Hearth and Pages: Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father

“Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.

Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it,

or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.

It’s not tyranny we desire; it’s a just, limited, federal government.”

– Alexander Hamilton

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Since the successful musical, Hamilton, the story of Alexander Hamilton’s life has become such a popular topic. Many fans of the musical want to learn more about Alexander Hamilton and his work as one of America’s Founding Father, including me. And though he was one of the most influential figures in United States’ history, non-Americans is not too familiar with his life story, unlike with the other Founding Fathers such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Now, author Jonathan Hennessey and comic book illustrator Justin Greenwood bring Alexander Hamilton’s world to life. Through this graphic novel, they tell the story of improbable hero who helped shape the United States of America.

Like I have mentioned above, I consider myself as a big fan of Hamilton the musical, so that’s the main reason I requested this book on NetGalley. I have to admit that I have a bit of hard time distinguishing the Alexander Hamilton in musical and Alexander Hamilton in this graphic novel biography. I understand that the Hamilton in the musical have gone on some changes because he needs to be seen as the good guy and the protagonist of the story. While in this book, we will see the whole good and bad and anything in between full version of Alexander Hamilton.

This book basically covers Alexander Hamilton’s whole life, even story about his parents and how they met. Turns out, he wasn’t really son of a whore. So, it’s not a surprise that this book has large number of characters. I usually have no issue with books with large cast of characters, but the problem for me with this book is that the illustration style makes it hard for me to distinguish some characters. At some points, I even have a hard time distinguishing Hamilton with other characters.

There are also a lot of paragraph text in this graphic novel instead of dialogue. While I’m usually okay with it, but when it comes to graphic novel I’d like to see more dialogue between characters or at least an even number of it. Arguably, the illustration maybe made it easier to understand, but maybe it would be better to turn it into a novel instead of graphic novel. Or at least, an illustrated novel.

The pace of the storytelling itself is good and balanced at the beginning, unfortunately when I reach the last ¼ of the story, the pace feels so rushed. There are parts where I feel like the author could elaborate more and dig deeper to make it better. Though there are some good dramatic parts in this book, some of the dramatic nuance in this book feels rather unnecessary for me.

Overall, it was a pretty nice biography of Alexander Hamilton. It’s definitely a good book to pick if you want to know more details about his life, though I won’t say that it covers everything, it covers quite a lot of necessary information about Hamilton’s life especially his role in the creation of USA. However, if you’re looking for a book about Hamilton’s personal affairs, I don’t think this is the right book to pick.