Add to this Hamilton’s remarkable rise from his illegitimate birth on a remote Caribbean island, a tumultuous personal life and his involvement in what Chernow calls “America’s first sex scandal”, and it seems amazing that Hamilton’s life was neglected for so long. After the war, he was a key figure in the ratification of the US constitution and a prolific writer in its defence, and later he served as the first treasury secretary of the United States during Washington’s presidency. Hamilton’s illustrious career included a position as an aide-de-camp to George Washington during the American War of Independence, prior to gaining military glory at the battle of Yorktown in 1781.
Few figures in American history have been. And yet, the more I read about him, I realised that his personal story was far and away the most dramatic and in fact, rather unbelievable story of any of the founders.” Ron Chernow tells the story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America. In addition to writing biographies, Chernow is a book reviewer, essayist, and radio commentator. But that pretty much exhausted what most people knew. Chernow is the Secretary of PEN American Center, the country’s most prominent writers’ organization, and is currently at work on a biography of Alexander Hamilton. He has written bestselling historical non-fiction biographies. In a podcast interview for History Extra, Chernow explains: “When I started doing the book, most Americans – including I think Lin-Manuel Miranda – knew two things about Alexander Hamilton: he is on the $10 bill in the United States and he had died in a duel with the vice president at the time, Aaron Burr. Ronald Chernow (/ t r n a / born March 3, 1949) is an American writer, journalist and biographer.
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