Alexander Hamilton: Founding Father-: The Real Story of his life, his loves, and his death

by Mark Steinberg

Alexander Hamilton: Founding Father is the story of one of America's great founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton. The book is a detailed account of this very important but controversial figure in American history. The story is a "classic rags to riches" one and begins with his childhood in the British West Indies. Though his life is filled with tragedy and he is very poor, Hamilton manages to distinguish himself through his writing and his business skills. Eventually, he leaves the West Indies and immigrates to North America where he receives a first rate education. Later, he becomes a hero in the Revolutionary War and is appointed to be General George Washington's right hand man. Because of his service to Washington, Hamilton becomes the Secretary of the Treasury when Washington is elected President. As a member of the new government, Hamilton makes significant contributions including setting up a banking system and a currency system which are still used today. He also plays a major role in the ratification of the United States Constitution. While Alexander Hamilton: Founding Father primarily focuses on Hamilton's great contributions, it also presents his dark side. Though Hamilton married a wealthy woman and became a member of the aristocracy, he was also involved in a scandalous affair and ultimately died in a duel defending his honor.

Genres: Biography, History

226 pages, Paperback

Published January 27, 2016

Reviews

[Sheila]

Because of my new obsession with the Hamilton soundtrack, I was interested in finding out more about this founding father, professionally and personally. It's a good biography - this book is not filled with little details; it's pretty simple, but gives enough information so you end up with a decent understanding of what he was like, what was important to him, what he excelled at, and why he did the things he did. He was a passionate and principled man, and did some surprising things because of how he felt personally. Everything he did was genuinely because of how he was moved by a circumstance; not how it would be perceived by others. Wish there was a little more of that in society today, myself included. This book is a very quick and easy read, and recommended.

[Rachelle Stanko]

Junior high prose at best

This book is almost unreadable. Full of contradictory sentences, and twisted timelines, and that's just the first chapter. It's free on kindle unlimited, but you'll never get the time back.

[Emilija]

No matter how good this book is, or how well it's written, I absolutely detest the audiobook reader. The reader, who has a nice voice, except for the fact that he lisps, creating a whistling sort of noise, and over pronounces the letter s, especially at the end of words, which I know isn't his fault, is definitely in my lowest ten audio readers and as a result, I really struggled with this book.
Furthermore, the style of this book is rather conversational which is not a writing style that I am a strong lover of. The information however is good, which is why this book isn't a one star rating.

[Yaaresse]

OK, that was painful. It reads as if written by a junior high student for a remedial history class.
Definitely not the book I was looking for.

[Debi C.]

Very interesting

I found that this book is engaging and interesting. Just enough details to be interesting but not so many that you get lost or bored in excessive detailed. I enjoyed reading insights into other founding fathers that were Hamilton's contemporaries. If you love history like I do, you will enjoy this book.

[Jamie Casey]

Horrible. This book reads like a middle schooler wrote it. It’s awful. And then I read that some of the facts are wrong so I wonder what was the point?! Do not waste your time or money on this. I bought it as a quick read before going to see the play live. I’ve watched it televised. I’m going to read a much better rated Alexander Hamilton book. I’m telling you. Waste. Of. Money!!

[Timothy]

Hard to say

I didn't much enjoy this book, but I have always been unsympathetic to Hamilton. Also I found that the most interesting bits did not get the level of detail I would have liked.

[Larry]

A very good read

Mark Steinberg did an excellent job in a short text to bio Hamilton's life. I became interested in learning more about the man after seeing a performance of "Hamiltunes" by a local youth group.

[Doreen Binstock]

Great read (written more like an article tgan novel) but filled with information on this important man in our history.

A very easy, quick read. A must if you've seen or plan tobattend the Broadway production of Hamilton. Informative reading

[Cynthia Lampkin]

This book helps to understand Hamilton the Musical.

I found this book provides summary with details of the founding fathers. I saw the musical Hamilton in Chicago, and wish I had read it before. I enjoyed the book. Very enlightening.

[Thomas]

Basic

The book is soooo general. It rehashes the same information as the musical and doesn't give enough examples or analysis of his life. If you are looking for a biography on Hamilton, look elsewhere.

[Melissa Morris]

Like trying to read a high school book report. Was looking for less density than Chernow, but this is not it. Blech.

[Katy Hoak]

Historyy

A good informative book o. Hamilton I would recommend it to anyone interested in history. Good read . Enjoy it

[felicia]

Omg love

I love Hamilton life. I'm 13 and I found this book solo good. Great for any age and could life lessons

[Michael Myers]

Interesting read. Provided good background for understanding his life, background and contributions to America.

[Dennis Keeney]

A short but readable biography

this book was written in a very easy style, easy to read and about the right length for someone who wants background but not every detail.

[Greg]

Poorly written. It was written at a middle school level. I was not at all impressed by this author’s writing skills.

[Daniel]

Fast read and brief overview of Hamilton’s life.

[Elizabeth Browder]

Very good book

This book, while short, is well written. It is well researched and easy to read. I would recommend this book.

[Amanda Tanay]

The writing was lacking a bit, but for a short biography, I found this interesting.

[Cathy Gamble]

This was so poorly written with conflicting information and a mix up in names all within the first chapter. Thankfully I purchased it on Amazon and I can return it.

[Judy]

Interesting read

[Mike]

I thought this was a great little introduction to Hamilton's story. Every American should learn about our founding fathers and how our nation was built so I appreciated the synopsis. It was written in a non conventional way with lots of phrases like -- we will get to the part alter in the story, almost like the hobbit.

[Katie]

I've been eager to see the Broadway musical & I was very impressed with the life Alexander Hamilton led (mostly.) He did so many great things for our young country! The coast guard, centralized banking, writing Pro-Federalist papers & informative essays, regulating currency, etc. It would have been neat to see what he could do as a President of the young nation.....

[Jim]

Written in conversational style, this bears no resemblance to your father's history book. I enjoyed learning more about Hamilton and his contemporaries, but it was more like listening to a middle school history lecture than reading a book. There are also as many typos in the paperback version as one would expect to find in a self published e-book. Doesn't anyone proofread anymore?

[Kathleen]

OK so I only read 18% of this book - but it was terrible. The writing style was puerile, and each chapter read like a report for social studies class in 10th grade. I almost never stop reading even a "bad" book - but I could not stand another minute of reading this one.

[Bec Martin]

A quick, enjoyable read

It wasn't terribly thorough, but had enough information to keep the book interesting. The writing style was easy to read.

[Carlos]

Good book about our founding fathers

I just love biogeography books specially one to do with our history and where we come from. Good book overall

[Jessica]

The grammatical errors and weird comments like "The Founder father's didn't have cell phones or social media!" made the book less enjoyable. It did provide a general overview of Hamilton's life.

[Julia Bass]

An entertaining and informative read. A great summary and format of his life. The author thread the story well.