Radical Hamilton: Economic Lessons from a Misunderstood Founder

by Christian Parenti

In retelling the story of the radical Alexander Hamilton, Parenti rewrites the history of early America and the global economy. For much of the twentieth century, Hamilton—sometimes seen as the bad boy of the founding fathers or portrayed as the patron saint of bankers—was out of fashion. In contrast his rival Thomas Jefferson, the patrician democrat and slave owner who feared government overreach, was claimed by all. But more recently, Hamilton has become a subject of serious interest again.

He was a contradictory mix: a tough soldier, austere workaholic, exacting bureaucrat, sexual libertine, glory-obsessed romantic with suicidal tendencies—and pioneer of industrialisation. As Parenti argues, we have yet to fully appreciate Hamilton as the primary architect of American capitalism and the developmental state. In exploring his life and work, Parenti rediscovers this gadfly as a pathbreaking political thinker and institution builder. In this vivid portrait, Hamilton emerges as a singularly important historical figure: a thinker and politico who laid the foundation for America’s ascent to global supremacy and mass industrialization—for better or worse.

Genres: History, Economics, Politics, Nonfiction, American History, American Revolution

304 pages, Unknown Binding

Published August 4, 2020

About the author

Christian Parenti is a contributing editor at The Nation, a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, and a visiting scholar at the City University of New York. He has a Ph.D. in sociology from the London School of Economics. The author of Lockdown America, The Soft Cage, and The Freedom. Parenti has written for Fortune, The New York Times, Los AngelesTimes, Washington Post, Playboy, Mother Jones, and The London Review of Books. He has held fellowships from the Open Society Institute, Rockefeller Brother Fund and the Ford Foundation; and has won numerous awards, including the 2009 Lange-Tailor Prize and “Best Magazine Writing 2008” from the Society for Professional Journalists. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[lady h]

PAUSED @ 17%

This isn't necessarily a reflection on the book itself, which is quite good for what it's meant to be, but it's a little heavy on colonial economics for my taste. I found the first part excellent because it was focused more on Alexander Hamilton's life, but the proceeding chapters are heavily focused on the war effort and war spending, with a minutiae of economic details that I'm just not interested in. Still, I'm not abandoning this book forever; I'm thinking this is the kind of book that I'll borrow from the library in physical form and skim through at some point, because it does contain some interesting information.

[Matthias]

In terms of form, this is an awkward book that oftentimes adds up to less than the sum of its parts. It's a book unsure of whether it wants to be laudatory or amorally analytic about Hamilton and the Federalists (but certain that it hates Jefferson,) and about the balance of intellectual history, political history, and biography; its central argument is that state power was necessary for capitalist industrial development, but this is more asserted in some respects than given real investigation. (It's certainly not a new thesis, and the strongest reasons to accept it aren't hammered here.) And the narrative arc of the book ends up being a little awkward as well: Hamilton sees that a weak state can't industrialize - can't, more broadly speaking, hold itself together or do fuck all - then he comes up with an intellectual program for solving the problem, then it's ruined by Jeffersonians, then in the last chapter it's postscripted that the Whigs and Republicans enacted the needed internal improvements, so he did win, sort of. Interesting arguments are gestured at and then abandoned. Repeated attempts to connect the Hamiltonian program to the Green New Deal are repeatedly made, which could work as an analogy, but no particular attempt seems to be made to connect these other than both of them involving government intervention, which seems a remarkably shallow analogy for an otherwise Marxist work to make.

Hot take, though: this is fine. If I could summarize the above complaints as "this has the character of a Wikipedia jaunt or a podcast episode," well, I like aimless Wikipedia strolls and meandering podcast episodes full of half-baked ideas worth potentially baking on further in spare moments for thought.. And I've certainly spent a number of recent reviews complaining instead that the interesting asides are sacrificed to weak main theses, and that we shouldn't be afraid to embrace the latter. This is a foxy book wearing a hedgehog cloak - it says it's about one big thing, is mostly about many little things, and that's okay.

(As a prospective history teacher who's been assured many times that students will only give a shit about history if you connect it to current concerns, this was also valuable as a demonstration of ways to do that, even - or especially - if some of the examples seemed like reaches.)

That said, the time I set aside for reading books has its comparative advantage in forms of thought that are distinct to books. A monograph is not a priori a better way of thinking than a podcast - I like to think of them as complementary - but the necessity of things like doing the dishes and walking the dog means I already get plenty of good podcasts, whereas monograph-enabled thinking can only be done with time set aside for monographs. So I will probably continue to focus mostly on the latter.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

The strengths:
1) An engaging economic history of the revolutionary and pre-constitutional convention periods. In short, it wasn't good. No industrial capacity. No roads. Very few banks and financial capacity. Powerless central government. They couldn't even levy a tax. After the revolutionary war, states continued fighting each other (Vermont fought a war of independence from New York, Connecticut fought battles in Pennsylvania over land). New York placed a 25% tariff on Connecticut and New Jersey. The country was going to tear itself apart. Enter Hamilton and Madison's Federalist Papers and the constitutional convention giving a central, federal authority, with significant powers.

2) The author, Parenti, gives a detailed discussion of Hamilton's economic policy reports, outlining the method of taxation, debt management (assuming state's debt under the feds), a central bank, and his Report on Manufacturing. The later receives the most attention. In short, Hamilton argues for a developmentalist state, investing in transportation, subsidizing entrepreneurs with government expenditures, and protective tariffs for burgeoning industries. It is nuanced and thoughtful policy. In in many regards, was finally put into placement via the progressive era (1900's) and under FDR. It is the foundation of the left's government intervention found in the Founding Fathers.

Parenti's weaknesses:
1) The introduction, in particular, but also peppered throughout are a strong polemic tone. The book presents itself as serious historical and economic scholarship, yet wraps its style in pamphleteering polemic language. I mean, opponents will need to "rub their faces in"... is not how to make an academic argument. Even in the context of the burning of the nation's capital in the War of 1812. Not a fan.

2) Parenti's frequent illusions to modern political questions are haphazard and non-sequeter. Applying Hamilton to the Green New Deal is a stretch. The link could be there, but the author does not take the care to methodically and carefully link the two. Hamilton may have disapproved of President Trump, but a direct link to Hamilton's writings and a specific Trump policy or behavior. Rather, it is sweeping and generalized. These are interesting points to make, but, either the book should increase its length to explore these issues fully, or avoid them altogether.

The book shines when focusing on Hamilton's life and economic contours and policy recommendations applied to his time.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book I read from the Verso Book Club selection.

A well argued account of Alexander Hamilton‘s economic thought and his contrast to Jeffersonian ideas of small government and agricultural economy. Parenti‘s narrative is well written and even quite entertaining, however, sometimes the connection between the individual chapters is lost.

Most interesting to me were his international comparisons of Hamilton‘s developmental ideas with their echoes in Japan and Germany, as well as Parenti‘s approach to the history of the early American state through the perspective of environmental factors - both issues that he only touches on at the edges of his account and that could definitely be explored in a lot more detail.

[Stefan Guimond]

Not that radical...

[Theroadtosedition · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christian Parenti is always a good, educational read. The overall story telling and angle is both familiar yet clever. However, I do have two slight complaints. 1 is the direct quoting of Hamilton ad nauseum which makes for a bit of a slog at times. 2 is that I had hoped for at least 1 full chapter dedicated to the application of dirigiste economics to the climate crisis but instead just got scattered paragraphs.

[Isaac Pena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could've been better edited and the green/climate Hamilton angle a little more fully developed, but ultimately a fascinating corrective to the laissez-faire fans of Hamilton and a sober examination of what was planned as effectively ISI for the late 18th century, before anyone else had done it and in the context of only a single extant industrial competitor with every incentive to prevent other powers from developing.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, providing a focused look at Alexander Hamilton’s views and policies on American economic development. The author, journalist and academic Christian Parenti, presents the background for and details of Hamilton’s steps to dramatically change the nature of business in America. The book starts with an overview of the business landscape of America up to the Revolution and the Constitution’s ratification. Parenti explains that the toils of the Revolution convinced Hamilton, along with many other early American leaders, of the need to expand the nation’s manufacturing potential as a fundamental security measure, harnessing capitalism to ensure the nation’s safety. The author shows that Hamilton’s Report on Manufacturing, with its succinct outline of a national developmental model, was the fundamental “recipe” for America’s rise to the economic power we are today. Interspersed throughout the book are asides explaining how the same energy Hamilton devoted to reshaping American capitalism can be reapplied today. A great book for understanding Hamilton’s developmental model and it’s effect on history. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning more about Hamilton’s economic views.

[Edward Rathke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to finish this but I made it!

This is sort of an odd book because it both seems like it's meant for a general audience and like they should have a bit more specialized economic understanding. I think this is meant, really, for people who have seen or listened to the Hamilton Musical. As in, that's the level of understanding you should have about Hamilton before you start. The more you know, the more a lot of this drags because it is sort of a not-so-brief summary of his life leading up to the core of the argument.

In many ways, it feels like this whole book could have been just a good sized essay. The heart of the book and the parts of the book that are most interesting are the parts that re-evaluate Hamilton's economic thinking. But they comprise about 100 pages of this book, so either the book could've been a lot shorter or the analysis could've been extended. I mean, it is useful for people unfamiliar with Hamilton's life to follow him through the Revolution and the Critical Period to understand his statist economic theory. But if you've read the Chernow biography, you're already very familiar with this period.

Anyway.

When we get to Hamilton's economic theory, we do get a very interesting little book here. Rather than the laissez faire capitalist Chernow makes him out to be, it's clear that Hamilton was almost the exact opposite. While he quoted extensively from Adam Smith, he also included a withering critique of the burgeoning British lassez faire ideology. Hamilton's economic theory, as laid out in his Reports on Manufacturer's, comes down to a highly interventionist state, including protectionism, subsidies, infrastructure, military growth, and an extensive profusion of the national postal system.

It really is fascinating, especially since the Jeffersonians did everything in their power to thwart Hamilton's interventionist state, even going so far as to shut it down once the Federalists were out of power. And then, over the course of the 19th century, we saw the US enact many of his policies, which contributed to the rise of the American empire. Too, we see Hamilton's economic theories launch in Germany and Japan, turning both countries into economic and military world powers.

Parenti, interestingly, isn't really interested in whether or not Hamilton's theories are moral or positive in any way. He limits his scope purely to its effectiveness at solidifying the infant republic. And I think it's clear, no matter what we might think of Hamilton, that his theories were really novel and genius and effective. Especially since the Jeffersonian push away from Hamilton's ideas and practices led almost directly to Washington DC burning down within ten years of Hamilton's death.

Anyrate, fascinating stuff. If you're familiar with Hamilton's life, I'd recommend skipping the first 100-130 pages. If all you know about Hamilton is from the musical, you may as well read the whole thing.

[George Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I fell into the category of misguided readers that believed Hamilton was a strict free-market capitalist. I like that the author spent a good portion of the book covering Hamilton’s Report on the Subject of Manufactures. Unlike the Federalist Papers many Americans are unfamiliar with this text. In dissecting this report Hamilton clearly advocates for tariffs, regulation, and subsidies as necessary for not only state planning but to finance our military. Establishing credit is essential to our national defense because it’s virtually impossible to fight a war without foreign loans.

The book definitely has an agenda. The title of the book is the argument itself that Hamilton is misrepresented and is actually more “radical” in his economic policies than we give him credit for. I wouldn’t say radical is the right word choice but you get the point. The author subtly makes it clear that we need a Hamiltonian state effort to tackle modern issues like climate change. I don’t disagree, but it felt a little too political and disconnected from the rest of the book.

The author dismantles the Jeffersonian policy of decentralization both in politics and economics. The War of 1812 exposed the failures of this way of thinking but unfortunately our country doubled down on the states by electing Andrew Jackson President. Ultimately it took a Civil War for our country to finally come around to instituting more of the economics policies championed by Hamilton. Germany uniting under Prussian rule is another thought provoking example of Hamiltonian success.

Some redundant early chapters covering the financial catastrophes of the Revolutionary War could’ve been condensed.

[Matthew Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's almost as if this subject is timely catnip for some unknowable reason. 🙃

Regardless of that, it makes a well-grounded case for consideration of Alexander Hamilton's ideas re: industrial policy and his use of public debt to secure credit-worthiness in the crisis years of the early republic, as well as the long life of his 1791 "Report on Manufactures" to Congress.

If it has one flaw it's that I wish more time was spent on the use of the Postal Service (also timely!) to build roads and the Erie Canal in the early 19th century, as well as more time discussing the thwarted infrastructural ambitions of John Quincy Adams (a President who knew the true meaning of "Infrastructure Week.")

TL;DR A fun read for people who liked Hamilton but wish Lin-Manuel Miranda had written more theater-rap about industrial policy.

[Duncan · Rating 2 out of 5]

230 pages of real content and the author wastes 175 of them re-telling the story of Hamilton the Musical with limited connective tissue to the larger theme surrounding Hamilton's Report on Manufacturers. Even when we arrive at the chapter (yes, singular) that begins to digest The Report, the author allocates 25 pages to a bulleted explanation suited for a blog post rather than a book. This is followed by 30 pages of surface-level examples ripped from an introductory American History class and Google-search-level quotes from Tocqueville.

A real disappointment for anyone with even a surface level understanding of the Revolutionary War and Constitutional Convention eras of American history.

[Phillip Millman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is two unequal parts: economic history and heavy-handed dogma. The economic history is very good and worth the time. The author's shoe horning of Hamiltons's works into modern-day dirigiste (look it up as it is the author's favorite wprd) viewpoint is tedious and detracts from the economic history. More bizarrely is the author's conviction that Hamilton would be on the forefront of environmentalism. The author's acknowledges (as do all scholars) that Hamilton's brilliance laid in his ability to find pragmatic solutions, especially for a poor new nation that needed to be industrialized for economic growth and security. This contradiction and the heavy-handed nature of the author's dogma drags down an otherwise good economic history book.

[Rich Uncle Pennybags · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately for the author, who wants to get us to think about climate change, this book is way more interesting when it's telling us about the life of Alexander Hamilton than when it tries to get into the implications in the latter chapters. The idea of a "green" Hamilton seems to be the entire motivation for writing the book and yet is barely explored.

That aside, I've never been a huge Hamilton fan but this book, while rightly critical in some aspects, has given me more appreciation for this thinking and ideas. Parenti's points about the "American system" being more or less the only way to develop an economy are rather persuasively argued as well.

[Stacy Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a worthwhile take on Hamilton and worth reading if you’re interested in American history or economic policy. My main gripe is that I just couldn’t shake the feeling that this book, in its current form, could just have easily been an essay.

Ultimately it might have been worthwhile to spend more time connecting Hamilton’s vision of economic policy to today’s environment and political climate. The author deals with this a bit in the intro and outro, but that was probably the most interesting bit to me.

[Bergen Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book gives a great account of the American revolution and Hamilton's role in it, as well as the evolution of his thought. Hamilton is certainly an underappreciated economist, and arguably the most successful nation builder (in the modern connotation) in the history of the world. Radical Hamilton illustrates the world he developed his ideas in, their merits, and their consequences.

[David Potsubay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is all over the place. Feels more like an economic history of early US history rather than strictly Hamilton. Could be interesting for that reason, but it has a only 1-2 small ideas and then overly stuffed with other pieces to fill out the book.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting overview. I learned a lot.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is wonderful economic and political history, would've loved to see more connection and reflection on Hamiltonian lessons for the green new deal though.

[wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this book.

parenti does a fantastic job of blending a narrative, linear, retelling & revision of hamilton's role in the american revolution with technical explanations of federalist banking & fiscal policy to create a very compelling argument for statist hamilton. the book is extremely easy to follow. i only wish that parenti expanded more on his environmentalist angle— but otherwise, it's a very well-done revisionist economic history.

i really enjoyed how biographical it was, it's very clear that parenti tried to get into hamilton's head, trying to connect his economic vision for the country with his developing personality (often while quoting hamilton's letters).

if you don't like american history, don't read this book. if you don't like economic history or economics, don't read it. lol. otherwise, it's a great read.

[Luc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parenti wrote a pertinent introduction to the political economy legacy of Alexander Hamilton and its influence on the United States' economic development.