A review by tidoublegarrr
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

5.0

Having admittedly not read a biography as involved as this one before, I wanted Chernow's Alexander Hamilton for Christmas after becoming, of course, unabashedly obsessed with the musical and finding out that Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote it based off this book (after taking it on vacation for a "light read"). And no wonder he was inspired by it: Truth is stranger than fiction for Hamilton's extraordinary life, which was filled with drama from the beginning to the end; that he was probably a true genius and the unsung creator of many parts of our government and of the national banking system; that he was a gifted writer and orator; that his fatal flaw was being his own worst enemy. His list of achievements is staggering. The book does tend to glamorize him (and villainize Jefferson) but also like that it didn't gloss over either of their mistakes. Hamilton's relationship with Washington was nuanced and I enjoyed finding out more about how their political lives were intertwined and how they kept each other in check. I thought the book would be dry in parts but it wasn't. It also was somewhat therapeutic for me to read it after the tumultuous election and start to the year, to go back to what the Founders intended for the U.S. and the passion that drove them. One thing that Chernow makes repeatedly clear is that Hamilton always had the country's best interests at heart and worked tirelessly to contribute to the survival and success of the young nation. And yes, I did think of each of the songs from the musical when I got to those parts of the books. Miranda took a lot of lines directly from historical quotes, and you can tell how the set list comes from the chapter layout. It's also insightful to consider what he chose to highlight and leave out. Reading it added a lot of depth to the musical for me. Chernow deserves credit though for writing a moving and riveting biography which deftly balances Hamilton's personal and political life in all 731 pages.