This is a rather short read, 183 pages from start to end of epilogue, but it is packed with details of what it can be determined explains what landed Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr on July 11, 1804 to the stand on the waterfront in Weehawken N.J. with guns pointed at each other.
There appears, even to Hamilton if you read his last writings as sincere, to be blame on both sides. It is sad to think about what more these very smart and capable men could have done had their paths not ended that fateful day. Death does have a way of redeeming people and at the time of his death it did appear Hamilton needed redeeming (not that he hadn't made errors that more time could have allowed him to remedy). But he really didn't. He truly had left his mark on this young country he helped start. The financial system still in place today, the Coast Guard branch of our military service, The New York Post (ok, trash today but important for bird owners across NYC for cage liner), and of course his story on Broadway. I say that last bit with a wink but also sincerity because it has sparked a renewed interest in the revolutionary period of U.S. history in young and old alike.
(Finished June 26, 2017)
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