Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
The biography behind the musical: an orphan from the Caribbean who talked his way to New York, became Washington's aide, built the American financial system and destroyed himself through pride and a duel. Chernow is thorough and sympathetic, and the book is a study in ambition, output and the failure to manage enemies.
Read it if…
you want a life about ambition, prodigious output and the cost of pride.
Skip it if…
you want a short read; it is eight hundred pages.
Three things you will actually use
- Write your way into rooms you were not born into.
- Output compounds reputation.
- Unmanaged enemies end careers.
Do this first
Read how he structured the Treasury from nothing and note the first principles he began with.
Our verdict
Ambition, output and pride.
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