Cannonball Read 15

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The House of Morgan

The House of Morgan by Ron Chernow

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I cannot explain how impossibly weird it is to mention that my interest in this book comes explicitly from Real Housewives of New York. Sonja Morgan married one of the Morgan heirs when he was already fairly old and she was still fairly young. At the beginning of the show, she’s a few years divorced, but is still the beneficiary of that connection. She’s also clearly very damaged from the divorce, or least fragile. The story more or less goes that when her husband was […]

“Immigrants–they get the job done.”

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

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I learned from watching an interview with Lin Manuel Miranda that he was inspired to create the musical Hamilton after reading Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton (2004) while on vacation. I had been sucked into all the hype surrounding the new musical and was looking into reading the book myself. Then I saw how long it was and changed my mind. However, a couple of things made me reconsider. First, the movie of the stage production of Hamilton came out on Disney+ so I was able to see it all for the […]

More like Ron Churn-ow

Grant & Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

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I read Chernow’s biography of Hamilton last year because, well, I can’t see the musical.  Also, I majored in History as an undergrad and my favorite era is the American Revolution.   Hamilton, the biogrpaphy, was excellent.  It was the first major biography that read despite a good friend recommending Chernow a few years ago.  I enjoyed Hamilton enough that I added Grant to my queue as soon as it was added to my library and after eight months of waiting, I got my turn. […]

The ten-dollar Founding Father without a father

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

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My first CBR 10 Bingo entry: Not my wheelhouse! I don’t read much history and I don’t read many biographies; an historical biography might be an actual first for me. I confess, I was swept away by the Hamilton Mania triggered by Lin-Manual Miranda’s fabulous musical about the founding father who grew up an orphan, immigrated to America, fought in the American Revolution, started the First Bank of the United States, and died as a result of a gunshot wound administered by Aaron Burr. Let’s […]

How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence impoverished in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

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Despite never seeing the Tony Award winning musical I am unabashedly in love with the Hamilton soundtrack and while I plan to seek out Hamilton: The Revolution (as well as sell a kidney to see Hamilton when it comes to Dallas next year) I think Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton is a more expansive take on one of America’s founding fathers and I’m glad I started here. Lin-Manuel Miranda has made Hamilton a household name again after nearly two hundred years and Chernow’s biography played a big role in Miranda’s research. “Hamilton’s relatively short life robbed him […]

The Ten Dollar Founding Father

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

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I’m not a great reader of biographies or even non-fiction. However, after learning so much about Alexander Hamilton through the musical, I decided to take a deep dive into the actual history of Hamilton’s life. I expected this biography would be interesting and informative, but I did not anticipate how moving and readable Chernow’s book would be. This book with 731 pages was practically a page turner. I’m a fan of pared down writing with no unnecessary diversions. If you read through my past reviews […]



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