By Ron Chernow. ISBN 1-59420-009-2.  Copyright 2004.  Hardcover with 731 pages and a 16 page illustration insert. 

Winner of the 2005 George Washington Book Prize.

National Book Award winner Ron Chernow brings to startling life the man who was the principal designer of the federal government, and the catalyst for the emergence of the two-party system.  With masterful storytelling skills, Chernow offers the whole sweep of Hamilton’s turbulent life: his exotic, brutal upbringing, his brilliant military, legal, and financial exploits; his titanic feuds with Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and Monroe; and his famous death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July 1804.  Throughout, Chernow blends Hamilton’s public and private selves to present a fully rounded portrait of this handsome, witty, controversial genius.