Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr & the Future of America

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Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr & the Future of America

Author: Thomas James Fleming
Publisher: Basic Books
Copyright: 476
Pages: 1999
Cover Price: $ 18.50

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All school children know the story of the fatal duel between Hamilton and Burr - but do they really? In this remarkable retelling, Thomas Fleming takes the reader into the post-revolutionary world of 1804, a chaotic and fragile time in the young country as well as a time of tremendous global instability.The success of the French Revolution and the proclamation of Napoleon as First Consul for Life had enormous impact on men like Hamilton and Burr, feeding their own political fantasies at a time of perceived Federal government weakness and corrosion.

Their hunger for fame spawned antagonisms that wreaked havoc on themselves and their families and threatened to destabilize the fragile young American republic. From that poisonous brew came the tangle of regret and anger and ambition that drove the two to their murderous confrontation in Weehawken, New Jersey.

Readers will find this is popular narrative history at its most authoritative, and authoritative history at its most readable.

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Background Information

Alexander Hamilton was one of the authors of the Federalist Papers, the first Secretary of the Treasury and died in a duel with Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr's career range from high political power to the killing of Alexander Hamilton in a duel along with near treasonous activities.