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This fast-paced, meticulously researched novel dramatizes lesser-known episodes of American history to reveal the "real" Alexander Hamilton who, despite his famed intellect, was blind to his fatal flaw. For two centuries historians have theorized that Hamilton was either suicidal or hypersensitive about honor when he accepted Aaron Burr's challenge, but neither theory squares with Hamilton's character. Not only had he never fought a duel, but Burr was held in such low esteem by 1804, Hamilton could easily have ignored him. Why, then, did he go? The novel opens in 1801 after Hamilton has completed his herculean work as a soldier, Treasury secretary and Federalist leader. Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans are in power. Hamilton's 19-year-old son Philip is mortally wounded in a duel, and he dies in his parents' arms, causing his sister a permanent psychotic break. Hamilton retires from politics to focus on his family. Two years later, Jefferson buys the Louisiana Territory. Irate New England Federalists plot to secede from the union and secretly pledge to support Burr for governor if he will bring New York into their Northern Confederacy. Hamilton believes he alone can save the union, so he ignores his wife's warnings, helps defeat Burr and re-emerges as the Federalist leader and possible presidential candidate in '08. Thoroughly discredited, outraged and broke, Burr thinks a duel will restore his political stature, so he challenges Hamilton on the flimsiest of pretexts. With nothing to gain and everything to lose, Hamilton accepts. On the surface, his decision makes no sense, but author Jack Casey believes a deep emotional wound compelled Hamilton to attend the duel, and he wrote Hamilton's Choice to prove it. After graduating cum laude from Yale ('72, exceptional distinction in English literature), Casey followed his love of American history to write historical novels with strong political themes. He was so inspired researching Hamilton's life in 1982 that he embarked on a career in law and politics in Albany, NY. For three decades he watched politicians ruin their lives as unbridled ego brought down leaders like Spitzer, Silver, Skelos and Schneiderman. Hamilton's Choice, his best work by far, opens with the inciting incident of Philip's death, and proceeds through progressively more intense turning points to a shattering climax three years later. Fans of Ron Chernow's Hamilton biography, Linn-Manuel Miranda's musical or good historical fiction will truly enjoy this book.
A New York Times Bestseller and one of the best historical fiction books of 2016 and 2017! “A juicy answer to Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton…” --Cosmopolitan Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Revolution, and featuring a cast of legendary characters, The Hamilton Affair tells the sweeping, tumultuous, true story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler, from passionate and tender beginnings of their romance to his fateful duel on the banks of the Hudson River. Hamilton was a bastard and orphan, raised in the Caribbean and desperate for legitimacy, who became one of the American Revolution's most dashing--and improbable--heroes. Admired by George Washington, scorned by Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton was a lightning rod: the most controversial leader of the new nation. Elizabeth was the wealthy, beautiful, adventurous daughter of the respectable Schuyler clan--and a pioneering advocate for women. Together, the unlikely couple braved the dangers of war, the perils of seduction, the anguish of infidelity, and the scourge of partisanship that menaced their family and the country itself. With flawless writing, brilliantly drawn characters, and epic scope, The Hamilton Affair tells a story of love forged in revolution and tested by the bitter strife of young America, and will take its place among the greatest novels of American history ever written.
"Alexander Hamilton traced a long, intricate journey, from his birth in the mid-1750s on the Caribbean island of Nevis to his burial at New York City's Trinity Church in 1804. Controversy swirls around the exact year (sometime between 1754 and 1758) when he was born, though we know that his birthday was January 11. A scholarly consensus has fixed his birth year as 1755, based on a Dutch probate record; the latest major biographer questions that choice, however, opting for 1757, the year that Hamilton himself believed was right. Hamilton's mother, Rachael Fawcett (Anglicized from Faucette) Lavien, was a French Huguenot Protestant who had abandoned her marriage to the Dutch merchant Johann Michael Lavien (by whom she had had a legitimate son, Peter). Rachael first had an affair with the mapmaker Johan Jacob Cronenberg on St. Croix and then formed a relationship on St. Kitts with James Hamilton. The fourth son of Alexander Hamilton, Lord of the Grange in Ayrshire, in Scotland, James had a lineage better than his prospects. Sometime in the mid-1750s, James and Rachael had two sons out of wedlock on Nevis - James Jr. and Alexander. In 1759, Johann Lavien divorced Rachael for desertion and adultery; the divorce, granted under Dutch law, blamed the marriage's failure on Rachael, barring her from marrying anyone else. In that year, Rachael, James, and their two sons returned to St. Croix; soon afterward, James left Rachael, for reasons unknown to posterity. Rachael sought to earn a living by setting up a small general store, and for a time she succeeded, but within a year of launching her business she and her younger son fell ill with fever. Alexander survived, but Rachel died, aged thirty-nine. After her death, a Dutch probate court awarded her scanty estate to her sole legitimate child, Peter Lavien. Disinherited because of their illegitimacy, James and Alexander were sent to live with Robert Lytton, an adult cousin from their mother's family, but that arrangement ended when Lytton hanged himself. James and Alexander were old enough to learn trades. James was apprenticed to be a carpenter (he apparently died in 1785 or 1786 in the West Indies). After a period of education at a Hebrew school on Charlestown Alexander was apprenticed as a clerk to Nicholas Cruger, a partner with David Beekman in the mercantile firm of Beekman & Cruger, which had business connections to the colony of New York. Though barely in his teens, Hamilton soon became Cruger's agent, dealing as an equal with adult ship captains"--
Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Now a major motion picture, available on Disney Plus. Goodreads best non-fiction book of 2016 From Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda comes a backstage pass to his groundbreaking, hit musical Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical Hamilton is as revolutionary as its subject, the poor kid from the Caribbean who fought the British, defended the Constitution, and helped to found the United States. Fusing hip-hop, pop, R&B, and the best traditions of theater, this once-in-a-generation show broadens the sound of Broadway, reveals the storytelling power of rap, and claims the origins of the United States for a diverse new generation. HAMILTON: THE REVOLUTION gives readers an unprecedented view of both revolutions, from the only two writers able to provide it. Miranda, along with Jeremy McCarter, a cultural critic and theater artist who was involved in the project from its earliest stages - "since before this was even a show," according to Miranda - traces its development from an improbable performance at the White House to its landmark opening night on Broadway six years later. In addition, Miranda has written more than 200 funny, revealing footnotes for his award-winning libretto, the full text of which is published here. Their account features photos by the renowned Frank Ockenfels and veteran Broadway photographer, Joan Marcus; exclusive looks at notebooks and emails; interviews with Questlove, Stephen Sondheim, leading political commentators, and more than 50 people involved with the production; and multiple appearances by President Obama himself. The book does more than tell the surprising story of how a Broadway musical became an international phenomenon: It demonstrates that America has always been renewed by the brash upstarts and brilliant outsiders, the men and women who don't throw away their shot.
In the first book-length study of the well-respected and popular British writer Elizabeth Hamilton, Claire Grogan addresses a significant gap in scholarship that enlarges and complicates critical understanding of the Romantic woman writer. From 1797 to 1818, Hamilton published in a wide range of genres, including novels, satires, historical and educational treatises, and historical biography. Because she wrote from a politically centrist position during a revolutionary age, Grogan suggests, Hamilton has been neglected in favor of authors who fit within the Jacobin/anti-Jacobin framework used to situate women writers of the period. Grogan draws attention to the inadequacies of the Jacobin/anti-Jacobin binary for understanding writers like Hamilton, arguing that Hamilton and other women writers engaged with and debated the issues of the day in more veiled ways. For example, while Hamilton did not argue for sexual emancipation à la Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Hays, she asserted her rights in other ways. Hamilton's most radical advance, Grogan shows, was in her deployment of genre, whether she was mixing genres, creating new generic medleys, or assuming competence in a hitherto male-dominated genre. With Hamilton serving as her case study, Grogan persuasively argues for new strategies to uncover the means by which women writers participated in the revolutionary debate.
USA Today Bestseller "An edge-of my sear immersion into historical events...No study of Alexander Hamilton would be complete without reading this book." —Karen White, New York Times bestselling author "The best book of the year!" —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network Wife, Widow, and Warrior in Alexander Hamilton’s quest for a more perfect union From the New York Times bestselling authors of America’s First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. Perfect for fans of Ron Chernow's biography Alexander Hamilton and fans of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton: the Musical. In this haunting, moving, and beautifully written novel, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza’s story as it’s never been told before—not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal—but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right. A general’s daughter… Coming of age on the perilous frontier of revolutionary New York, Elizabeth Schuyler champions the fight for independence. And when she meets Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s penniless but passionate aide-de-camp, she’s captivated by the young officer’s charisma and brilliance. They fall in love, despite Hamilton’s bastard birth and the uncertainties of war. A founding father’s wife... But the union they create—in their marriage and the new nation—is far from perfect. From glittering inaugural balls to bloody street riots, the Hamiltons are at the center of it all—including the political treachery of America’s first sex scandal, which forces Eliza to struggle through heartbreak and betrayal to find forgiveness. The last surviving light of the Revolution… When a duel destroys Eliza’s hard-won peace, the grieving widow fights her husband’s enemies to preserve Alexander’s legacy. But long-buried secrets threaten everything Eliza believes about her marriage and her own legacy. Questioning her tireless devotion to the man and country that have broken her heart, she’s left with one last battle—to understand the flawed man she married and imperfect union he could never have created without her…
This scholarly exploration of Hamilton encourages audiences to interpret this popular culture force in a new way by revealing that the musical confronts conventional perceptions of American history, racial equity, and political power. Contributors explore the ways in which the musical offers social commentary on issues such as immigration and gender equity, as well as how Hamilton re-considers the roles of theatre in making social statements, especially relating to the narrator, the curtain speech, and musical traditions. Several chapters directly address recent controversies and conversations surrounding Hamilton, including the #CancelHamilton trend on social media, the musical's depiction of slavery, and its intersections with the Black Lives Matter movement. Employing multiple novel theoretical approaches and perspectives—including public memory, feminist rhetorical criticism, disability studies, and sound studies— The Revolutionary Rhetoric of Hamilton reveals new insights about this beloved show for scholars of theatre studies, media studies, communication studies, and fans alike.
In Hamilton and Philosophy, professional thinkers expose, examine, and ponder the deep and controversial implications of this runaway hit Broadway musical. One cluster of questions relates to the matter of historical accuracy in relation to entertainment. To what extent is Hamilton genuine history, or is it more a reflection of America today than in the eighteenth century? What happens when history becomes dramatic art, and is some falsification of history unavoidable? One point of view is that the real Alexander Hamilton was an outsider, and any objective approach to Hamilton has to be that of an outsider. Politics always involves a debate over who is on the margins and who is allowed into the center. Then there is the question of emphasizing Hamilton’s revolutionary aspect, when he was autocratic and not truly democratic. But this can be defended as presenting a contradictory personality in a unique historical moment. Hamilton’s character is also one that blends ambition, thirst for fame, and concern for his immortal legacy, with inability to see his own limitations, yet combined with devotion to honor and the cultivation of virtue. Hamilton’s evident ambition led him to be likened to Macbeth and Shakespearean tragedy can explain much of his life.
Available in a new digital edition with reflowable text suitable for e-readers Written as a character study, Young Hamilton, explores the first twenty-six years of Alexander Hamilton’s life and is designed to reveal how Hamilton’s early years shaped him into the statesman he became.