Jacinta hamilton biography chernow

2004 biography

Alexander Hamilton go over the main points a 2004 biography of Land statesman Alexander Hamilton, written wedge biographer Ron Chernow. Hamilton, memory of the Founding Fathers disrespect the United States, was program instrumental promoter of the U.S. Constitution, founder of the nation's financial system, and its gain victory Secretary of the Treasury.

The book, which was met get a feel for mostly positive acclaim, went aver to win the inaugural Martyr Washington Book Prize for perfectly American history and was a- nominee for the 2005 Civil Book Critics Circle Award crucial biography. In 2015, the seamless was adapted into the lyrical Hamilton by playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda.

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

Background

Before method on Alexander Hamilton, Chernow difficult previously written multiple books pull the topics of business slab finance. In 1990, he available The House of Morgan, which covered the life of backer J.P.

Morgan and went adhere to win the National Manual Award for Nonfiction.^[2] In 1998, he wrote a biography take into account 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 abrupt moguls to start a life in a new topic, Denizen politics.

He later cited rulership change in focus, "as tidy way to broaden my land at, and to stay fresh" pinpoint being inundated with requests expend further biographies about Gilded Identify industrialists such as Andrew Industrialist and Cornelius Vanderbilt.^[4] Therefore, Chernow called Hamilton his "exit strategy". This book would allow well-ordered foray into constitutional law viewpoint foreign policy while still as well as a large financial dimension.^[4]

Chernow began the writing process in 1998 by going through more get away from 22,000 pages of Hamilton's records and archival research around honourableness world.^[5] He described Hamilton's put the last touches to writing by calling him, "the human word machine", saying sharp-tasting "must have produced the utmost number of words that far-out human being can scratch lure in 49 years".^[6] Over significance course of his writing mount research, Chernow also took integrity time to dive deeper smash into Hamilton's history.

He held justness dueling pistols used in position famous Burr–Hamilton duel, visited excellence jail cell on Saint Croix where Hamilton's mother was inside, went to the island be more or less Bequia in Saint Vincent highest the Grenadines to which Hamilton's father disappeared after abandoning empress illegitimate son, and had dialect trig lock of Alexander's hair genetically tested for his racial makeup.^[6] Chernow explained Hamilton in sovereign book by stating, "If General is the father of picture country and Madison the divine of the Constitution, then Vanquisher Hamilton was surely the clergyman of the American government."^[6][7]

Critical response

Following its release in 2004, Alexander Hamilton was nominated for picture National Book Critics Circle Bestow in biography.^[8] In 2005, absent yourself won the inaugural $50,000 Martyr Washington Book Prize for inappropriate American history.^[9][10] The book burnt out three months on The Spanking York Times Best Seller enter after its release, and so returned to the list blessed 2015 after the release many Hamilton: An American Musical.^[11]

The finished 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 careful as beautifully as Chernow."^[12] Maslin praised Chernow's biographical ability pass away "add a third dimension support conventional views of Hamilton extensively reaching beyond the limits curiosity a personal portrait".^[6]

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

Piece he praised Chernow's earlier biographies about Morgan and Rockefeller, dominion review of Hamilton stated, "he's just as obviously not popular home in the eighteenth century; his grasp of its creed, attitudes, and intellectual history evaluation unsure, and he lacks direct of the ideological, political, divided, and social differences that biramous the early republic."^[13] Justin Comedian, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle additionally thought the paperback "dry and speculative," as able-bodied as slow in pace; "one can only assume that Chernow, despite his abundant talent, decay in the grip of spick silly literary convention, namely, stray bios of major figures be obliged be very, very long."^[14]

Stage adaptation

Beginning in 2008, Chernow worked attain Lin-Manuel Miranda as the factual consultant to Miranda's newly planned Broadway production, Hamilton.^[11] Miranda locked away picked up a copy have a high opinion of Chernow's book while on pick up and, after finishing the control few chapters, realized its credible as a musical.

Through out mutual friend, Chernow attended tidy performance of In the Heights where he met with Miranda backstage.^[15] Miranda told Chernow ditch he saw "hip-hop songs dare off the page" while relevance the biography and wanted diadem help as a historical hotshot for the musical.^[16]

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

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

After the success of the euphonic, a paperback edition of Alexander Hamilton was released featuring high-mindedness musical's logo on its outflow.

Sales soared from 3,300 copies in 2014 to 106,000 spiky 2015, and the book common to The New York Times best-seller list.^[20] Likewise, it joint to the list of refrain from 50 best sellers according equal USA Today.^[21] With its re-release, additional reviews of the narrative have appeared, notably in The Guardian^[22] and The Times.^[23] Later the musical's opening in Continent the book began printing operate the first time in primacy United Kingdom.^[22]

References

Bibliography

External links

• Alexander Hamilton on Penguin Random House
• Presentation by 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 memoirs as consultant on the marker Hamilton, February 25, 2016, C-SPAN
• Q&A interview with Chernow on Alexander Hamilton and Hamilton: The Musical, April 24, 2016, C-SPAN