The personal life of Alexander Hamilton, an illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean who rose to become George Washington's aide-de-camp and the first Treasury Secretary of the United States, is captured in a definitive biography by the National Book Award-winning author of The House of Morgan. Reprint. A New York Times Bestseller, and the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton! Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation. In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, Ron Chernow tells the riveting story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America. According to historian Joseph Ellis, Alexander Hamilton is a robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all. Few figures in American history have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Alexander Hamilton. Chernow's biography gives Hamilton his due and sets the record straight, deftly illustrating that the political and economic greatness of today's America is the result of Hamilton's countless sacrifices to champion ideas that were often wildly disputed during his time. To repudiate his legacy, Chernow writes, is, in many ways, to repudiate the modern world. Chernow here recounts Hamilton's turbulent life: an illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean, he came out of nowhere to take America by storm, rising to become George Washington's aide-de-camp in the Continental Army, coauthoring The Federalist Papers, founding the Bank of New York, leading the Federalist Party, and becoming the first Treasury Secretary of the United States.Historians have long told the story of America's birth as the triumph of Jefferson's democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power. His is a Hamilton far more human than we've encountered before-from his shame about his birth to his fiery aspirations, from his intimate relationships with childhood friends to his titanic feuds with Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Monroe, and Burr, and from his highly public affair with Maria Reynolds to his loving marriage to his loyal wife Eliza. And never before has there been a more vivid account of Hamilton's famous and mysterious death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July of 1804. Chernow's biography is not just a portrait of Hamilton, but the story of America's birth seen through its most central figure. At a critical time to look back to our roots, Alexander Hamilton will remind readers of the purpose of our institutions and our heritage as Americans. Nobody has captured Hamilton better than Chernow -The New York Times Book Review Ron Chernow's other biographies include: Grant, Washington, and Titan. Author's Note v PROLOGUE: The Oldest Revolutionary War Widow 1(6) ONE: The Castaways 7(22) TWO: Hurricane 29(12) THREE: The Collegian 41(21) FOUR: The Pen and the Sword 62(21) FIVE: The Little Lion 83(24) SIX: A Frenzy of Valor 107(19) SEVEN: The Lovesick Colonel 126(28) EIGHT: Glory 154(13) NINE: Raging Billows 167(20) TEN: A Grave, Silent, Strange Sort of Animal 187(16) ELEVEN: Ghosts 203(16) TWELVE: August and Respectable Assembly 219(24) THIRTEEN: Publius 243(27) FOURTEEN: Putting the Machine in Motion 270(21) FIFTEEN: Villainous Business 291(19) SIXTEEN: Dr. Pangloss 310(22) SEVENTEEN: The First Town in America 332(12) EIGHTEEN: Of Avarice and Enterprise 344(18) NINETEEN: City of the Future 362(27) TWENTY: Corrupt Squadrons 389(20) TWENTY-ONE: Exposure 409(10) TWENTY-TWO: Stabbed in the Dark 419(12) TWENTY-THREE: Citizen Genet 431(17) TWENTY-FOUR: A Disagreeable Trade 448(10) TWENTY-FIVE: Seas of Blood 458(10) TWENTY-SIX: The Wicked Insurgents of the West 468(14) TWENTY-SEVEN: Sugar Plums and Toys 482(19) TWENTY-EIGHT: Spare Cassius 501(16) TWENTY-NINE: The Man in the Glass Bubble 517(9) THIRTY: Flying Too Near the Sun 526(20) THIRTY-ONE: An Instrument of Hell 546(23) THIRTY-TWO: Reign of Witches 569(11) THIRTY-THREE: Works Godly and Ungodly 580(12) THIRTY-FOUR: In an Evil Hour 592(11) THIRTY-FIVE: Gusts of Passion 603(16) THIRTY-SIX: In a Very Belligerent Humor 619(11) THIRTY-SEVEN: Deadlock 630(10) THIRTY-EIGHT: A World Full of Folly 640(17) THIRTY-NINE: Pamphlet Wars 657(8) FORTY: The Price of Truth 665(15) FORTY-ONE: A Despicable Opinion 680(15) FORTY-TWO: Fatal Errand 695(15) FORTY-THREE: The Melting Scene 710(13) EPILOGUE: Eliza 723(10) Acknowledgments 733(6) Notes 739(41) Bibliography 780(1) Selected Books, Pamphlets, and Dissertations 780(6) Selected Articles 786(5) Index 791