Amanda Vaill’s Pride and Pleasure is a sweeping historical narrative that chronicles the lives of the Schuyler sisters, namely Eliza, and their close family and friends. With meticulous research, Vaill brings the past to life in a way that is both intellectually satisfying and engaging.

What Vaill did particularly well was weave the personal stories of these historical figures with the national and global forces that shaped the era. Readers will not only discover new perspectives on the lives of Eliza and Alexander and their inner circle, but also gain a deeper understanding of the wars, revolutions, epidemics, and recessions that shaped their world.

While the book is a bit of an investment in time (it's a big one!), it did keep my interest and gave me many new insights into the family and era.

There's a solid chance you're reading this because you want to know about the Schuyler sisters after having seen Hamilton, and you know what? No shame in that. Valli gets to dive in deep to the familial movements of the Schuyler sisters across their lifetimes, and if nothing else, it's absolutely fascinating to see how the history actually played out. It does get a bit sad, but as it turns out, when you outlive most of the rest of your family (Eliza) in a time of massive social upheaval, it does get a bit depressing. Great read regardless.

Pride and Pleasure by Amanda Vaille
Writing: A-
Information: B+
Format: B
Best Aspect: Very different nonfiction history book. Don’t let the 700+ pages scare you off about 25% of it is notes.
Worst Aspect: This was so detailed and so long and history of this depth is not my preferred reading.
Recommend: Yes.
NetGalley ARC release 10/21/25

Well researched story of Angelica and Elizabeth Schuyler and their lives in the 1800’s, in America. It’s a long book, but well worth reading. I was given an ARC of this book. This review is my own.

i did not finish this book.

i think this book is slightly different from what i was expecting. so i do not want my DNF to be implied as this being a bad book. the book focused a lot more on the history and context of the time than i was expecting.

the author has been very thorough in gathering information and data from the time (it is very well sourced). in my opinion they just gathered so much information, that the information which was included didn’t feel purposeful, rather like everything that was gathered was included. therefore i found it going on tangents that i couldn’t quite see the reasoning behind, and included a lot of names that i started to get lost with.