Summary, Analysis, and Review of Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton PLEASE NOTE: This is a key takeaways and analysis of the book and NOT the original book. Start Publishing Notes' Summary, Analysis, and Review of Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton includes a summary of the book, review, analysis & key takeaways, and a detailed About the Author section.

Preview: Ron Chernow details the life of Alexander Hamilton, the wunderkind of the Founding Fathers, the ultimate outsider-turned-insider and subsequent poster child for both modern-day liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans, depending on how they interpret his various economic and political theories. And truly, to understand how Hamilton arrived at those theories - his idea for a central bank, his belief in a strong executive branch and an independent judiciary, his abolitionist leanings, among others - one needs to see how his surroundings and his psychology impacted his thinking and incessant writing, starting at a very young age. Hamilton's origin story, as it were, begins in the Caribbean, on the islands of Nevis and St. Croix, where he was born and raised under inauspicious circumstances, which make it all the more impressive that he was able to not only survive but surpass his situation. Due to a complicated set of circumstances, his parents were not able to wed, although they cohabited for a time and had a common-law marriage of sorts. Hamilton and his brother, by the standards of the time, were considered illegitimate children, "the subject of most humiliating criticism", as he put it.

Michael Gilboe

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