Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Ron Chernow, whom The New York Times has called “ as elegant an architect of monumental histories as we’ve seen in decades,” brings to life the man who was the principal designer of the federal government, the catalyst for the emergence of the two-party system, the patron saint of Wall Street, and the object of ardent idolatry as well as vehement loathing by his peers. Alexander Hamilton was arguably the most important figure in American history who never attained the presidency, but he had a far more lasting impact than many who did. An illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean, Hamilton rose with stunning speed to become George Washington’s aide-de-camp, a battlefield hero, a member of the Constitutional Convention, the leading author of The Federalist Papers, and head of the Federalist Party. As the first treasury secretary, he forged America’s tax and budget systems, Customs Service, Coast Guard, and central bank. Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton offers the whole sweep of Hamilton’s turbulent life: his exotic, brutal upbringing; his brilliant military, legal, and financial exploits; his titanic feuds with Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and Monroe; his enlightened abolitionism; and his famous death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July, 1804.

Alexander Hamilton figured prominently in almost every major political episode of late eighteenth-century America. He was so pivotal in the nation’s early years that his absorbing saga, rendered in Chernow’s vivid prose, offers a riveting account of America’s founding era from the Revolutionary War to the formation of the first federal government and beyond.

Following its release in 2004, Alexander Hamilton was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. In 2005, it won the inaugural George Washington Book Prize for early American history. The book spent three months on The New York Times Best Seller list after its release, and then returned to the list in 2015 after the release of the hit Broadway play, Hamilton: An American Musical, which was based on the book. The musical received a record 16 Tony nominations, winning 11 awards, including Best Musical.

Gryphon Editions is proud to present this famous Alexander Hamilton biography as a beautiful leather-bound edition to be treasured.