I can almost guarantee you, that if it hadn't been for Hamilton the musical, I wouldn't have been interested in reading this book. It's heavy on descriptive text and light on dialogue and thus didn't make for as accessible a read as I had hoped for.

I had problems with the pacing of the story. It seemed to lag and jump at odd times... skipping things I thought would have been interesting to read about, and going on and on about background events... topics that would probably have been more interesting, if it hadn't felt like they had gotten page time at the expense of aspects of Hamilton's life.

That said, I did find it interesting to read the "facts behind the fiction" - to see where Jonathan Hennessey and Lin-Manuel Miranda agreed and where one or the other (probably mostly Miranda) engaged their artistic license - which is why it still gets three stars.

People (especially perhaps, younger children) might be interested in this graphic novel if they're a fan of early American history OR if they've, like much of the country, become obsessed with Hamilton, the musical. Though this rendering of Hamilton's life story isn't as dramatic and engrossing as its musical counterpart, it's a more academic look at the history of one of America's forgotten founding fathers.

Alexander Hamilton was once forgotten, but he's returned to the spotlight thanks to a popular Broadway musical. Embarrassingly enough, there was a time when I mostly associated him with a 1993 Got Milk? commercial! If you are looking for an accessible account of Hamilton's life and his role in the American Revolution, this graphic history might perfect for you. Hamilton is one of America's Founding Fathers and the first secretary of the Treasury. He played an integral role in shaping the United States' political, financial, and legal institutions. This graphic history takes us from his childhood in the West Indies to his death by duel on July 12, 1804. It discusses the assets that made him invaluable to the war effort and building a new nation, as well as his contradictions and fatal flaws. However, this story is just as much about the birth of the United States as it is about a singular man. The author takes a broad view, placing Hamilton into the context of the era and American history. It outlines the beliefs that drove these revolutionaries, but also the fears, doubts, hopes, and writings that influenced their ideas. It also provides important context for activities and attitudes that seem quaint now, like duels and the thirst for war.

I'm a big fan of both Hamilton: An American Musical and graphic nonfiction, so I had to give this book a try. Reading it confirmed that I'll never be able to read a book about Alexander Hamilton’s life without the relevant lines from the musical instantly popping into my head! (And I'll never be able to say "Hercules Mulligan" in my indoor voice!) This book is only 176 fully-illustrated pages, but it's jam-packed with information. I usually look to the graphic format to inject a little heart into a subject, but this one is more academic in style. There's an unavoidably large cast of characters, so it's impossible to get too attached to anyone! It's heavy on the text and light on the dialogue. Much of the content would have been easier for me to read in paragraphs rather than comic book style, but the graphic format makes the content easier to digest. The illustration style is perfect for the time period being discussed. If you'd like to get a feel for the artwork, there are some excerpts online: Six-Page Preview | More Pages from the Illustrator Justin Greenwood. I could this book being an excellent educational resource for older students or a precursor to a more in-depth text. Longer texts are usually more enjoyable to me if I’ve read a broad overview first. I was actually glad that I had listened to the musical before reading this book, because I was better able to appreciate the broader themes and was less overwhelmed by all the new information.

One thing this book really excels at is showing the fragility of the new republic. Conflict was not only with outside forces, but with each other. Tensions were further aggravated by post-war problems, like crippling debt and dealing with Loyalists. The book opens with an excerpt from Sir Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha (1680): "The desire of liberty was the first cause of the fall of Adam. ... The greatest liberty in the world (if it be duly considered) is for the people to live under a monarch. ... All other shows or pretexts of liberty are but several degrees of slavery, and a liberty only to destroy liberty." It's accompanied by gorgeous "Fall of Adam" illustrations that continue to reappear throughout the story as the author lines out the deep divisions over what path the new nation should take. Many people, Alexander Hamilton included, felt that "pure, unchecked democracy" was "mob rule." They worried that liberty "made men slaves to the worst aspects their own nature" and that the "high-minded, experimental republic might end in dictatorship." Hamilton believed in the revolution, but didn't want it to go "too far"; he didn't want "revolution, rebellion, and fragmentation" to become the new American way-of-life. Others were repulsed by that line of thinking. They risked their lives fighting a strong, centralized power. Why would they want to set up a government that looked remarkably similar what they just fought against?  With so many strong feelings on both sides, how would they ever strike a balance between states’ rights and a strong central government?

Shades of the early conflicts continued to rage on through the decades, and even today: rural vs. urban, "North and South, different economic interests, factions in Congress, schools of constitutional thought." The Founding Fathers are often idealized and viewed as a monolithic entity, but a balanced portrait of these complex people makes the story of the United States' birth even more remarkable. This book reveals how uncertain and risky their undertaking was. Despite the incredible odds they faced, their grand experiment continues on 241 years later.

How much do you know about Alexander Hamilton? I admit I didn't remember much about him from my school days. There is an excellent biography by Chernow which is a gigantic book. This nonfiction graphic novel is very well researched. When you have finished reading this, you will know Alexander Hamilton's life and what he did for the United States.

It is fascinating to read this even though I did find it slow-going at times. This book should be in all libraries. I got a greater understanding of him. This is a book not to be missed.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

To be quite honest, I wasn't impressed with the dramatics, pacing, or what parts of the story the author chose to tell. I do not think that this story needed to be in graphic novel format, I really did not see the point of including images for this story. For one thing, there was so much text to read that why even bother drawing pictures too? I mean you've basically already written a novel with words at that point. Also, the illustrations that were there just were not captivating and were oddly chosen. Just poor execution in many ways.

As far as some other aspects of the story-telling in this novel; firstly the pacing was poorly done. It jumps around in the plot in weird places, for example the beginning is some great entity (I assume that's supposed to be God) speaking about like the nature of man and freedom and liberty in general, and how liberty means obeying our fathers the way Adam's sons were taught by him in the beginning... wtf why?

And why was everything so dang dramatic? The stakes were so high and the tone so serious throughout the whole thing! I think it was supposed to make me riveted and invested in the story, but that soooo did not happen. Instead I ended up rolling my eyes at everything.

I was very disappointed by this graphic novel - since the musical I have become very interested in all things Hamilton (like the rest of the population) and could not wait to get my hands on this. But this was just a waste of my time in my opinion.

Overall, this was a really nice biography that kind of expanded into the political content from the musical while not quite going into all of the details of the 800 page Chernow biography. Like the book, this biography focuses more on the American Revolution and Continental Congress proceedings which I really like. I love the musical, but if you’re looking for less about Hamilton’s personal affairs and more about his existence in the grand scheme of the creation of our country, then this is definitely a great read.


+ I love how they used actual quotes from pamphlets and letters to piece together dialogue.
+ The information in this was great! At times it felt like they had copied word for word from Chernow…. But I think that could be a good thing? Assuming they had permission.
+ I really liked how information was given about the state of affairs in the world. Even though this was a biography on Hamilton, I learned a lot about the other countries fighting in the Revolution.
+ The focus on the political negotiations after the war was very detailed. That is one of the most fascinating time periods to me, so I loved getting to revisit all of the strategy behind the conventions.


- The art was kind of awful. The scenery, backdrops, layouts, and coloring were all very nicely done, but the actual illustrations were sloppy and many times characters didn’t look the same from frame to frame. At one point I felt like a detective - “Well, Laurens had a ponytail in the last frame so I guess this is a close up of <s>a potato</s> Laurens?”.
- The pacing at the end was a bit abrupt.

A graphic novel biography of Alexander Hamilton and guide to the Revolutionary War in America and the politics thereafter.

There’s a saying that a man is a product of his times. That seems especially apropos in regard to Alexander Hamilton. So much so that Hennessey had to tell a lot of history and politics to get readers to a place where they could adequately understand the man. So while this is a biography of Hamilton, readers spend quite a bit of time getting a crash course on the history and politics of the islands of the Caribbean as well as colonial America, the Revolutionary War, and a few decades of US politics following the war. At times it can feel like rabbit trails out of nowhere, but eventually readers will appreciate all the historical background as it really does help you better understand what was happening. That said, it also gets exceedingly difficult to tell all the different characters apart by sight when you start getting up to dozens and dozens of historical figures introduced (even though Greenwood gets lots of props for trying to make them all look like their historical selves). Thankfully, there are usually subtitles with names when you really need them or you can figure identities out from the dialogue. I appreciated the obvious amount of research Hennessey put into writing this. It is loaded with quotes from primary sources and the history is solid. Part of the reason you’re introduced to so very many characters is because he includes so many primary sources and the illustrations will depict the person who said or wrote it. When Hamilton’s motives or actions are lost to time and we’re left to conjecture why he did something, Hennessey does a great job of providing a balanced set of guesses. Because of Hamilton: the Musical I’ve been getting more and more students asking for a bio of the man. They usually have a mild heart attack at the sight of Chernow’s door stopper and most have admitted upon returning it that they didn’t really read the whole thing. So I definitely plan on getting a copy of this for our library. I’m quite excited to be able to have this to offer them as an alternative. It is very solid in its research, readers get a good grasp for Hamilton the man, they’ll learn quite a bit about the United States’ origins along the way, and they shouldn’t have to go to the hospital if they accidentally drop it on their foot.

With all the literature there is about A. Hamilton right now, I feel like this title's stellar art is not quite enough to recommend it. By nature, a graphic novel is going to be condensed, especially in regards to a life like Hamilton's, but this treatment is too threadbare in places. You can feel the empty spaces. That information which is given, is too dry a presentation. Greenwood's art is a standout, but it just wan't enough for me.

I received this on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This felt like a middle step between the Ron Chernow biography and the Broadway musical. It gave detailed historical background for around the first 1/3 of the novel and then started delving into Hamilton's life and role as an American Founding Father. It was brilliant in how it used simple prose and mostly good illustrations (I did have a few issues with the illustrations as some characters were not recognizable within a couple of pages) to illustrate Hamilton's life and influences.
What I really loved was that it went in depth in regards to those who influenced Hamilton, and it even showed his faults and flaws. Many biographers and historians downplay his faults and flaws which makes their writings much more bias than many realise, but this was a brilliant example of balance.

This was brilliant as it allows for children and adults to enjoy the book and the wider topic.

There is great demand at my school library for biographies of Alexander Hamilton, and I requested this galley to see if it was suitable. While this biography is written at a level that my students would not be ready for, it is a decent addition to the Alexander Hamilton canon. The majority of the text is from a narrator point of view, with dialogue from the historical characters being occasional quotes. My main reasons for not giving this book a higher rating is that all the characters are sinister or sneering all of the time. In addition, the characters are drawn very similarly to one another, and unless the narrator identifies them (which he does most of the time) you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell them apart very well, or at least I couldn't.

Kids and adults alike are going to flip when this book is released! I am very excited and enjoyed reading this very much. I would love to find a way to work this book into my tours at the Museum of the American Revolution and possibly try to convince the gift shop to sell copies. I think many people are going to enjoy this.

I wasn't able to finish this book. It simply wasn't for me. I'm a huge history nerd, but the way it was written was hard for me to get excited about and I had to more force myself to read than want to read about it. I did enjoy the art style, I just wish the writing had been better and less dated (I get wanting to be authentic, but you also want to make it readable).

This graphic novel is a great "in between" read for people who want to learn more about Alexander Hamilton beyond the very popular musical, but are not ready to dive into the giant Chernow biography. It covers a ton of information (at times maybe a little too much given how short the graphic novel is), and provides a deeper look into Hamilton's character, politics and beliefs. It's a great resources for high school history classrooms and libraries. It's a dense work so it would be appropriate from strong middle school readers as well, but they might find the pieces taken from historical documents a bit of a challenging.

My only complaint is the unevenness of the artwork & narrative at times. At some points it's great and really adds to the story, at other times it borders on terrible (ex: there's one panel where Elizabeth Hamilton is practically unrecognizable as the character from just pages before). Additionally, in just one part of the story, the novel pulls out and features a modern day historian giving information about the text. It only happens once in the novel, and seems really unusual because of it. I don't know if the graphic novel has been rushed because of the Hamilton craze, but that unevenness of it really distracts from quality of the story overall.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the art alright, but the presentation just didn't work for this medium: lots of text generally doesn't do it in comics. An illustrated history textbook probably would have been better.

Both dramatic and engaging in its presentation, this graphic novel allows us to explore the life of Alexander Hamilton and pays attention to his origins and ambitions in a simple but powerful way. Graphic novels have a way of telling stories to both young and old, and this one does so and manages to capture both the history and the drama behind the story.

As 'Hamilton' the musical begins to take the world by storm, this graphic novel provides both the depth and the insight into the story of Hamilton in a way that the musical can't. It is an excellent telling of the Hamilton story and provides a detailed perspective of the life of Alexander Hamilton through the medium of dramatically illustrated artwork and a fascinating and informative narrative.

It is also just a great bridge between the musical and the popular biography by Ron Chernow on which the musical is based. In this way a younger audience can learn more about the story behind the musical through the captivating illustrations and those of us adults who want something to ease the way into more academic writing will find this novel to be very helpful as an introduction.

The most fascinating aspect of this book is the way it conveys a complex and dramatic story through clearly illustrated pictures and simple prose. The balance between artwork and narrative is just right and provides a rich telling of the Hamilton story.

I really appreciated the way this volume pays attention to Hamilton's childhood and the societal expectations and norms of the time. It helps the reader understand who he was and the ways in which his childhood helped shape his ambition and his life. It is a very empowering and encouraging story because it is a story of hope, ambition, courage and drive.

This novel also helps the reader understand some of the other people who influenced and shaped the life of Hamilton such as his wider family, and his friends and relatives. He was also a man who took time to understand the nature of the society he lived in and this novel portrays this in a very clear way. We can see the many issues of his time that helped make Hamilton who he was; his religious beliefs, the role of the church in education and wider society, the concept of a gentleman and what that meant in the societal context, and the economics behind the transatlantic slave trade and the impact of all of this on Hamilton's life and politics.

We are also able to see the beginnings of the complex economic forces and the politics that led to the civil war and for adults this may lead to deeper reflection about our economies today.

But beyond all of this is the extraordinary and inspirational tale of a young man who rose from obscurity to become a United States founding father through his intelligence, hard work and by being able to both recognise opportunities and grasp them. Hamilton was indeed a man of considerable talents and ability.

The story also illustrates Hamilton's shortcomings and shows how his childhood may also have influenced some of his decisions and actions as an adult, particularly as he strived to find his place in post-revolutionary America.

I really enjoyed reading this. As someone who is a great fan of the musical I think this story is a welcome addition to all the different Hamilton publications that are beginning to emerge. This is of course very different and somewhat unique because of the medium used and by telling this story through art, the story of Alexander Hamilton becomes one that can be enjoyed by everyone.

This is also a great teaching aid for both parents and schools.

Copy provided by Ten Speed Press via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

As a fan of the hit musical I found it interesting to see more details about the ten dollar founding father.
Many of the details of Hamilton's life have to be rushed past and major players relegated to mere one panel cameos.
That said, I found the use of dialogue drawn from historical documents to be a clever way of telling the story.

If you are looking for the Hamilton musical in this, you won't it here. That is not a bad thing. Just a caveat. This graphic novel is a very well researched story of what we know about Alexander Hamilton, as well as what we don't know. Because he was ashamed of his past, there is very little reference to what came before he came to the American colonies. If he wrote about it later, or if others did, or if there was a court case, then we have the documentation, otherwise, we can only speculate, and speculate is what this story does. And it explains that it is doing it. If something is not know, the author states that as well.

A lot of Hamilton's life, was of course, wrapped around the American revolution, as well as the building of American that took place after that. If you get bored with battles and theory's and politics, then this graphic history might not interest you, but if you want to know about his life, there are some interesting bits, such as how he had an extra-marital affair, was blackmailed by the husband of the woman, and then had to defend himself because he was bieng accused of graft.

Interesting, though heavy reading. But well written. Would recommend it to people who want, if not the lighter version of history, perhaps a more accessible version.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.