The above blurb promises a less propagandistic American history than most. The introductory chapter does not continue this intense truth-telling, as it is mostly digressive, discussing all periods of American history, and even barely explaining what Hamilton actual policies were as it attempts to summarize the contents of the chapters. Then, “Chapter 1” is again very digressive as it describes some sort of an effort “to get rich quick” in 1741 by Hamilton, referring generally to some “British colonials in the Caribbean… making more and more money exporting more and more sugar…” One of the rare interesting specific details is the mention that as part of his success in New York came his “changing his birthdate to 1757” to appear to be a “wunderkind” as he began studying at Kings College in 1773. In other words, he started his studies with fraud, and so much have basically purchased a paper-degree, without doing real intellectual work, or such a forgery would have been noticed by administrators. Then, there are general references to some kind of business speculation, most of which tend to claim Hamilton succeeded by fooling socialites to give him money and power, as his “father-in-law” curated “friendly connections with the right people.” With barely a degree, and with wealthy corrupt connections or nepotism, Hamilton ended up in charge of directing American financial policy by 1781. Most of this book is hot air, where the writer appears to be imagining what people felt or believed, instead of researching the “history” of what happened. The next chapter includes a few rare specifics such as that Morris, Hamilton’s affiliate, “sorted out empires’ and companies’ various exchange rates for paper currencies and notes against real money… gold and silver coins”. The author digresses into the definition of “real” and “silver”, without quoting any source or simply explaining just what Morris’ job was, why it was significant, and why the narrative has digressed into such abstractions instead of attempting to support the ambitious promised thesis of being an anti-propaganda about just what Hamilton’s economic plan for America was.
This is a horrid book. It might eventually get to a point, and it might include scandalous details, instead of standard puffing propaganda, but these details are enclosed in pages and pages of unresearched nonsense. Nobody should read this book unless they want to be frustrated and confused.

sorry i'm just not vibing with this one right now, will try again later though. also like. i'm all hamilton'd out right now so.

It's trite to reference Hamilton now, but I feel like it's unavoidable. Hamilton was a scrappy orphaned young man who worked his way up to become a friend of the moneyed and elite classes. Hogeland covers this in his book book about the Whiskey Rebellion and this is the trhust of his work. He created the framework for the modern financial institutions of the United States, but those only benefited some of the people. We live with his legacy today, and this book does a great job of showing how we got to where we are. Thanks Hamilton! (I'll leave you to determine whether it was sarcasm or not. I'm not quite sure myself).

Finally, a general audience book about the making of the Constitutional system that seamlessly merges the experiences of elites with the general public. This feels like a capstone on Hogeland's writing career. Will eagerly recommend this one to my friends interested in American history as well as history writing in general.