The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr

by H.W. Brands

Though he was a hero of the Revolutionary War, a prominent New York politician, and vice president of the United States, Aaron Burr is today best remembered as the villain who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. 

But as H. W. Brands demonstrates in this fascinating portrait of one of the most compelling politicians in American history, Burr was also a man before his time—a proponent of equality between the sexes well over a century before women were able to vote in the US. Through Burr's extensive, witty correspondence with his daughter Theodosia, Brands traces the arc of a scandalous political career and the early years of American politics. The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr not only dramatizes through their words his eventful life, it also tells a touching story of a father's love for his exceptional daughter, which endured through public shame, bankruptcy, and exile, and outlasted even Theodosia's tragic disappearance at sea.

A Paperback Original

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History, Audiobook, Politics, American Revolution

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

H.W. Brands is an acclaimed American historian and author of over thirty books on U.S. history, including Pulitzer Prize finalists The First American and Traitor to His Class. He holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his PhD. Originally trained in mathematics, Brands turned to history as a way to pursue his passion for writing. His biographical works on figures like Franklin, Jackson, Grant, and both Roosevelts have earned critical and popular praise for their readability and depth. Raised in Oregon and educated at Stanford, Reed College, and Portland State, he began his teaching career in high schools before entering academia. He later taught at Texas A&M and Vanderbilt before returning to UT Austin. Brands challenges conventional reverence for the Founding Fathers, advocating for a more progressive and evolving view of American democracy. In addition to academic works, his commentary has featured in major documentaries. His books, published internationally and translated into multiple languages, examine U.S. political, economic, and cultural development with compelling narrative force. Beyond academia, he is a public intellectual contributing to national conversations on history and governance.

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Other historians such as Nancy Eisenburg (Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr) dig into details to defend Burr’s record and compare it favorably against that of a wily Hamilton. Others such as David O. Stewart (American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America) recount the court records to show Burr as someone who would, indeed, treasonously split the country in two. Many other heavily footnoted historical works, such as those by Gordon Wood, have him as an unseemly character among patriots.

This book simplifies the Aaron Burr story. Gone are the details of how he earned Jefferson’s scorn in the A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign ; nor is there anything on how the marriage of his daughter to a South Carolina politician might have been part of his political ambition. Without the torturous legal wrangling, the treason trials have welcome clarity including the reason for the second trial boiled down to an executive (President Jefferson) decision.

While Burr is popular with rank and file politicians (as witnessed by the emotion shown on his last day in the Senate) the leaders of the emerging two parties have a visceral hatred of him. Hamilton, the leader of the Federalists, harbors hatred that culminates in the duel in which Hamilton lost his life and Burr his political career. Jefferson, as leader of the Republicans, is behind Burr's treason trials in which Burr loses everything.

In Brand’s book, Burr seems to have limited exposure to arrest for the duel with Hamilton following his term as Vice President. He goes (not flees) west to seek his fortune where he has a warm welcome, some of which can be attributed to the duel. Brand doesn’t use the term filibustering, nor does he dissect the plan. We still don’t know whether he was arming to attack Mexico or Florida (today considered a breach of US foreign policy) or to divide the emerging west from the established east. What we do know, is that a civil right was affirmed: you cannot be guilty of something planned, only of something done. (RICO has somewhat limited this defense.)

Despite Burr’s exoneration, he has powerful enemies and this time he flees. Ironically he goes to England, the country which years earlier he fought. He seems to wear out his welcome and flees again and again then back to New York where he is hounded more by debts than political payback.

Through his letters you see his ruin (hungry all the time and in need of shoes) and the sadness that he has been long separated from his beloved daughter Theodosia (a relationship which appears to have been stronger than a marriage). You see Burr waiting for the ship that would reunite them in New York, but with no satellites or GPS, we can only assume the ship sank as he waited and waited- the final heartbreak. He was to live 42 years more.

Brand notes, the adventures Burr may have been planning were realized by Andrew Jackson in Florida (who was rewarded financially and politically) and President Polk, who through official channels brought the northern part of Mexico into the Union through a war with Mexico, as Burr had claimed to be planning..

This adds to the literature of this incredibly complex lawyer, politician and adventurer, the essence of whom may never be known.

[Micah Cummins · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr” by H. W. Brands is a wonderfully concise and understandable delivery of the story of Aaron Burr’s political rise and ultimate downfall. This is not a full biography of Burr however, and so it is best for the reader to have a grasp of the subject’s early life, (as it is never mentioned.) A good biography to read along side this work in my opinion would be, “Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr” by Nancy Isenberg. Four stars.

[Bruce · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm dumbfounded. Positively dumbfounded. I'm reading Jefferson The Art of Power, Jon Meachem's biography of our third president, and I come across a short passage about Aaron Burr. "Oh yeah, Aaron Burr!" I think, "He's the guy who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, right? I bet his lifestory would make an interesting read." I mean, the highlights bear him out as one of postcolonial American history's great scoundrels: from Revolutionary War hero to NY Senator to Vice President to the duel with Hamilton to his arrest and subsequent acquittal for treason in a cause célèbre trial, this is a guy with quite the antihero arc.

So now I'm on GoodReads looking for a solid Burr bio, and by far the best rated also happens to be the shortest, Brands' Heartbreak. This book is likewise more recent than its nearest competitor, doesn't suffer from its competitor's tendencies toward apologia, yet purports to make the case for Burr as a real man-ahead-of-his-time, a progressive, liberal, women's rights activist. Juicy! Not only that, but reading how Brands is said to relate Burr's story primarily through Burr's correspondence with his beloved daughter Theodosia as a first-hand, "in his own words" account, and I'm completely sold.

So excited am I by Meachem's introduction to the man and fellow Goodreaders' appetite-whetting, I'm not even waiting to get this out of the library before touting it to my wife. Brands' book on Burr is a surefire winner; she should seriously consider picking it up for her junior high mother-daughter book club this coming Fall. I rush to the library to get it, dive into my reading chair, and am not at all disappointed by the first five or so pages.

Oh, the opening of the first chapter! Immediately, we have a disgraced, impoverished protagonist sneaking back into New York harbor in the dead of night in the midst of the War of 1812 from a European exile of indeterminate length, furtively knocking on the brownstone door of a former friend whom he is told has since moved on. Burr briefly wanders the streets, ending up on the straw-strewn cobbles of a flophouse shed until he can verify the whereabouts of a potential benefactor in the morning. As advertised, this sordid little anecdote (from which I expect Brands to flashback in grand, how-the-mighty-have-fallen style) is told entirely in Burr's own words, being lifted verbatim from one of Burr's letters. Burr, I am pleased to note, writes in a contemporary, engaging style.

From such great beginnings, to what heights could we climb? What trove of salacious, primary-sourced riches might lie in store? I flipped to the last page. Could it be true? The whole of the book was barely 175 pages in large print type, including center-folio illustrations. Brands's book was seemingly a zippy, legit, screenplay-length work of first-rate historiography unfolding right before my greedy, beady eyes. Ah, how keen the betrayal that followed. I'll mince words no further. This book flat-out sucked.

Burr's rise from 2 year old itinerant orphan in the mid-18th century to being a hairs' breadth away from stealing the Thomas Jefferson's 1800 presidential election, and his meteoric fall from grace over the subsequent decade is incredibly dramatic, and would probably make for a masterful HBO two- or three-part miniseries. You can practically see the charismatic chessmaster scheming to usurp power by manipulating an electoral loophole to force a tied vote as Jefferson's erstwhile running mate. You can sense his desperation and despair in calling out Hamilton for a duel, imagine his relief as he hightails it away from the killing ground intact, anticipate how his pride, disillusionment, and disgrace give way to manic scheming as he recruits a personal army and navy to support a return to preeminence as a breakaway Western (or perhaps southwestern) nation to vie for preeminence with Jefferson's United States. You can marvel at his attempts to escape or charm the federal constabulary, chuckle at his pathetic sojourn in a Sweden that knows no privacy, and shake your head in wonderment at the debasement he ultimately brings upon himself by refusing ever to take personal responsibility for any of his misadventures. But you won't learn any of the details from Brands.

Try Wikipedia. For example, did you know that during the Revolutionary War, Burr served under Benedict Arnold and was credited with saving one Alexander Hamilton from capture? I didn't until just now, when I found myself forced to reference a Wikipedia article in order to find the sort of supporting color needed to paint any historical figure.

Brands routinely describes Burr as a Revolutionary War hero, but neglects to mention any of his accomplishments. Following the war, Colonel Burr had established a prominent, popularly-esteemed legal practice, got himself elected to the US Senate, and leveraged this position along with his influence in New York state's fledgling Democratic-Republican party to get onto the ballot alongside Jefferson. Brands completely skips over this foundational period.

As it happens, Burr's ambitions to sneak into the White House ahead of Jefferson were ultimately defeated by the persistent, desperate machinations of Alexander Hamilton. This is a crushing irony when you consider that Hamilton's and Jefferson's expressed visions of the federal government had so consistently clashed that Hamilton could reasonably expect a Jefferson-led administration to completely dismantle every political endeavor he had struggled to establish over the past dozen years. Why, therefore, would Hamilton be more opposed to a Burr presidency than a Jefferson one? Brands has nothing to offer here.

In this glorified, grade school social studies report that lacks bibliography and endnotes, the author is ever conclusory, never illustrative or analytical. Here, verbatim, is how Brands describes the epic electioneering that opened the 19th century:

New York itself holds the balance in the country as a whole. And in New York the Federalists and Republicans are closely matched, with Hamilton heading the former and Burr the latter. Hamilton employs his formidable intelligence and powerful persuasive skills on behalf of the Federalist ticket for the New York legislature, which will choose not only New York's senators but also the state's electors in the 1800 presidential contest. Burr counters with assiduous organization and subtle arguments in the most telling places. When the votes are counted, Burr and the Republicans win a narrow but decisive victory. (page 27)

Note the author's incessant reliance on the present tense, as though he is breathlessly trying to stuff his narrative into the space of a newsreel. Who did what and why and how? You get more details from the color man broadcasting a heavyweight fight than you can from this Pulitzer-nominated putz.

For those who might wish to excuse Brands's noncoverage of his titular subject as sideshow to the "real" story of Brands's relationship with his beloved wife and daughter (or even his daughter's husband, a man who served as governor of South Carolina during the height of Burr's public disgrace), that story is not to be, and not only because his wife has died a mere 10 or so pages in. Brands allows the threadbare trail of Burr's familial correspondence to skip quickly from the election of 1800 to the duel of 1804, and thence to his arrest and trial for treason three years later. At the trial, Brands stops cold, letting Burr's letters fall by the wayside in deference to lightly-quoted trial proceedings, the substance of which bizarrely fill more than half of the book.

The author's technique is better served from thence through Burr's exilic period and the tragic disappearance of his daughter at sea sometime in January of 1813, considering that the remaining pages of his book are but hastily drawn denouement. Still, you will not be surprised to hear that while this is the point at which Brands chooses to sign off (excepting a dramatic, if typically misleading epilogue that would appear to cast Burr as an old vagrant), Burr in fact would soldier on, unrepentant and ever-scheming, for another two decades. I've just learned by way of Wikipedia that he married a wealthy widow only a year before a paralyzing stroke, managing to squander the majority of her fortune in land speculation.

What an interesting guy that Aaron Burr was. Someone should write a book about him.

[may ➹]

when I said I wanted to read more nonfic this year, I didn’t mean a boring book for school about old white men…

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I saw the (stunning, phenomenal, worth-the-hype) musical Hamilton, all I knew about Burr is that he killed Alexander Hamilton and was tried for treason because he wanted to establish a separate nation. What a douche, right? But the musical showed his humanity, and like most historical figures beyond serial killers and genocidal dictators, he was a complicated, sensitive person.

Hence the interest in this book. It's super-light for a work of scholarship (only 171 pages, with tubby margins and chubby type), and as such it moves quickly. Long periods of time jump in a single sentence, which acts as a conjunction between excerpts of letters from Burr to his wife, daughter, and/or son-in-law. It's jarring to switch from a sweeping historical statement to dense prose from another time period, and I wish that more effort was put into fleshing out the story. This period of American history has been written and re-written, but context and sources would help lend credibility to Brands' "just-so" statements, and build the characters beyond their words.

Even though both those are pet peeves of mine, Burr comes across as a sweet, caring father and man sensitive to his family's needs and his ego. His position as an ardent feminist is made clear (even if the word did not yet exist) through his insistence upon providing his daughter the finest education. His letters are teasing, but he consistently longs to hear from her and cherishes her every letter.

And of course based upon the spoiler of a title, he loses his wife, his daughter, and in between, his freedom in America. It's noted with wry irony that many of Burr's alleged plans (seizing Florida from the Spanish, Mexican independence, and Texan annexation) were lionized when officially sancitoned by the government (and that rat bastard Andrew Jackson), so it seems that he got a raw deal. The book doesn't moralize or sanctify Burr, but hearing his plans in his own voice, it's hard not to feel sad for a guy who 150 years later is remembered as a murderer and coward.

[Colleen Browne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The three stars I awarded this book are for the writing which is eloquent and draws the reader in. But Brands is a historian and facts matter. He should have called it historical fiction and subtitled it "If Burr had been a more honorable person."

The fiction begins during the election of 1800 when Brands conveniently leaves out many of the facts, choosing to gloss over the way that Burr, after initially indicating his knowledge that the tie in the electoral college resulted from a flaw in the way it was set up, not because Burr believed people wanted him to be president. He fairly quickly saw the opportunity to seize the presidency by sidling up to the Federalists for their votes. Instead of bowing out and acknowledging that Jefferson was the intended President, he allowed the deadlock to continue. This caused the animosity between himself and the Republicans. Brands failure to even mention this gives a fair indication of his lack of objectivity for his subject.

The part of the book that dealt with Burr's duel with Hamilton reads more like a journalistic sketch than history. As in the rest of the book, Brands does no analysis to speak of. He presents facts but doesn't try to explain motives or probable motives.

Throughout the book, Brands romanticized Burr's life and neglected to hold him responsible for his errors. Even when Burr is charged with treason, Brands skirts around the facts. (I have never understood why the charge wasn't "conspiracy to commit treason" rather than treason.) The reasoning behind his acquittal makes sense to me since the case hung on the reliability of Wilkenson (which was very questionable) and the location of Burr. Since Wilkenson was corrupt and Burr was smart enough to be away from the scene when the boats and supplies were garnered, a conviction would have been a miscarriage of justice. But not guilty isn't the same as innocent and there was plenty of circumstantial evidence to conclude that although he was convicted, Burr was almost certainly guilty.

I have read other work by Brands and found it to be credible but on this short, easily read book, it is sorely lacking. He failed to write the story as a historian and chose to write it as a romance novelist.

[Douglas Biggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I got this, I thought I was getting a biography of Aaron Burr, and it is that to a certain degree, but this is a much more lyrical stroll through Burr's life. It's only about 250 pages long and gives you the bare essence of his life, nothing is described in great detail except his relationship with his daughter Theodora, who was his best friend. Everything else is moved through very quickly - his duel with Hamilton, his potential treason and trial thereof. Instead the father-daughter relationship is at the heart of this story and without giving too much away, that relationship will end in heartbreak.

[Emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

History is not my go-to when it comes to finding reading material. But, I've always been a little curious about Aaron Burr, ever since I wrote a paper about him for a high school history class. And so when I saw this thin little volume sitting on the shelf at the library, I had to give it a go.

It was actually pretty interesting and went a long way to humanizing Burr. So often, history presents him as the man who killed Hamilton (which is true), but there was a lot more to Burr. He was a feminist, a devoted father and grandfather, a brilliant lawyer, and even something of an adventurer. This book leans heavily into his personal life, drawing much of its content from letters between Burr and his daughter, Theo. The picture it paints is quite simply beautiful, touching, and altogether heartbreaking, calling the title into sharp relief.

If you're looking for an interesting history book that's not too long (but doesn't feel too quick, either) and that paints a fascinating and deeply human portrait of its subject, then I strongly encourage you to check out this book.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing you can say...he led an interesting life. It's surprising to me that a US Vice President was charged with both murder and treason - and that that information isn't well known. My sense is that Burr was a very intelligent man who had a penchant for making poor decisions and powerful enemies.

[Dee Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audible.com 5 hours Narrated by Chris Sorensen (B) or H.W. Brands (A)

This book might not be attractive to all readers because it is basically a compellation of the lifetime of letters between Aaron Burr and his beloved daughter Theodosia. I'm old enough to remember when letter writing was skill, and so I thoroughly enjoyed it. The title says it all. The letters ended when Theodosia, on a ship from SC to NY to be reunited with her father after almost five years of absence, was lost at sea. She and her husband had recently lost their only young son to the sting of death.

[Shane Wagoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many ways to teach history. An author can give us a broad overview of the time period, allowing readers to situate each event within its context, they can give us an in-depth depiction of great battles or turning points that were crucial to a larger narrative, or they can place us behind the eyes of one person living in the world we wish to discover. For this gripping tale, Brands chooses the third route, letting us follow Burr as he ages alongside our infant nation. However, this tale is less focused on the nation as a whole as much as it is determined to reveal the relentless and often unacknowledged suffering of its subject. By the time his life reached its end, as this book convincingly argues, Aaron Burr may have truly been the saddest man in these United States.

It has been an incredibly long time since I have been this emotionally impacted by a work of history. The title of the book refers to Burr's heartbreak, but it would be a mistake to speak of only one. Rather, heartbreak is a theme of Burr's life, not an event. The smash-hit musical "Hamilton" portrays Burr as an ambitious politician, determined to succeed no matter the cost, but Brand's work speaks of a far more nuanced character. While the musical paints Burr as a man driven by the need to create a legacy, "Heartbreak" reveals that the only source of motivation that rivaled Burr's principals was his need to relieve himself of the crushing debt he accrued over the course of his life.

Aaron Burr was a man cheated out of his country's memory. Despite steadfast adherence to his code of honor, he is ignored, if not hated by many. With this fantastic book, Brands takes a large step towards remedying the misrepresentation and slander that have plagued Burr's name. This is not a work of detached history. It is a stirring defense of a man who suffered the ultimate tragedy and those who read it will be all the better for this fact.

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

H.W. Brands tells the story of Aaron Burr's life based on the correspondence between Burr and his daughter Theodosia. Aaron Burr is best known for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey in 1804. Burr has just completed a term as Vice President of the United States under Thomas Jefferson. Aaron Burr was a revolutionary hero and successful lawyer and politician. The duel marked the beginning of the long decline of Burr's fortunes. The death of his grandson at age 10 and his beloved daughter Theodosia broke him. Great story told in less than 200 pages.

[Steven Koehler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting telling of Aaron Burr's political career. Focussing largely on his life after the duel, there was a lot of new information to me. Primarily using letters between Mr. Burr and his daughter, Theodosia, there is a legitimacy to the story that I appreciated. However, I would have liked more contextual outside information, however, to be fair, that was not the focus of the book.
Gave me a new appreciation for one of the US's first great heroes, and villains, especially in the wake of Hamilton telling the other side of the stories.

[John Blumenthal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring. I got as far as Chapter 14. The Author quotes endless letters with details about trivial matters but skips over historical details such as why Burr and Hamilton dueled. I learned nothing about Aaron Burr that I didn’t already know.

[Abbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/3 stars

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this biography, but this wasn't really it. The format was almost epistolary. Brands quotes frequently and extensively from Burr's letters and other written records. I think it would be best to read this book physically. Listening to it via audio was a bit confusing and tiresome. I enjoy Brands as a historian, so I would like to check out some of his other books, but this one didn't do it for me. If you were "Hamiltrash," as I was in middle school/high school, some of the info in this book will be a reminder of the rabbit holes you probably went down when you weren't listening to the soundtrack and reading fan fiction. I will say, I was really impressed by Burr's daughter, Theodosia Burr. This biography about Burr could easily have been about Theodosia she was quoted so much. I'll also say I didn't love how the title of this book wasn't really brought into the narrative Brands constructed. "The heartbreak of Aaron Burr," what does that mean? There are several elements of Burr's life that are tragic, but it's not until the end that THE main tragedy--according to Brands--becomes clear: Burr as a forgotten founder. But...as I said, there are several elements of Burr's life that are tragic and heartbreaking. Firstly, and I don't think Brands touches on this, the deaths of his parents when he was a child. The death of his wife, daughter, and grandson are also heartbreaking. The fall of an American family is also tragic. Burr, the grandson of Jonathan Edwards, an incredibly intelligent and influential preacher in American history, ends his life ignored, hated, or forgotten. All these things are heartbreaking in their own way, but Brands does not use the idea of heartbreak cohesively throughout the book. I appreciate that he "shows" instead of "tells," but some "telling" would have been helpful here. I enjoy Brands' insights when I have watched his interviews and I have listened to part of one of his other books on audio and appreciated that, so I hope to explore more of his work in the future.

[Kusaimamekirai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most biographies of Aaron Burr tend to portray him either as a sympathetic figure or an outright scoundrel. This is probably largely due to the fact that he was very much both of these things and thus making it is easy to write about him with enough material available to support your view of him when you start.
What I like about Brands’s book is that while it is generally sympathetic (the title itself is a bit of a giveaway), its narrative structure is fairly unique in Burr-world.
Primarily drawn from the letters between Burr and his daughter Theodosia, the events in his life are seen primarily through that lens.
Many things can be said about Aaron Burr but one thing that isn’t disputable is that he was obsessed with the education and well being of his daughter from the moment of her birth. He loved her more than anything else in his life (in fairness, Burr was not a particularly principled man about much other than women’s rights which was borne out of a direct consequence of Theodosia).
One could argue, as Burr himself did, that even his most outrageous schemes and excesses such as trying to start a war with Spain, break off from the United States with his private army, or invade Mexico and install himself as king were all with the betterment of his daughter in kind (he planned to make her queen upon his death apparently).
I’m endlessly fascinated by Burr and I have some sympathy for a man who saw himself destined for greatness (he would rise all the way to Vice President), only to go horribly off the rails when things began to slip away from him.
Once things began to spiral for him, he never really lost faith in his greatness even as any hope of realizing his dreams became that much more remote.
Yes he was a traitor, a womanizer, a schemer, a murderer, and incredibly selfish about everything except his daughter.
But he was also the symbol of an era where people dreamt big dreams but more often than not crashed and burned

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Using quotes from original source material, this book goes through Aaron Burr's life and points out the great tragedies he suffered throughout his life.

This might possibly be the best book recommendation my father-in-law has given me. First, the chapters were short in an otherwise short book. I felt like I was flying along even though I really wasn't. Second, Burr really had some high highs to low lows. From being at one point in his life Vice President of our country, to later in his life being expelled from the United States and being "destitute" in France, that's a big swing. I place destitute in quotes because, from reading other biographies of leaders in the same time period, it seems like their version of destitute sounded a bit more like being middle class. However, in this instance, I do recall the book saying he didn't want to turn the heat on in winter because he needed to conserve his money, so that suggests genuine poverty to me. Anyway, it was interesting to read about Burr's relationship with his daughter. I appreciated that he took his disappointment in not having a son and turned it into energy toward educating and cultivating her. And it was interesting how, when his wife died early on, he starts to view his daughter as a peer and best friend, almost, for the rest of their lives.

[Jefferson Fortner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief book that focuses on the tragedies (plural) that Aaron Burr experienced in his life and the decline of his fortunes. Early in the book, his political career reaches its zenith and he becomes Vice-President. The duel with Hamilton happens, which helps to destroy his political career. The entire political spectrum of the era turns against him. The thing that I was most interested in learning more about comes next. Burr engages in his tour of the Ohio and Mississippi River valley and begins to organize his projected invasion of Spain’s American possessions. Jefferson and his allies begin to directly imply that Burr is planning to actually try to seize New Orleans to create a kingdom in the American territories on the other side of the Appalachian mountains in what was, at that time, the "west." Jefferson orders Burr's arrest for treason. His arrest and trial follow with pretty good detail and makes up the largest part of the book, but without the type of minutia that could have bogged down the narrative. The results of the trial and the other aspects of his life and fortunes from that point provide the most poignant aspects of the story. Quite interesting.

[Kadin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The saga of Aaron Burr's fall from power and good standing in America is really one I'm surprised Hollywood has yet (to my knowledge) to take advantage of. This book takes an intimate look into Burr's private relationships, mostly with his daughter Theodora, by examining his written correspondence with her and other friends and close relations during his time as a member of Congress, VP, and later life. Though there are some truly interesting and redeemable parts of this work, my main issues stem from the author's either inability or decision not to expand more on some of the quoted material. It felt more like reading a textbook at times. Dry, too. For such a short work on such a limited time period, I felt like the author could have done more.

[Steve Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the Vice Presidency to disgraced killer of Hamilton, on trial for treason, the story arc of Burr’s life is sad and poignant. This book is not a deep dive, but rather is a very readable overview of Burr’s life, with a focus on the Vice Presidency on. As usual, Brands makes Burr an approachable if not tragic figure.

[Allison Maier · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is so cute and concise and i love it

if HW Brands writes it I WILL read it

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Closer to a 3.5. This was an informative and sad read for those interested in Aaron Burr.

[liliana •_• · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend recommended this, and she was right. I actually do feel a miniscule bit sorry for him now!

[David Cook · Rating 1 out of 5]

I saw a quote from this book at an exhibit at the Fennimore Cooper museum in Cooperstown, NY. So I jotted down the title and added it to my list. I didn’t know a ton about Burr other than references to him in other biographies and histories of the Revolution era; and of course what Len Manuel Miranda has brought into our collective consciousness.

This is not a great bio by any stretch. I learned more about Burr from Wikipedia than this book. For example, Burr served under Benedict Arnold in the Revolutionary War and was credited with saving Alexander Hamilton from capture? Brands describes Burr as a Revolutionary War hero, but neglects to mention any of his accomplishments. Following the war, Colonel Burr had established a prominent, legal practice, got himself elected to the US Senate, and leveraged this position along with his influence in New York state's fledgling Democratic-Republican party to get onto the ballot alongside Jefferson. Brands completely skips over this foundational period.

The relationship of Burr and his daughter Theodosia is a tender aspect of Burr that softens the villain he has become for shooting Hamilton. Each cherished and doted on the other after the death of Burr’s wife when Theodosia was only 11. And more tragedy was to come: after the death of Theodosia’s son, she herself drowned at sea in 1813, at age 29, thus leaving three crushed men, her husband, son, and father. This book is certainly thin. It is written in the present tense, which gives it a formal tone, it’s all narrative with little commentary into the characters. The history it repeats is well known with not much new ground plowed.

It would have been intriguing for Brands dig deeper into Theodosia. For example, it’s clear from her letters that she encouraged her father in many of his schemes instead of cautioning him. This could have been a very interesting portrait of both. Instead it is a minimalist book that disappoints.

[Laarin · Rating 2 out of 5]

After my son and I saw Hamilton I wanted to read up more on the history of the time and the characters. This is not the book for that. The first and last chapter just made no sense. Especially the first when you have not idea how it ties to the book. I wanted more history. This was mainly about the relationship between Aaron Burr and his daughter. Lots of snip its from letters between them. Just was not what I was looking for. Did learn stuff but not surprising since I knew so little about Aaron Burr.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because I found the character of Burr in "Hamilton" very intriguing and I wanted to know more about him and his relationship with Hamilton. This probably isn't the right book for that. According to Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, on which the musical is based, Hamilton and Burr were, at first, friends and then tried cases together. That isn't even mentioned in Brands' book, probably because the main focus of the book is Burr's relationship with his brilliant and talented daughter, Theodosia. (Fun fact: the Wikipedia entry on Theodosia Burr Alston describes her as an American socialite. That hardly seems the right description for someone as educated and talented as she was.)
As Brands tells us in "Sources" at the end of the book, the principal source for the book is the correspondence between Burr and Theo. Personally, I find reading letters, especially 18th century letters, somewhat tiresome. I'd rather the author use the letters as his source for telling Burr's story, with occasional quotations that are especially revealing. One does get a sense of Burr's personality from his letters to his adored daughter. He certainly was unusual in his belief that women should have the same educational opportunities as men and his pride in Theo's abilities is admirable. Still, I cringed when I read his last words to her, just before going off to fight the duel with Hamilton: "I am indebted to you, my dearest Theodosia, for a very great portion of the happiness which I have enjoyed in this life. You have completely satisfied all that my heart and affections had hoped, or even wished. With a little more perseverance, determination, and industry, you will obtain all that my ambition or vanity had fondly imagined." He should have left off the last sentence.
The last part of the book is about Jefferson's attempt to get Burr tried for treason. I didn't really understand what Burr did that was treasonous. Apparently, he was involved in a scheme to invade Mexico and make himself president. But that's from Wikipedia, not this book. In any event, why is that treason against the U.S.? Anyway, it was an important trial, since Burr was a Revolutionary War hero who was also Vice President of the United States. Moreover, it was, as Brands puts it, "a proxy struggle of philosophies of government," with Chief Justice John Marshall the defender of Federalist principles and Jefferson the most prominent Republican. I'm not sure why a Supreme Court justice was involved in a grand jury, and this isn't explained. Brands notes the historical irony of the trial: Jefferson, usually a strict constructionist of the Constitution, tried to get Marshall to adopt a broad definition of treason, but Marshall, who usually practiced a generous construction of the Constitution, insisted on the letter of the law as it relates to treason. Since the government could not produce even one witness, much less the required two, and failed to demonstrate that there was an overt act of war against the United States, the grand jury really had no choice but to find Burr not guilty. Burr would not be hanged or imprisoned for treason, but his career was basically over. Jefferson had excommunicated him from the Republican party, forbidding Republicans from hiring Burr even as a lawyer. Nor could he find a refuge in the Federalist party, having murdered Hamilton.
Burr was never tried for the murder of Hamilton, even though dueling was illegal (even in New Jersey, despite what Lin-Manuel Miranda says in "Hamilton.") He did run up tremendous debts after his law practice collapsed and had to flee the U.S. in 1808 to escape debtors' prison. (Another fun fact: debtors' prisons weren't abolished in the U.S. until 1833.) He lived mostly in London where he became close friends with Jeremy Bentham.
The tragedies piled up. He practically starves to death in London, but eventually is able to return to New York in 1812. Then his grandson -- Theodosia's son, Aaron -- dies at the age of 10 on June 30, 1812. Brands writes that Burr's son-in-law, Joseph Alston, did not give the cause of death in his letter to Burr, who assumes it was a sudden fever. (Wikipedia says he succumbed to malaria.) Theodosia, devastated, travels by sea from South Carolina to New York to visit her father in December 1813. There is no news of her for two months. She probably died in a shipwreck, although there were rumors of her having been captured and killed by pirates.
The book ends with a journalist's recollection, 1825 of seeing an elderly gentleman, with a "melancholy dignity in his countenance," and wearing worn and old-fashioned clothes. It was Aaron Burr. But if you want to know how and when Burr died (1836, of complications from a stroke in 1834), or about his second, short-lived marriage to Eliza Jumel, you'll have to go to Wikipedia. Perhaps Brands doesn't want to give historical interpretations of Burr's life, just how it appeared to him, as revealed in his letters and the records of the trial.
In sum, it's an intermittently interesting book and admirably short (only 173 pages). There's no index and no explanation of certain facts -- for example, why Burr tells the doctor in England who he hopes will be able to cure Theo of her mysterious illness that she is his wife. I went back several times, thinking I must have missed it, but I think it's just not there.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good summary for first time Burr information, and I wanted to read something by Brands. But not much new. Listened to audio book to take up driving hours

Listened again 9/25. Trial for treason held more interest for me this time. A case of “weaponizing” the justice department for sure. The world has concluded….Hamilton good, Burr bad. As with much of history it’s not that simple

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short book, based mainly on the correspondence of Burr and his daughter Theodosia, but which tells the story of Burr's life and career very effectively. Well-written, too, as this author could make the phone book interesting.

[William Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be read as supplementary to other history on Aaron Burr. I read it immediately after Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton and devoured it. Independently, I would have found it somewhat unfulfilling, though a compelling story.