilton: A Life is an informative and insightful portrait of a highly complex personality." - Houston Chronicle

"Hamilton's turbulent life, the dramatic birth of a nation, all against the richly evoked gritty background of the 18th century--Randall's book is propelled with the page-turning intensity of an epic novel." - Ronald Blumer, Peabody Award-winning writer

"If you are interested in the founding father who made the United States functional, you cannot do better than this lively, entertaining and informative book. Will Randall, a master biographer and renown historian, uses his considerable skills to bring Alexander Hamilton and his turbulent times to life." - Rod Paschall, Editor MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History

"A sturdy and readable life, in company with Randall's other portraits of the Revolutionary generation." - Kirkus Reviews

"This richly detailed, deeply sympathetic biography gives us a Hamilton we're compelled to know--hungry, human, brilliant and magnificant." - Virginia Scharff, author of Twenty Thousand Roads

"An arresting story told with wit, intelligence, and empathy. Randall has succeeded in getting under the skin of citizen Hamilton, who read the contours of America's future better than any other figure of his extraordinary generation." - Gale E. Christianson, Biographer

"Engaging...vivid." - Publishers Weekly