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Lawyer, soldier, politician and author, Alexander Hamilton lived a short life but left a huge legacy. Born on the Caribbean island of Nevis, Hamilton was forced to deal with the stigma of being an illegitimate child, and the trauma of losing both parents at a young age. But by the time he was in his twenties, he had fought with distinction in the American Revolution, and was a successful lawyer married to the daughter of a prominent member of New York society. He became the nation''s first Secretary of the Treasury in his early thirties and was a co-author of the Federalist Papers, but would be dead by the age of fifty, killed by a former vice president of the United States. Award-winning biographer Willard Sterne Randall mines the latest scholarship to provide a new perspective on Hamilton, his little-known military activities, political and diplomatic intrigues, and sometimes scandalous private life. Alexander Hamilton is an accessible, exciting portrait of this remarkable founding father. Willard Sterne Randall is Distinguished Scholar in History at Champlain College and an expert on early U.S. history. He received the Sidney Hillman Prize and the National Magazine Award as an investigative reporter. His work has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize. His books include Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor and A Little Revenge: Benjamin Franklin and His Son, which won the Frank Luther Mott Prize. He lives in Burlington, Vermont with his family. ''Assiduously researched and appealingly written, Randall''s Alexander Hamilton: A Life is an informative and insightful portrait of a highly complex personality.'' - Houston Chronicle
About the author
Willard Sterne Randall is the prize-winning author of thirteen books, including Ethan Allen: His Life and Times; A Little Revenge: Benjamin Franklin at War with His Son; Thomas Jefferson: A Life; George Washington: A Life; and Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor. A finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, he is a professor of history at Champlain College and lives in Burlington, Vermont.
