Semi-fictionalized accounts and sketches of colonial and post-revolutionary America, based on law records, pamphlets, memoirs, and so on. Some well-known figures, such as Aaron Burr, John Hancock, the early Astors and Vanderbilts, and some lesser known figures are presented with plenty of interesting detail, which makes this useful as supplementary reading material. Unfortunately, the style is heavy, arch, with the suggestion of old-fashioned school tableaux.