The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

by Judith St. George

In curiously parallel lives, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were both orphaned at an early age. Both were brilliant students who attended college--one at Princeton, the other at Columbia--and studied law.

Both were young staff officers under General George Washington, and both became war heroes. Politics beckoned them, and each served in the newly formed government of the fledgling nation. Why, then, did these two face each other at dawn in a duel that ended with death for one and opprobrium for the other?

Judith St. George's lively biography, told in alternating chapters, brings to life two complex men who played major roles in the formation of the United States.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Middle Grade, Historical, Audiobook, American History

112 pages, Hardcover

First published June 25, 2009

Reviews

[Sarah Smalley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am feeding my Hamilton obsession, and this was an easy read to learn further details about the Burr-Hamilton dynamic.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually read non-fiction books but this one drew me. It was the life of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr from both of their perspectives. It was a similar series of events to the Musical but they their differences. In the musical it focused more so on the relationships between people while the book talked more facts and dates. But nevertheless, this was a pretty good book considering it was non-fiction :)

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schoolin' myself on A. Burr and A. Ham before I go see the show. This was a quick and accessible rundown about their lives and feuds.

[RubyRidingHood]

3 pages in: Very excited to read this because:
1) Hamilton!! I love Hamilton the Musical
2) Hungry for books set during the time of Hamilton the Musical
3) A book about Hamilton and Burr, and it's super short and super easy to read!
Disclaimer:
Oh gosh, this book is already annoying me with all the grammar rule-breaking. Judith St. George starts sentences with "because" and "and", and it's very aggravating because this is a book about history, and it's geared at the age level reading of teens. Puh-lease! Not impressed.

[Stacey Shapiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's essentially a cliff notes of the Chernow biography. It reads pretty young to me but has all the important information

[Desirae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other reviwers have noted this, but The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr really is the cliffnotes adaptation of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow with an added thread of Aaron Burr (sir) sprinkled throughout.

Despite its length (barely 100 pages long) it is quite informative, and I found the parallels between these two historic founding fathers to be both strange and fascinating.

I'm still waiting for an Antonia Fraser style biography of The Schuyler Sisters, it in the meantime this book, and the upcoming Alex and Eliza: A Love Story will have to do.

[JosephB · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, The Duel, by Judith St. George, was an interesting read with ups and downs of the parallel lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr and was surprisingly hard to put down for being the genre informational nonfiction. There were two main characters in this book who were Alexander Hamilton, an intelligent, charismatic, and an one way opinion thinker, and Aron Burr, a bright, charming, and resolute person. The main conflict started when Alexander and Aaron become rivals in politics, relationship, and eventually duelists. The theme I felt of this book, even though it was, nonfiction was to never give up due to Alexander and Aaron becoming orphans at an early age to later become war and American Heroes. This book in my opinion was a great book and tells the lives of American heroes and patriots of our history and that this story was very unpredictable with the characters of the story often being struck with tragedy and disaster out of nowhere. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction or American history for this is an amazingly written book. This is also a great book for whoever wants to get their nonfiction book out of the way for their IRP.

[Alexandra Riva · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book and I learned a lot about Hamilton and Burr. Though if you don't really care much about the musical Hamilton you don't need to read it. It is also a easy read and it is not a very long book.

[Kirstin Dobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good simple read-- it's kid-like fiction. It does tell the facts but a little too simplistic for me after reading other work on Hamilton. The description of the duel is fabulous, though.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Going in, I barely knew about Hamilton and this famous duel. To be clear, I am fascinated by history and read a lot about it lately and love documentaries, but I don't retain enough of the details, so I have the special pleasure of almost learning everything for the first time no matter how many times I hear it. This is true for Science, too. Anyway, here's what I knew:
There was a famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr back in the day, Hamilton is way famous for great political activity during the early years of our country and everyone is nuts about him because of the amazing hip-hop musical that is too expensive for me to see. Do you want to know how I know about the duel? Because this is embarrassing....

I remember the Got Milk? commercial from the 90's in which a guy is called by a radio show to answer a trivia question about the duel, and he has a mouth full of peanut butter and he is yelling, "Aaron Burr!" but no one can understand him, so he loses. If only he had milk. This is the only reason that I know anything about Burr, Hamilton, and the bullet. Sigh. I'm glad I got that off of my chest.

Anyway, about this book. My questions going in:
What's so great about Hamilton?
Who was Aaron Burr, and why were they dueling?
What was the result?
Did one challenger die, or did they both?
Did people duel during the early years of our nation, because it's not like I heard about any duels in History class. I mean...I've seen duels in movies set in the Wild West, but all of that seems silly, not like something in which Revolutionary War heroes and Founding Fathers would partake. This should have been a pretty interesting book.

I did learn some interesting things about how these two guys had almost parallel lives and then intersected as political adversaries. Both were pretty much egotistical, power-hungry jerks, and I felt like today's politicians are cut from the same mold as our very first ones. That was refreshing. It was kind of interesting to hear all about their political feuding, accomplishments, failures, and a few things about their personal lives. I now know about all of the elections they won, which positions they held, and all of the slimy, behind-the-scenes shenanigans they played to secure or attain power. But the book was just okay. There was nothing gripping or fascinating akin to nonfiction narratives by Steve Sheinkin or like when I read The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery. I was thinking this was maybe a 3-star book at most, until the end.

Finally, we got to the duel, for which I had been waiting. I couldn't believe, during the entire book, that this story was actually going to end that way! But then it happened. It was like this: Burr shot Hamilton and he died. Everyone mourned the fallen hero, and Burr was charged with murder. Then Burr lived happily ever after as if he did not murder someone, and was, like, kind of on the run? Except that he was still leading the Senate, although there is no explanation of why he was charged with murder but never arrested... Then he was arrested for something else (treason) and let off....no explanation of why he never was held accountable for the murder. And even now, after having read THE DUEL, I don't know why they agreed to duel, why anyone would agree to such a thing, how common it was, where the concept originated, what was hoped to be gained, what people thought of the fact that these two grown men did something so vile and immature, what happened to Hamilton's widow and 7 children after her husband went and got himself killed....so many questions, and so unsatisfying.

I guess I learned a lot about the two men, but not in a way that's significantly better than a history textbook, but I didn't really learn about THE DUEL. This book did a lousy job preparing me for a trivia question on the duel compared to a milk commercial. The winner of Hamilton narrative? Got Milk, and possibly Broadway if I can ever afford to see Hamilton

[Kyra T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr was written by Judith St. George. I overall really liked this book! Though, there is a large chunk of it that I just wasn’t a fan of. I believe the author did a good job showing the audience the parallels of the lives of Burr and Hamilton, and there are a lot. I love, love, loved how at the very end the author merged the chapter between the two men. During the book, the men have alternating chapters. One for Burr, one for Hamilton.
I didn’t like the content. The thing that irked me the most was the absolute lack of their home lives other than a throwaway sentence. I liked how they told of the military and political prowess, but how did Mrs. Hamilton react to the affair? The author told us very little when it came to their personal affairs, which from I know, are pretty similar. I’d like to see how that would have been written. The author went on about their political careers, then their law careers, then finally their military careers. It felt boring reading through the middle.
Overall, I did enjoy the book very much. I don’t think I’d read it again, though. It just gets so uneventful and dull towards the middle and has no touch of personality for either of the two men. I’d still suggest it for anyone looking for a moderate read, though, who wants to learn about the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.

[Kylie Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 historically-informational stars

This is a really great historical portrayal of the parallel lives of Hamilton and Burr. There is so much information packed into such a short book! It really goes more in depth to show Burr and Hamilton's relationship and what ultimately led to the fatal duel. If you like Hamilton, I would definitely recommend you read this book to get a more fuller and exact timeline of the two men. It is just so tragic and heart-wrenching, I loved reading this story.

[Sarah Briel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically my thought when seeing this on the shelf: "HAMILTON! YES! I MUST READ IT!"

My thoughts now:
Well ... this was interesting? I really, really liked all the info about Hamilton and Burr that I haven't heard about, and as a history it was fairly interesting and covered a lot, which I didn't originally expect it too as it's only like ... 100 pages long?

Old politics are so interesting, guys, it's only when you're living in the time that they're scary and sad. xD

The writing style and grammar of the book felt pretty off though. I was literally reading aloud bits of awkward sentences and ignored grammar rules to my sister for the first 15 or so pages until I got used to it. There's a ridiculous amount of sentences that start with conjunctions, and it all just felt ... off.

I enjoyed it for the information, and I felt it did a pretty good job of having all the important information in there, but the writing itself kind of threw me off. :)

[Beth Voecks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book was meant more for kids or young adults as I felt like the author was dumbing down some of the information. Since it is such a short book, I can understand why it's more of an abridged history of the two Founding Fathers' relationship and lives. As I still enjoyed the book, I chose to give it 4 stars.

[arianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! I love how the author brought the characters to life and it read like it was a fiction novel and not a factual one.

[Branden]

This book contains most of the same information as the Chernow biography that inspired the hit musical as well as some additional information about Aaron Burr. The story of A. Ham and A. Burr is one that perfectly illustrates how conflict arises from a clash of two opposing identities. Despite so many similarities in their personal histories and so many shared personal beliefs, these two men were still very different people who were unable to reconcile those major differences between them and it ended with Alexander Hamilton's death. As a bonus, this assignment can be tied into clips from the musical.

One way to transition this into writing instruction is to do a play on Gallagher's "What the Future Holds" but also turn it into a "What If" assignment. These two men played a huge role in our country's history and it could be interesting to have students write about how things might have been different if there had been a point of divergence: what if Hamilton had run for President? What if Burr had defeated Jefferson? What if Burr had been the one to die, or what would Hamilton had done if he survived?

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a quick read that is better if you have hard time understanding politics this is the book for you! As a bonus You get to read a biography on both Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. The writer worked it out well with the parareels between the two men.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The use of parallels between Burr's and Hamilton's lives is a simple yet excellent way in which to tell the story of how two ambitious young men came to be two bitter old men who agree to a fatal duel.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Biography) Full of interesting info in an easy to understand format. Really put into perspective the times these two men grew up in and the choices they made. I appreciated she did not gloss over their egos or bad choices they made along the way while also shining a light on their great accomplishments.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

2020 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Read a YA nonfiction book

Will my Hamilton obsession ever cease? No, probably not.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information for when I will finally see Hamilton in May. Although I have it In a high school library, it it written fairly simply in a way that could be understood by much younger readers as well.

[Kate Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ordered this accidentally, as there's another book about Hamilton and Burr also titled "The Duel". This feels like a middle school supplement to a history class. It's 90 pages, written in easy-to-understand language, very high level. I enjoyed it, but it only skims the surface. And the schoolbook-style simplification of the story made me wonder about its accuracy.

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Quick read.

[Doug · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't normally give up on a book witithn the first 10 pages but this one is THAT BAD. On page 7, "But when Aaron was nineteen months old, he became aware that something was terribly wrong." Umm, no. The book is not for those interested in history.

[Adam James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aaron Burr was a scoundrel, huh?

[John Callahan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I assumed when I started to read "The Duel" that it would be a well researched and accurate description of a very singular event in American history. Wrong. It proved to be a shoddy researched hit piece filled with slanted and misinformation designed to deify Hamilton and demonize Burr through the use of negative adjectives, falsehoods, half-truths and slanted misinformation. A few examples are listed below.
Page 60 describes the Reynolds sandal as Hamilton paying James Reynolds so he may continue his affair with Reynold's wife Maria. False. The scandal was that James Reynolds and his cronies were spreading rumors that the U.S. was going to dishonor the IOU's given to the soldiers of the American Revolution in lieu of back pay so they could buy them at 10 cents on the dollar. The blackmail was that Hamilton, as U.S. Treasurer, would not make a public statement that the rumor was false. Once the scheme was discovered, Hamilton denied all knowledge of it. Letters, produced by James Monroe, Hamilton wrote to Maria Reynold proved he was lying. This led to Hamilton challenging Monroe to a duel which was defused by Burr.
Page 79, in regard to the Manhattan Water Project, Ms. St. George describes Burr and "sly and devious" for infusing verbiage within the bill to allow for another bank. She fails to mention that Hamilton's two existing banks, the Bank of New York and the U.S. Bank denied funding to Republicans and gave access to capital only to Federalist. Burr's Manhattan Bank gave Republicans
equal access to capital. Leveled the playing field.
The duel. Dueling, by definition, is "An Affair of Honor". As dueling was loathe by European and
American society, but acknowledge that men of honor had a right to defend their honor, a very strict set of rules were applied to the practice. They were known as "The Code Duello" As the main participants of dueling were soldiers, politicians and newspaper editors, both Hamilton and Burr would have been extremely well versed in the rules. It was standard procedure when a fatality occurred in a duel for the survivor to be charged with murder. Upon proving, through testimony of the seconds, that all of the 24 rules of the code duello were followed, charges were dismissed ( see Notes On Duels, by Sabine). Ms. St. George's description of the duel includes violations of the code. She says that Hamilton advised his second Pendleton that he would "fire his gun in the air" This is strictly forbidden in rule 13 of the code and is consider a dishonorable act. Having this knowledge prior to the duel would have impugned the honor of both men. Ms. St. George states that "they drew lots for ground position". False, rule 17 gives ground position choice to the person challenged. Ms. St. George goes on to state the Hamilton put on his glasses because of the sun. False. He put on his glasses to adjust the sights on his weapon, giving non verbal communication to Burr as to his intensions.
In her epilogue on page 88, the author makes her most egregious misrepresentation. She states that Burr was tried for treason based on a letter he wrote to Wilkinson, later given to Burr's enemy Jefferson, called "the cipher letter". She fails to inform the reader that Burr denied writing the letter, that Wilkinson admitted he altered the letter at trial causing the letter as evidence to be thrown out, and that later, handwriting analysis proved the letter was written by Jonathan Dayton ( see cipher letter ).
The truth is, that although Hamilton was a great Secretary of Treasurer and the father of our economy, he was constantly involved in intrigues against his contemporaries such as Jefferson, Adams, Burr and very many others. Burr's long term dream was a land grab in America from Spain and France. Reading "The Life and Times of Aaron Burr" by J. Parton would give anyone a clear picture of early 19th century society.
In conclusion, before his death on Sept. 14, 1836, Aaron Burr saw his dream come true. On March 2, 1836 Sam Houston won Texas from Mexico. The traitor of 1807 was the hero of 1836, for the same goal. Timing. Thank you, John Callahan

[Alyson Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book: The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
Author: Judith St. George
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

This is a great short read on how Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr’s lives were parallel. I like that it was simple to read and very quick, but had a ton of information in it.

This book explores the intertwined lives of two remarkable figures in American history. Both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were orphaned as children, excelled academically, and pursued careers in law. They shared experiences as young staff officers under General George Washington during the Revolutionary War, earning distinction as war heroes. Both entered politics, serving in the government of the newly formed United States. Despite their similar paths, their contrasting personalities and ambitions ultimately led to the infamous duel that left Hamilton dead and Burr disgraced. St. George's engaging narrative alternates between the lives of these complex men, shedding light on their achievements, conflicts, and the events that culminated in their dramatic and tragic confrontation.

Hamilton and Burr’s relationship with each other is something I found very interesting when reading this. I knew the two were similar, but this book showcases just how similar they are. Hamilton is portrayed by history as the good guy, the one who manages to overcome everything. History has not been kind to Burr. We see these two having similar but different experiences in life. Both in the Revolution, both were politicians, and both were lawyers. Both were very ambitious. Yet, they are different. Hamilton's idealism and vision for a strong federal government set him apart from Burr, whose pragmatism and desire for personal power often seemed to conflict with Hamilton's principles. Both had immense ambition, but while Hamilton’s drive to build and shape the nation’s future was rooted in ideals, Burr’s pursuit was often more personal, seeking influence and advancement even at the expense of others. Their lives are marked by parallel achievements, but their differing motives and actions led them down dramatically different paths, culminating in their tragic encounter.

This book showcases all of this very well. I think, correct me if I am wrong, that this is written for younger readers. I would not call this a children’s book, but it feels like a middle grade or young adult. The way things are described and written makes this book easy to read and get into. It’s kid-friendly but does not leave anything out. It’s fast-paced and exciting. History is brought to life on the page. I like how the chapters were split between the men’s lives at different stages of life. It allows us, again, to see how much they are alike and how different they are. It’s all there and all right in front of you.

Overall, I did enjoy this one a lot. It’s a quick read and has a lot of great information in it.

[Reagan Wassom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Duel, Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
This was a pretty ok book. If you have ever seen the Broadway Show “Hamilton” you will know a ton about this book already. I personally am obsessed with everything “Hamilton.” This Book is similar to other Biographies mainly because of the explanation of a lot of their life and how things were played out. A book that I have read in the past that comes to mind is the Autobiography of Malala Yousafzai. It was a wonderful book with a lot of emotion and detail put behind each experience shared. This is not a book I would recommend for people who love books with a large climax. For me I did get pretty bored during my reading of this book and I found it hard to read through quickly even though it is a very short book. It was fun to learn some new information that the play doesn’t cover. I think that I have learned more about our country's history during the life of George Washington than I have in any history class I’ve ever taken. The Character of Aaron Burr is explained so perfectly. He is a man who has always had a fair amount of money and he is extremely used to that. Hamilton on the other hand never had much money from when he was a child to when he was a young teen. He learns to love that life and what he benefits from in his very unique future. The ending of this book is tragic simply because of the death of Hamilton in The Duel which is what the entire book is leading up to. The vocabulary is older and sounds weird to us because of the way we speak now.

[Paula · Rating 2 out of 5]

Primeiro e mais importante ponto: esse livro resolve de forma suficiente a minha curiosidade e necessidade de conciliar a narrativa de Hamilton, O Musical, de que sou enorme fã, e as histórias reais dos antagonistas Alexander Hamilton e Aaron Burr.

Segundo: o livro é escrito para adolescentes, provavelmente parte do currículo acadêmico do Middle ou High School locais. Definitivamente não seria o tipo de livro que eu buscaria para ter informação, mas eu só precisava de uma introdução high level ao tema (já tenho outras 3 ou 4 biografias na fila), então serviu. Mas a obra ainda ficou aquém das minhas expectativas ajustadas, pois me ocorreu como um grande sumário dos paralelos entre as vidas dos dois. Não existe história, narrativa, cena, diálogo. É realmente um grande sumário que eu leria na véspera da prova de História se não tivesse nem começado a estudar o assunto.

Terceiro: desculpem minha falta de profissionalismo na revisão, não consigo deixar fora da nota meu desapontamento com a história real dos dois protagonistas. Sim, eles tem paralelos fascinantes em suas vidas e foram antagonistas na realidade, mas eram também vaidosos (tinham até “clubes de seguidores”, os Burnites para Burr e outro para Hamilton - Hammies? Alexies? Whatever, fato é que eles chamavam Hamilton de “The Little Lion”), vivendo vidas muito acima das suas possibilidades financeiras e, cá pra nós, próxima vez que eu precisar explicar Centrão pra alguém eu vou falar de Burr.

Respeito os levados de ambos, estão LONGE de serem irrelevantes, mas - pffff - boys **will** be boys.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the perfect book to feed my "Hamilton" obsession. A short middle-grade biography of A. Ham and A. Burr, focusing on their many similarities and how their intersecting public lives led to the fateful duel. Published in 2009, this was written after the Chernow bio (which is listed in the bibliography) but before LMM's musical. Many passages in this book caused my brain to spontaneously play the "Hamilton" soundtrack along with it.

[In particular:
Chapter 2: "When Aaron was two, he had lost everything and everyone he had ever loved or counted on. As he grew up, he found it easier to back off without committing himself to anything until he could figure out what offered the greatest and safest reward." = Wait For It
Chapter 4: "If Hamilton and Burr shared one trait, it was their love for the ladies." = A Winter's Ball: "But what do we have in common? We're reliable with the LADIES!"]

Note: this is a book for children, so it glosses over many of the more "adult" aspects of Hamilton's life. The author uses the term "illegitimate" to describe his birth, and acknowledges that his parents never married. She also passes very quickly over the Reynolds affair, describing the relationship with Maria merely as "a romance" before quoting the line, "My real crime is an amorous connection with his wife."

Overall, this is the perfect companion to the musical for anyone looking for a quick introduction, or for something appropriate for school-age children.