Alexander Hamilton ─ The Illustrated Biography

Find out who lived and who died in the incredible story of the founding father who made America modern—and became the toast of Broadway.
Until the runaway success of the Broadway musical, Alexander Hamilton was one of the least loved of the Founding Fathers, but his star has risen. This richly illustrated biography portrays Hamilton’s fascinating life alongside his key contributions to American history, including his unsung role as an early abolitionist. An immigrant from the West Indies, he played decisive parts in the political, legal, and economic development of the new nation: he served as Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War; he helped establish the Constitution; he wrote most of the Federalist Papers; and he modernized America’s fledgling finances, among other notable achievements. Noted Hamilton scholar and chairman of the Museum of American Finance, Richard Sylla, brings the flesh-and-blood man—the soldier, lawyer, political scientist, constitutionalist, finance minister, and politician—to life and provides captivating details of his private life as well as his infamous demise at the hands of Vice President Aaron Burr, expertly telling Hamilton’s incredible story like no other.

Richard Sylla is a Hamilton scholar, the chairman of the Museum of American Finance, and professor emeritus of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he served as the Henry Kaufman professor of the history of financial institutions and markets for 25 years. He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Cliometric Society. He has received the Citibank Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Business History Conference Lifetime Achievement Award, a National Science Foundation grant, and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant. He served as president of the Economic History Association and the Business History Conference, and was a national Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar (2015–16). A three-time graduate in economics from Harvard University, he lives with his wife in NY and NH.