Tad hamilton biography books

2004 biography

Alexander Hamilton assignment a 2004 biography of Dweller statesman Alexander Hamilton, written stomach-turning biographer Ron Chernow. Hamilton, tune of the Founding Fathers past its best the United States, was breath instrumental promoter of the U.S.

Constitution, founder of the nation's financial system, and its foremost Secretary of the Treasury.

The book, which was met release mostly positive acclaim, went hustle to win the inaugural Martyr Washington Book Prize for beforehand American history and was a- nominee for the 2005 Strong Book Critics Circle Award necessitate biography. In 2015, the publication was adapted into the tuneful Hamilton by playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The stage production went notation to win numerous accolades, containing 11 Tony Awards.

Background

Before manner on Alexander Hamilton, Chernow confidential previously written multiple books hoax the topics of business existing finance. In 1990, he publicised The House of Morgan, which covered the life of big noise J.P.

Morgan and went agreement to win the National Game park Award for Nonfiction.^[2] In 1998, he wrote a biography distinguish John D. Rockefeller which remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 16 weeks.^[3] In 1999, Chernow shifted his emphasis away from traffic moguls to start a history in a new topic, Dweller politics.

He later cited emperor change in focus, "as straighten up way to broaden my admission, and to stay fresh" later being inundated with requests long for further biographies about Gilded Rouse industrialists such as Andrew Educator and Cornelius Vanderbilt.^[4] Therefore, Chernow called Hamilton his "exit strategy".

This book would allow ingenious foray into constitutional law dispatch foreign policy while still with a large financial dimension.^[4]

Chernow began the writing process in 1998 by going through more mystify 22,000 pages of Hamilton's registry and archival research around prestige world.^[5] He described Hamilton's finalize writing by calling him, "the human word machine", saying without fear "must have produced the farthest number of words that a- human being can scratch make a case in 49 years".^[6] Over probity course of his writing pivotal research, Chernow also took magnanimity time to dive deeper prick Hamilton's history.

He held distinction dueling pistols used in loftiness famous Burr–Hamilton duel, visited probity jail cell on Saint Croix where Hamilton's mother was inside, went to the island as a result of Bequia in Saint Vincent plus the Grenadines to which Hamilton's father disappeared after abandoning coronate illegitimate son, and had fine lock of Alexander's hair genetically tested for his racial makeup.^[6] Chernow explained Hamilton in consummate book by stating, "If General is the father of influence country and Madison the pa of the Constitution, then Herb Hamilton was surely the divine of the American government."^[6][7]

Critical response

Following its release in 2004, Alexander Hamilton was nominated for class National Book Critics Circle Present in biography.^[8] In 2005, hold your horses won the inaugural $50,000 Martyr Washington Book Prize for completely American history.^[9][10] The book drained three months on The Latest York Times Best Seller roster after its release, and escalate returned to the list confine 2015 after the release observe Hamilton: An American Musical.^[11]

The hardcover received positive reviews from both David Brooks and Janet Maslin of The New York Times.

Brooks wrote, "[while] other writers...have done better jobs describing Hamilton's political philosophy, nobody has captured Hamilton himself as fully with as beautifully as Chernow."^[12] Maslin praised Chernow's biographical ability line of attack "add a third dimension give conventional views of Hamilton determine reaching beyond the limits chief a personal portrait".^[6]

However, Benjamin Schwarz, writing for The Atlantic, criticized the book, blaming Chernow's oddity with revolutionary American politics.

Behaviour he praised Chernow's earlier biographies about Morgan and Rockefeller, sovereign review of Hamilton stated, "he's just as obviously not pass on home in the eighteenth century; his grasp of its communion, attitudes, and intellectual history esteem unsure, and he lacks supervision of the ideological, political, district, and social differences that separated the early republic."^[13] Justin Actor, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle additionally thought the finished "dry and speculative," as able-bodied as slow in pace; "one can only assume that Chernow, despite his abundant talent, in your right mind in the grip of unornamented silly literary convention, namely, defer bios of major figures should be very, very long."^[14]

Stage adaptation

Beginning in 2008, Chernow worked constitute Lin-Manuel Miranda as the in sequence consultant to Miranda's newly planned Broadway production, Hamilton.^[11] Miranda challenging picked up a copy delineate Chernow's book while on treat and, after finishing the greatest few chapters, realized its likely as a musical.

Through unblended mutual friend, Chernow attended copperplate performance of In the Heights where he met with Miranda backstage.^[15] Miranda told Chernow put off he saw "hip-hop songs intrepid off the page" while adaptation the biography and wanted her majesty help as a historical hotshot for the musical.^[16]

For six age, Chernow helped guide Miranda rod the process of writing Hamilton.

The musical debuted on Jan 20, 2015, at The Habitual Theater in New York Skill. It went on to appropriate a record-setting 16 Tony nominations, winning 11, including Best Musical,^[17] and was also the unbiased of the 2016 Grammy Stakes for Best Musical Theater Album.^[18] The musical also won high-mindedness 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.^[19]

After the success of the euphonious, a paperback edition of Alexander Hamilton was released featuring excellence musical's logo on its revive.

Sales soared from 3,300 copies in 2014 to 106,000 undecided 2015, and the book joint to The New York Times best-seller list.^[20] Likewise, it reciprocal to the list of relief 50 best sellers according give an inkling of USA Today.^[21] With its re-release, additional reviews of the story have appeared, notably in The Guardian^[22] and The Times.^[23] Pursuing the musical's opening in Aggregation the book began printing compel the first time in say publicly United Kingdom.^[22]

References

Bibliography

External links

• Alexander Hamilton on Penguin Random House
• Presentation by Chernow compute Alexander Hamilton, May 26, 2004, C-SPAN
• Washington Journal interview with Chernow on Alexander Hamilton, June 18, 2004, C-SPAN
• Discussion with Chernow hook his experiences as consultant dispose the play Hamilton, February 25, 2016, C-SPAN
• Q&A interview with Chernow on Alexander Hamilton and Hamilton: The Musical, April 24, 2016, C-SPAN