Feature Series Real History: Alexander Hamilton, The New Jim Crow, Dead Wake, The Big Short, Sapiens | Summary Pack

By Ant Hive Media

This Summary Pack is a Feature Series of Real History and includes these New York Times non-fiction bestsellers: Alexander Hamilton, The New Jim Crow, Dead Wake, The Big Short, Sapiens

RON CHERNOW’S ALEXANDER HAMILTON is a voluminous book which chronicles the life and legacy of one of America’s Founding Fathers.

MICHELLE ALEXANDER’S THE NEW JIM CROW: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness aims to reach three main audiences with this book. The first consists of those who really care about racial injustice, although not yet realizing the magnitude of the mass incarceration crisis among minority races. The second one is comprised of people who notice a resemblance between the modern criminal justice system and the racism from decades ago, yet are not familiar with the information to back it up. And ultimately, the author hopes to communicate with the hundreds of thousands of people currently inside American prisons. She explains that her focus point is how discriminatory the U.S. penal system always was..

ERIK LARSON'S DEAD WAKE: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania is a 2015 New York Times bestseller. The book looks at the sinking of Lusitania during World War I and the events surrounding the sinking

MICHEAL LEWIS’ THE BIG SHORT: INSIDE THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE - The #1 New York Times bestseller - Now a Major Motion Picture from Paramount Pictures
From the author of The Blind Side and Moneyball, The Big Short tells the story of four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predict the credit and housing bubble collapse before anyone else.

YUVAL NOAH HARARI’S SAPIENS: A Brief History of Mankind. A New York Times Bestseller - From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”

Available in a variety of formats, this summary is aimed for those who want to capture the gist of the book but don't have the current time to devour all the pages. You get the main summary along with all of the benefits and lessons the actual book has to offer. This summary is not intended to be used without reference to the original books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ant Hive Media
• Release date: Apr 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310140075

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Ron Chernow’s

Alexander Hamilton

Summary by Ant Hive Media

Copyright © 2016 by Ant Hive Media

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Table of Contents

SUMMARY

MAIN CHARACTERS

ANALYSIS

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS

THEMES

AUTHOR’S STYLE

Summary

Alexander Hamilton (2004) by Ron Chernow is a voluminous book which chronicles the life and legacy of one of America’s Founding Fathers.

Alexander Hamilton gained prominence as one of America’s Founding Fathers and leader of the Federalist Party. And as Federalist, he was the major proponent for a strong centralized government. A true patriot, Hamilton was a very versatile man. He earned a law degree, worked alongside George Washington, he helped draft the Federalist Papers, and he became the first Secretary of the Treasury. Long after his death, Hamilton remains a significant political figure in the history of the United States.

Hamilton had a less than privileged childhood by any standards. His date of birth was never verified, but it was officially documented that he was born on January 11, 1755, in Nevis in the British West Indies. Born to unmarried parents, Hamilton grew up in poverty and therefore had no privileges, unlike that of the other Founding Fathers. At an early age, he took an apprenticeship job with merchant Thomas Stevens, with little formal education, Hamilton impressed Stevens and other local merchants with his intellect and literary prowess. Serving as benefactors, the merchants raised enough funds to send Hamilton to the United States to continue his education.

In 1773, Hamilton left Nevis at age seventeen and traveled alone to New York. He earnestly began his studies at King’s College (now Columbia University), with an interest in military history. He was astute politically, evidenced by his work A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress (a pamphlet critical of the British) which he wrote and published a year after arriving in New York.

When the Revolutionary war began in 1775, Alexander Hamilton suspended his education and offered his services to the militia in New York. Showing exemplary skills and loyalty toward American independence, he was quickly awarded the high rank of lieutenant colonel, serving as the assistant to Commander George Washington. Later, he became chief of staff to George Washington. Hamilton’s position in the war could not be underestimated. He became a close confidant and adviser to his boss and assumed great responsibility for drafting important letter’s on George Washington’s behalf. It didn’t end there. Hamilton was also trusted with leading the negotiations with leading military personnel.

Making a name for himself on the battlefield (while still in the army), Hamilton continued to stay socially connected when he married Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of a distinguished war General from a politically elite family from New York. In 1781, after spending time in New York, Hamilton yearned to return to the battlefield. With approval from George Washington, he was put in charge of three battalions during the Siege of Yorktown. After the battle, he was lauded for contributing to the victory over the British forces.

Alexander Hamilton returned home where he and Elizabeth resumed their family life; they eventually raised 8 children together. Despite a seemingly happy family life Hamilton later became the subject of rumors of infidelity and bisexuality when romantic letters between him another soldier named John Laurens surfaced. Although the letters were written before his marriage to Elizabeth Schuyler, some historians concluded that the flowery tone of the letters written by Hamilton to Laurens suggested that Hamilton was bisexual.

Following the victory at Yorktown, Hamilton retired from the military and was elected to Congress, representing his adopted home state of New York. Once in office, Hamilton’s political agenda was primarily about achieving economic stability. He rallied for a strong central government regarding both foreign and domestic matters.

The Revolutionary War took a considerable financial toll on the United States government. And, under the governing Articles of Confederation, the central government had no power to earn revenue and impose taxes over sovereign states. The end result was that soldiers received little or no payment due to mounting government debt. Many soldiers became disgruntled about their wages and rebelled against the authorities. Hamilton was convinced that the best way to generate revenue and compensate soldiers for their heroic efforts was to impose a whisky tax. He recognized that when the United States developed a strong central government, the government could begin to rely on taxation as stable, continuing source of revenue.

Later, Hamilton resigned from Congress and returned to New York to practice law. Although many of his clients were American colonists (or Loyalists) who remained loyal to Great Britain during the war, they were nonetheless frowned upon as enemies of the United States. Hamilton chose to defend his Loyalist clients as a way to demonstrate the fundamental principles of fairness and equal treatment under the laws. But despite having a prestigious and successful law career, Hamilton was never far away from being an influential as a public servant.

Continuing his push for a new, strong central government with complete authority, Hamilton represented his state at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He advocated for the new government to be replicated after the British system. In a crucial speech made before the committee, Hamilton made his case on what the new government should look like. This included having an elected leader with unlimited powers to govern as the president. He was widely chided by his opponents for being tyrannical.

Hamilton saw that the existing Articles of Confederation contained numerous deficiencies and needed to be replaced. He was an instrumental force behind calling for the ratification of the new Constitution. Although Hamilton was displeased with the final draft of the new Constitution, he favored this supreme law over the flawed Articles of Confederation. To ensure ratification of the Constitution, Hamilton (and two founding fathers) James Madison and John Jay authored the Federalist