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thebooknerdscorner's review against another edition
2.0
Alexander Hamilton is one of the most interesting figures in American history, yet I found this book to be relatively boring. I mean, I wasn't expecting it to be Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton," but come on.
This graphic novel outlines some of the most important parts of Hamilton's life, yet I feel that it presented them in the weirdest way possible. In my opinion, this graphic novel read like a wandering history book that told me random bits of history in almost chronological order. Something else that I found weird was for this being a graphic biography, I feel there were gigantic sections of the book in which Hamilton just disappeared and I didn't even know how he fit into the story. I think it would have made more sense to stick closer to Hamilton and everything that affected him personally rather than try to give a fuller picture of the American Revolution as a whole. The book began to pick up a bit more once it hit the Reynold's affair and the duel, but by that point the book was almost over and it didn't get enough pity points to redeem it.
I think what disappointed me the most was how little I learned about Hamilton from reading this. I am in no way an expert on Alexander Hamilton, yet I feel I was aware of most of the things covered in this book. One thing that I found really interesting were the eye witness accounts of people who witnessed the Burr-Hamilton duel. I found it super interesting to see the differentiating opinions on what actual went down, and I appreciate that this novel left some of these moments where no one is quite sure what actually happened up to interpretation.
Overall, "Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father" was a bit wordy, dense, and hard for me to palate. It wasn't the worst book in the world, it just didn't keep me very interested either, which surprised me due to the subject matter. I'm sure this book could serve as a decent introduction to Hamilton if you are a teen who has never heard of him, but I feel in this day and age, that is rather unlikely. I'm not saying that the "Hamilton" musical is the only way to learn about Hamilton, but I just feel that this book is super lackluster compared to anything else I've ever experienced about Hamilton.
This graphic novel outlines some of the most important parts of Hamilton's life, yet I feel that it presented them in the weirdest way possible. In my opinion, this graphic novel read like a wandering history book that told me random bits of history in almost chronological order. Something else that I found weird was for this being a graphic biography, I feel there were gigantic sections of the book in which Hamilton just disappeared and I didn't even know how he fit into the story. I think it would have made more sense to stick closer to Hamilton and everything that affected him personally rather than try to give a fuller picture of the American Revolution as a whole. The book began to pick up a bit more once it hit the Reynold's affair and the duel, but by that point the book was almost over and it didn't get enough pity points to redeem it.
I think what disappointed me the most was how little I learned about Hamilton from reading this. I am in no way an expert on Alexander Hamilton, yet I feel I was aware of most of the things covered in this book. One thing that I found really interesting were the eye witness accounts of people who witnessed the Burr-Hamilton duel. I found it super interesting to see the differentiating opinions on what actual went down, and I appreciate that this novel left some of these moments where no one is quite sure what actually happened up to interpretation.
Overall, "Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father" was a bit wordy, dense, and hard for me to palate. It wasn't the worst book in the world, it just didn't keep me very interested either, which surprised me due to the subject matter. I'm sure this book could serve as a decent introduction to Hamilton if you are a teen who has never heard of him, but I feel in this day and age, that is rather unlikely. I'm not saying that the "Hamilton" musical is the only way to learn about Hamilton, but I just feel that this book is super lackluster compared to anything else I've ever experienced about Hamilton.
labunnywtf's review against another edition
2.0
Received via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
I need a giant glass of water after finishing this.
I had high hopes for this graphic novel. Alexander Hamilton was a heavily forgotten figure in history before Lin Manuel-Miranda got his hands on him. Now people of all ages know his name, know what he overcame, know he re-wrote the...okay, I'll stop.
And his story IS interesting, from low birth to tragic end, with loads of war and scandal in between. And I'm terribly uninformed about my own country's history. Why? Because history is boring, and dry. It can be VERY interesting and informative, but if you give it to me in dusty tome form, I'm going to yawn and go back to reading fantasy and dystopia.
This is a comic book. This is going to be FANTASTIC.
Enter the GIANT WALLS O'TEXT.
Seriously, this is a terrible read simply because of the giant walls of text. Isn't the point of a comic that the story can be told without those?
There is a lot of tiny pieces of trivia buried in those textual anvils, I will say. But slogging through in order to get there is just no bueno. Not to mention, if Alexander Hamilton is a forgotten founding father, why should we be expected to process hundreds of names of lesser known politicians, war heroes, and random people?
I think this comic has a place, in history classrooms around the states. But it's not a "for fun" read, which is what I picked it up for.
I need a giant glass of water after finishing this.
I had high hopes for this graphic novel. Alexander Hamilton was a heavily forgotten figure in history before Lin Manuel-Miranda got his hands on him. Now people of all ages know his name, know what he overcame, know he re-wrote the...okay, I'll stop.
And his story IS interesting, from low birth to tragic end, with loads of war and scandal in between. And I'm terribly uninformed about my own country's history. Why? Because history is boring, and dry. It can be VERY interesting and informative, but if you give it to me in dusty tome form, I'm going to yawn and go back to reading fantasy and dystopia.
This is a comic book. This is going to be FANTASTIC.
Enter the GIANT WALLS O'TEXT.
Seriously, this is a terrible read simply because of the giant walls of text. Isn't the point of a comic that the story can be told without those?
There is a lot of tiny pieces of trivia buried in those textual anvils, I will say. But slogging through in order to get there is just no bueno. Not to mention, if Alexander Hamilton is a forgotten founding father, why should we be expected to process hundreds of names of lesser known politicians, war heroes, and random people?
I think this comic has a place, in history classrooms around the states. But it's not a "for fun" read, which is what I picked it up for.
geekwayne's review against another edition
4.0
'Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father' by Jonathan Hennessey with art by Justin Greenwood, takes an historical figure that is currently fashionable and tells his story in a decent way.
Thanks to the musical "Hamilton," Alexander Hamilton's life has become a trendy property. You can read pretty extensive biography that the musical uses as source material, or you can try this graphic novel, which provides more detail than the musical does.
Starting with his humble beginnings and moving on through the Revolutionary War and his role in shaping the government, this graphic novel covers a lot of ground in less than 200 pages. The writing is pretty dense and includes quotes from the players. The art gives the story color and movement and feeling. Perhaps if the graphic novel suffers anything, it's that events are sometimes overwrought. Perhaps they were at the times, but the book has the feel of one emotional battle after another. Perhaps that is just a result of the medium used to tell the story.
I liked the approach this graphic novel took by giving weight to the story and providing enough context of events surrounding things. I'm glad I got a chance to read this.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Ten Speed Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
Thanks to the musical "Hamilton," Alexander Hamilton's life has become a trendy property. You can read pretty extensive biography that the musical uses as source material, or you can try this graphic novel, which provides more detail than the musical does.
Starting with his humble beginnings and moving on through the Revolutionary War and his role in shaping the government, this graphic novel covers a lot of ground in less than 200 pages. The writing is pretty dense and includes quotes from the players. The art gives the story color and movement and feeling. Perhaps if the graphic novel suffers anything, it's that events are sometimes overwrought. Perhaps they were at the times, but the book has the feel of one emotional battle after another. Perhaps that is just a result of the medium used to tell the story.
I liked the approach this graphic novel took by giving weight to the story and providing enough context of events surrounding things. I'm glad I got a chance to read this.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Ten Speed Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
zaczytaga's review against another edition
2.0
2/5⭐️
Miałam nadzieję, że więcej się dowiem z tej powieści graficznej o Hamiltonie, a mam wrażenie, że żaden temat nie został pogłębiony i dobrze przedstawiony. Ale nie ukrywam też, że mam małe doświadczenie z komiksami. Niemniej, cieszę się, że przeczytałam.
EDIT po niecałym roku: absolutnie nic nie pamiętam z tego komiksu, równie dobrze mogłam go nie czytać, więc obniżam ocenę do 2 gwiazdek, bo nie dostałam tego, czego oczekiwałam.
Miałam nadzieję, że więcej się dowiem z tej powieści graficznej o Hamiltonie, a mam wrażenie, że żaden temat nie został pogłębiony i dobrze przedstawiony. Ale nie ukrywam też, że mam małe doświadczenie z komiksami. Niemniej, cieszę się, że przeczytałam.
EDIT po niecałym roku: absolutnie nic nie pamiętam z tego komiksu, równie dobrze mogłam go nie czytać, więc obniżam ocenę do 2 gwiazdek, bo nie dostałam tego, czego oczekiwałam.
jennifermreads's review against another edition
February 2021: DNF at 26 pages. Maybe I didn’t give it enough pages but when my eyes were glazing, I found myself looping back to re-read to catch who-was-who & what-was-what, found it hard to comprehend the timeline (wow…we started with a quote about the fall of Adam? Talk about going back far!), and Benedict Arnold & Aaron Burr were introduced before the star of the show? Nope. I have too much on my TBR to struggle through a book. {And, no, I haven’t seen the musical. I’m probably one of the last one the planet. But I haven’t seen it.}
imdunn's review against another edition
4.0
While I personally didn't enjoy this book very much, I was able to recognize that it was well written. It was very historically accurate, and I almost felt like I was reading a textbook with pictures at times. I have never been much of a non-fiction reader, so it's understandable that this book wasn't my favorite, but I believe that it served its purpose.
sarahelainereads's review against another edition
3.0
As a lover of Hamilton, the Broadway musical (because, hello, who doesn't love it??) I was completely on board with this book from the moment I laid eyes on it! And boy, did I enjoy it! Whether you're a fellow Hamiltrash member or you just love history, I'm sure you'll enjoy this book!
The visuals were very well done and the story of Alexander Hamilton was told very creatively on these colorful pages. Sometimes, all of the pictures became just a tad overwhelming; there are a lot of images jammed on to one page. But if you want to spruce up your reading and go for a bit of comic book style, this is the book for you.
Would recommend to: people who enjoy history, illustrations, and comics.
The visuals were very well done and the story of Alexander Hamilton was told very creatively on these colorful pages. Sometimes, all of the pictures became just a tad overwhelming; there are a lot of images jammed on to one page. But if you want to spruce up your reading and go for a bit of comic book style, this is the book for you.
Would recommend to: people who enjoy history, illustrations, and comics.
amysutton's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, this was a really nice biography that kind of expanded into the political content from the musical while not quite going into all of the details of the 800 page Chernow biography. Like the book, this biography focuses more on the American Revolution and Continental Congress proceedings which I really like. I love the musical, but if you’re looking for less about Hamilton’s personal affairs and more about his existence in the grand scheme of the creation of our country, then this is definitely a great read.
Positives and Negatives:
+ I love how they used actual quotes from pamphlets and letters to piece together dialogue.
+ The information in this was great! At times it felt like they had copied word for word from Chernow…. But I think that could be a good thing? Assuming they had permission.
+ I really liked how information was given about the state of affairs in the world. Even though this was a biography on Hamilton, I learned a lot about the other countries fighting in the Revolution.
+ The focus on the political negotiations after the war was very detailed. That is one of the most fascinating time periods to me, so I loved getting to revisit all of the strategy behind the conventions.
- The art was kind of awful. The scenery, backdrops, layouts, and coloring were all very nicely done, but the actual illustrations were sloppy and many times characters didn’t look the same from frame to frame. At one point I felt like a detective - “Well, Laurens had a ponytail in the last frame so I guess this is a close up ofa potato Laurens?”.
- The pacing at the end was a bit abrupt.
I was given an ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Positives and Negatives:
+ I love how they used actual quotes from pamphlets and letters to piece together dialogue.
+ The information in this was great! At times it felt like they had copied word for word from Chernow…. But I think that could be a good thing? Assuming they had permission.
+ I really liked how information was given about the state of affairs in the world. Even though this was a biography on Hamilton, I learned a lot about the other countries fighting in the Revolution.
+ The focus on the political negotiations after the war was very detailed. That is one of the most fascinating time periods to me, so I loved getting to revisit all of the strategy behind the conventions.
- The art was kind of awful. The scenery, backdrops, layouts, and coloring were all very nicely done, but the actual illustrations were sloppy and many times characters didn’t look the same from frame to frame. At one point I felt like a detective - “Well, Laurens had a ponytail in the last frame so I guess this is a close up of
- The pacing at the end was a bit abrupt.
I was given an ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.