A dramatic re-evaluation of the founding of the United States and the history of capitalism. In retelling the story of the radical Alexander Hamilton, Parenti rewrites the history early America and global economic history writ large. For much of the twentieth century, Hamilton-sometimes seen as the bad boy of the founding fathers or portrayed as the patron saint of bankers-was out of fashion. In contrast his rival Thomas Jefferson, the patrician democrat and slave owner who feared government overreach, was claimed by all. But more recently, Hamilton has become a subject of serious interest again. He was a contradictory mix: a tough soldier, austere workaholic, exacting bureaucrat, yet also a sexual libertine, and a glory-obsessed romantic with suicidal tendencies. As Parenti argues, we have yet to fully appreciate Hamilton as the primary architect of American capitalism and the developmental state. In exploring his life and work, Parenti rediscovers this gadfly as a path breaking political thinker and institution builder. In this vivid historical portrait, Hamilton emerges as a singularly important historical figure: a thinker and politico who laid the foundation for America's ascent to global supremacy-for better or worse.

An authoritative history of the American Revolution furnishes fresh insights into a seminal period in history, drawing on period quotes, rarely viewed illustrations, eyewitness accounts, pop culture, maps, statistics, and other sources to go beyond conventional views of the birth of the United States, the causes of the war, and more.

While the American Revolution officially began in Lexington, Massachusetts, in April 1775, the seeds of rebellion had been sown for decades. This work provides first-hand accounts of the period that illustrate how historical events appeared to those who lived through them.

This volume, the fifth in a distinguished and admired series, includes correspondence with George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Henry Knox, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Patrick Henry, French foreign minister Vergennes, Spanish foreign minister Floridablanca, and Lafayette 's wife, Adrienne. The book opens with Lafayette's return to France after Yorktown to press the benefits of that victory. Displaying his role as Franklin 's "political aide-de-camp" in the diplomatic negotiations that culminated in the treaty of peace, the documents also give evidence of his personal mediation with members of the French government as well as with the King. The documents chronicling his tour of America in 1784 clearly show that Lafayette intended it to be more than a triumphal display. They reveal his desire to promote in the individual states as well as among the American people at large a sense of unity that would produce a stronger government and thus ensure the survival of those liberties for which Lafayette had been struggling. The volume ends with clear evidence that his interest did not wane with the close of the war but found renewed vigor in his determination to secure and extend those "rights of mankind" that he espoused.