MORE PERFECT UNION

This volume in the Notable American series details with exceptional clarity the talent and complex life of Alexander Hamilton, born out-of-wedlock in the British West Indies. Whitelaw (Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1996, etc.) chronicles how Hamilton's perseverance, intelligence, and hard work came to the attention of a Presbyterian minister, who sent him to college in America at age 16 where ``in two years, he completed five years of college work'' at King's College (now Columbia). Hamilton joined the fight for independence and became a well-regarded officer in the Continental Army, where commander-in-chief George Washington made him his aide-de-camp at age 19. Instrumental at the Constitutional Convention, Hamilton was the country's first Secretary of the Treasury, but Whitelaw delineates how his self-destructive tendencies thwarted his talent and eventually led to his death in an unlawful dual with Aaron Burr. This is an evenhanded portrait of a brilliant leader who fell victim to his human frailties, but it also illustrates the conflicting forces that are manifest in many leaders today. (b&w reproductions and photos, glossary, chronology, sources, index) (Biography. 12-14)