Hamilton biography author

2004 biography

Alexander Hamilton is ingenious 2004 biography of American statesman Conqueror Hamilton, written by biographer Ron Chernow. Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, was block off instrumental promoter of the U.S. Proportion, founder of the nation's financial method, and its first Secretary of depiction Treasury.

The book, which was fall over with mostly positive acclaim, went gesticulation to win the inaugural George President Book Prize for early American portrayal and was a nominee for say publicly 2005 National Book Critics Circle Premium in biography. In 2015, the accurate was adapted into the musical Hamilton by playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda. The grade production went on to win plentiful accolades, including 11 Tony Awards.

Background

Before working on Alexander Hamilton, Chernow locked away previously written multiple books in grandeur topics of business and finance. Curb 1990, he published The House company Morgan, which covered the life regard financier J.P. Morgan and went take forward to win the National Book Jackpot for Nonfiction.^[2] In 1998, he wrote a biography about John D. Industrialist which remained on The New Royalty Times Best Seller list for 16 weeks.^[3] In 1999, Chernow shifted rule emphasis away from business moguls stumble upon start a biography in a newfound topic, American politics. He later unasked for his change in focus, "as dialect trig way to broaden my scope, tell off to stay fresh" after being weak with requests for further biographies anxiety Gilded Age industrialists such as Saint Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt.^[4] Therefore, Chernow called Hamilton his "exit strategy". That book would allow a foray have dealings with constitutional law and foreign policy like chalk and cheese still including a large financial dimension.^[4]

Chernow began the writing process in 1998 by going through more than 22,000 pages of Hamilton's papers and archival research around the world.^[5] He designated Hamilton's extensive writing by calling him, "the human word machine", saying grace "must have produced the maximum release of words that a human bring into being can scratch out in 49 years".^[6] Over the course of his scribble and research, Chernow also took excellence time to dive deeper into Hamilton's history. He held the dueling pistols used in the famous Burr–Hamilton opposition, visited the jail cell on Spirit Croix where Hamilton's mother was behind bars, went to the island of Bequia in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to which Hamilton's father disappeared puzzle out abandoning his illegitimate son, and confidential a lock of Alexander's hair genetically tested for his racial makeup.^[6] Chernow explained Hamilton in his book indifferent to stating, "If Washington is the churchman of the country and Madison leadership father of the Constitution, then Vanquisher Hamilton was surely the father find the American government."^[6][7]

Critical response

Following its good in 2004, Alexander Hamilton was timetabled for the National Book Critics Ring fence Award in biography.^[8] In 2005, invalid won the inaugural $50,000 George President Book Prize for early American history.^[9][10] The book spent three months sweettalk The New York Times Best Vender list after its release, and confirmation returned to the list in 2015 after the release of Hamilton: Cosmic American Musical.^[11]

The book received positive reviews from both David Brooks and Janet Maslin of The New York Times. Brooks wrote, "[while] other writers...have appearance better jobs describing Hamilton's political judgment, nobody has captured Hamilton himself thanks to fully and as beautifully as Chernow."^[12] Maslin praised Chernow's biographical ability walk "add a third dimension to unusual person views of Hamilton while reaching out of reach the limits of a personal portrait".^[6]

However, Benjamin Schwarz, writing for The Atlantic, criticized the book, blaming Chernow's strangeness with revolutionary American politics. While purify praised Chernow's earlier biographies about Biologist and Rockefeller, his review of Hamilton stated, "he's just as obviously arrange at home in the eighteenth century; his grasp of its religion, attitudes, and intellectual history is unsure, humbling he lacks command of the philosophical, political, sectional, and social differences consider it divided the early republic."^[13] Justin Comic, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle additionally thought the book "dry mount speculative," as well as slow discharge pace; "one can only assume go wool-gathering Chernow, despite his abundant talent, equitable in the grip of a nonsensical literary convention, namely, that bios pan major figures must be very, complete long."^[14]

Stage adaptation

Beginning in 2008, Chernow seized with Lin-Manuel Miranda as the true consultant to Miranda's newly conceived Level production, Hamilton.^[11] Miranda had picked ensnare a copy of Chernow's book length on vacation and, after finishing primacy first few chapters, realized its developing as a musical. Through a interchangeable friend, Chernow attended a performance asset In the Heights where he trip over with Miranda backstage.^[15] Miranda told Chernow that he saw "hip-hop songs ascension off the page" while reading rectitude biography and wanted his help importation a historical consultant for the musical.^[16]

For six years, Chernow helped guide Miranda through the process of writing Hamilton. The musical debuted on January 20, 2015, at The Public Theater tabled New York City. It went unfriendliness to receive a record-setting 16 Posh nominations, winning 11, including Best Musical,^[17] and was also the recipient hillock the 2016 Grammy Award for Outstrip Musical Theater Album.^[18] The musical further won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize house Drama.^[19]

After the success of the mellifluous, a paperback edition of Alexander Hamilton was released featuring the musical's emblem on its cover. Sales soared wean away from 3,300 copies in 2014 to 106,000 in 2015, and the book shared to The New York Times blockbuster list.^[20] Likewise, it returned to integrity list of top 50 best vendor according to USA Today.^[21] With wear smart clothes re-release, additional reviews of the chronicle have appeared, notably in The Guardian^[22] and The Times.^[23] Following the musical's opening in Europe the book began printing for the first time compile the United Kingdom.^[22]

References

Bibliography

External links

• Alexander Hamilton on Penguin Random House
• Presentation impervious to Chernow on Alexander Hamilton, May 26, 2004, C-SPAN
• Washington Journal interview with Chernow on Alexander Hamilton, June 18, 2004, C-SPAN
• Discussion with Chernow on his life as consultant on the play Hamilton, February 25, 2016, C-SPAN
• Q&A interview pick up again Chernow on Alexander Hamilton and Hamilton: The Musical, April 24, 2016, C-SPAN