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#MyNameIsAlexanderHamiltonReadAlong
blurb
Crinoline_Laphroaig
Washington: A Life | Ron Chernow
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"Here comes the general
Ladies and gentlemen
Here comes the general
The moment you've been waiting for
Here comes the general
The pride of Mount Vernon
Here comes the general
George Washington"

After hours of the Hamilton Soundtrack and #mynameisalexanderhamiltonreadalong and biography of King George were on to Washington. ? ???
#herecomesthegeneral
#washingtonchapteraday
#historyhasitseyesonyou

alisiakae I read Hamilton and Washington back to back a few years ago, so good together! Someday I‘ll get around to this next: (edited) 3y
SamAnne I hope to get it that bio this winter. And finally watched the film version of Hamilton and cannot get the songs out of my head. 3y
31 likes3 comments
review
Crinoline_Laphroaig
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Pickpick

I'm a Janeite so Regency Period is something I vaguely knew. Sometime during visit to Kew Gardens the penny dropped and the timeline clicked in my head. This + Hamilton + #mynameisalexanderhamiltonreadalong
made me want to know more about George III.

All in all good read (giggles at pun) for anyone with interest in history surrounding Jane Austen and/or English royalty. 🤓

Crinoline_Laphroaig This gives you background put George III's life in perspective. Focuses on all the messed up family drama. Not much on politics except for how it relates to the family interaction and succession. 3y
Crinoline_Laphroaig As a woman reading, you will be grateful for not being at the mercy of fathers, brothers, and angry mothers. And VERY thankful for Birth Control. Queen Charlotte was pretty much pregnant for 20 years. 3y
rubyslippersreads This sounds really interesting. 3y
36 likes3 comments
review
Crinoline_Laphroaig
The Black Flamingo | Dean Atta
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Pickpick

Some serious reads this summer. Books that made me think about Race and Identity. Passing, How To Talk, & Flamingo all excellent.

#MyNameIsAlexanderHamiltonReadAlong taught me history. #BooksandBrewsClub choose some big books: Hated Pillars. Loved rereading Gentleman.

Kept up with #top10challengedbooks & revisited The Pink Motel for old time sake. Mum - because mine too.
#summerstackwrapup #summerchallenges
#summmertimeandthereadingiseasy

review
Crinoline_Laphroaig
Alexander Hamilton | Ron Chernow
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Pickpick

We are done! So for One Last Time here's the Review:
It's a talented writer who can make a Door Stopper of a Nonfiction History Book this interesting. I was most struck by similarities between then and now. From Divisive Politics, how we handle a medical crisis, and the American People continually Voting against their own Best Interests.
#MyNameIsAlexanderHamiltonReadAlong
@Graciouswarriorprincess @Mrs_B
@MellieAntoinette @Kloves2read

Cheshirecat913 I enjoyed reading your recaps! I have this on my TBR list, so hopefully one day I will get to it. 4y
KarouBlue Agreed! I also enjoyed your recaps! 4y
ChamomileAndCupcakes I also finished this is the last few days (took me around 3 months), and I thought the same as you! The similarities between then and now really are striking. 4y
49 likes4 comments
quote
Crinoline_Laphroaig
Alexander Hamilton | Ron Chernow
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Do you read end notes of books? The above is from author Ron Chernow. His wife died not long after the book was published from Ovarian Cancer. 😭
#MyNameIsAlexanderHamiltonReadAlong
@Graciouswarriorprincess @Mrs_B
@MellieAntoinette @Kloves2read

Graciouswarriorprincess How sweet! I am haven‘t read them but that‘s all that I left to read. 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig @Graciouswarriorprincess it caught me off guard. I was just skimming through and then bam. 4y
33 likes3 comments
quote
Crinoline_Laphroaig
Alexander Hamilton | Ron Chernow
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Epilogue - In Which we see Eliza. She really did tell her Dear Hamilton‘s story. Her widowhood lasted 50 years. She raised her children and had kindness for others. For 27 years 'with a tenacity that Hamilton would have savored, she oversaw every aspect of the New York Orphan Asylum Society.' ⬇️

Crinoline_Laphroaig A fiesty woman who told off President Monroe and was the toast of many a Washington dinner party. "A devout woman, Eliza never lost her faith that she and Hamilton would be gloriously reunited in the afterlife....She was buried where she had always longed to be: right beside her Hamilton in the Trinity Churchyard." 4y
29 likes2 comments
quote
Crinoline_Laphroaig
Alexander Hamilton | Ron Chernow
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Chapter 43 - In Which Burr really is the worst: "For the rest of his life, he never uttered one word of contrition for having killed a man with a wife and seven children and behaved as if Hamilton‘s family did not exist."
#MyNameIsAlexanderHamiltonReadAlong
@Graciouswarriorprincess @Mrs_B
@MellieAntoinette @Kloves2read
But Hamilton had the last victory. ⬇️

Crinoline_Laphroaig "Thus, Hamilton triumphed posthumously over Burr, converting the latter‘s victory at Weehawken into his political coup de grâce. Burr‘s reputation perished along with Hamilton, exactly as Hamilton had anticipated. Both the Jeffersonian and Federalist press canonized Hamilton and vied in detestation of Burr." 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig And tomorrow's it Eliza and the Epilogue! 4y
Susanita “He‘s never gon be president now.” 4y
KarouBlue @Susanita Bwahahahaha 🙃🤣🤗🤣🙃 4y
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quote
Crinoline_Laphroaig
Alexander Hamilton | Ron Chernow
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quote
Crinoline_Laphroaig
Alexander Hamilton | Ron Chernow
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Chapter 42 - In Which A Duel and Death Happen.

It's History. I know what happens. Yet it's still sad. I've grow attached to Alexander Hamilton. 😭

#MyNameIsAlexanderHamiltonReadAlong
@Graciouswarriorprincess @Mrs_B
@MellieAntoinette @Kloves2read

Crinoline_Laphroaig Thoughts. Burr was a horrible person: "Burr had taken a personal interest in educating his slaves, though he never planned to free them. The night before the duel, he jotted down a sheet of instructions dictating their fates. It showed that the previous fall, this so-called abolitionist was still buying slaves, in this case a black boy named Peter, whom he hoped to groom as a valet for his grandson......⬇️ 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig Burr spoke kindly of a slave named Peggy and hoped Theodosia would retain her ownership, but the other servants were not nearly so lucky. “Dispose of Nancy as you please,” he told his daughter. “She is honest, robust, and good-tempered.” Having married into a large South Carolina slave-owning family, Theodosia scarcely required more servants, making Burr‘s refusal to free his slaves the more inexcusable." ⬇️ 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig "As the two men contemplated eternity, Hamilton feared for America‘s future and the salvation of the union, while Burr worried about incriminating letters he had written to his mistresses, urging Theodosia to “burn all such as . . . would injure any person." ⬇️ 4y
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Crinoline_Laphroaig "Long reviled as an archconspirator by the Jeffersonians, Hamilton had nothing whatsoever to conceal and did not ask that any personal papers be destroyed. Burr, by contrast, wanted to incinerate many worrisome documents, telling Theodosia to burn one small bundle of letters tied with red string and another wrapped in a white handkerchief." ⬇️ 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig As for who shot first. Did Hamilton throw away his shot? "If Hamilton had shot first, he had wasted his fire, exactly as foretold. And if Burr had fired first, as Pendleton alleged, then Hamilton seems to have squeezed the trigger in a reflexive spasm of agony and shot involuntarily into the trees. In neither scenario did Hamilton aim his gun at Aaron Burr." ⬇️ 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig "Burr thus corroborated that Hamilton had honored his pledge and fired way off the mark. In other words, Burr knew that Hamilton had squandered his shot before he returned fire. And how did he react? He shot to kill, even though he had a clear shot at Hamilton and could have just wounded him or even stopped the duel......⬇️ 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig The most likely scenario is that Hamilton had fired first but only to show Burr that he was throwing away his shot. How else could he have shown Burr his intentions? As he had written the night before, he wanted to give Burr a chance “to pause and to reflect.” He must have assumed that, once he fired, Burr would be too proud or too protective of his own political self-interest to try to kill him." 4y
FashionableObserver That bio was AMAZING!! I may revisit it soon. 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig @FashionableObserver I've loved it! Chernow makes it come to life. Soon I want to read 4y
FashionableObserver @Crinoline_Laphroaig Washington is on my list. I recently finished Grant. Amazing. Chernow is so gifted! 4y
27 likes10 comments
quote
Crinoline_Laphroaig
Alexander Hamilton | Ron Chernow
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Chapter 41 - In Which everything rests on an adjective: "Burr was dragging up dinner-party chatter from three months ago and resting everything on an adjective.....In a shockingly brief span, the two men had moved to the brink of a duel and were ready to lay down their lives over an adjective." ?
#MyNameIsAlexanderHamiltonReadAlong
@Graciouswarriorprincess @Mrs_B
@MellieAntoinette @Kloves2read

Crinoline_Laphroaig Or not: "In the last analysis,... Burr was now poised to exploit any pretext to strike at Hamilton. Their affair of honor was less about slurs and personal insults than politics and party leadership."⬇️ 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig Duel Etiquette: "Duels tended to occur posthaste to prevent the secret from leaking out. But this duel was scheduled at a relatively distant date, July 11, for reasons that speak well of Hamilton. The New York Supreme Court was holding its final session in Manhattan on Friday, July 6, and Hamilton felt duty bound to satisfy clients who had lawsuits pending. His sense of professional responsibility was impeccable." ⬇️ 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig "Hamilton‘s decision has given rise to speculation that he was severely depressed and that the duel was suicidal.....Because he followed a script lost to later generations, his actions seem lunatic rather than merely rash and wrongheaded." ⬇️ 4y
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Crinoline_Laphroaig "Hamilton gambled that Burr would not shoot to kill. He knew that Burr had nothing to gain by murdering him. Burr would be denounced from every pulpit as an assassin, and it would destroy the remnants of his career. Since he had provoked the duel to rehabilitate his career, it did not make sense for him to kill Hamilton....⬇️ 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig Hamilton calculated (correctly, it turned out) that Burr could not kill him without committing political suicide at the same time.This did not rule out the possibility, of course, that Burr might kill him accidentally or that he might submit to a murderous rage that overrode his political interests."⬇️ 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig "If Burr did kill him, Hamilton knew, he would at least have the posthumous satisfaction of destroying Burr‘s alliance with the Federalists. On the other hand, Hamilton never wavered in his belief that if he did not face Burr‘s fire, he would lose standing in the political circles that mattered to him." 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig What did Hamilton do while waiting for the duel? He threw a party: "invited seventy people to the Grange for a lavish ball....Hamilton was fascinated by the French fête champêtre, the elegant alfresco parties held in wooded surroundings, favored by the French aristocracy. In the woods, Hamilton had planted a small cluster of unseen musicians, so that guests caught faint strains of a horn and clarinet as they strolled." ⬇️ 4y
Crinoline_Laphroaig And he got his affairs in order. "Unfortunately, Hamilton‘s estimates were to prove grossly optimistic, so that the man who had so ably managed the nation‘s finances left his own family oppressed with debts." 4y
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