RON CHERNOW
ALEXANDER HAMILTON (2004)
Alexander Hamilton (born 1755 or 1757) was one of the Founding Fathers of the USA. During George Washingtons presidency he held the post of Secretary of the Treasury. After being orphaned as a child, Hamilton was brought up by a wealthy merchant. A prolific advoicate for independence from the British, he served as an artillery officer during the American Revolutionary War. As Secretary of the Treasury he arranged for the federal government to assume the states’ debts, founding the First Bank of the United States. It drew income from import tariffs and a whisky tax.
After resigning as Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton returned to his legal and business career, during which he played a key part in the ablition of the international slave trade. He campaigned vigorously against Aaron Burr when Burr ran for governor of New York in 1804, arguing that Burr was unworthy of the post. This led Burr to challenge Hamilton to a pistol duel during which Hamilton, who was only in his latse 40s, was tragically and fatally shot.
The Guardian described Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton as: 'A mammoth work of research that charted the course of Hamilton's dazzling career and the dark controversies that accompanied it'. The Times described it thus: 'An elegantly written, richly detailed account of Hamilton's tempestuous life'. Lin Manuel Miranda, creator of the Hamilton musical, wrote: 'That biography is incredible. It out-Dickenses Charles Dickens'.
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Ron Chernow is a leading American biographer and journalist. The subjects of his biographies include John D. Rockefeller, Alexander Haimilton and George Washington. He has also written accounts of the Morgan and Warburg banking families. He obtained degrees from Yale University and from Pembroke College, Cambridge.