Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton by Tilar J. MazzeoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm so happy Eliza Schuyler Hamilton finally has a full-length biography of her own! This was a fascinating and well-researched account of Eliza's life, a feat that must've been incredibly difficult since women's lives were rarely documented in the 1700s-1800s. It has been speculated that Eliza burned much of her correspondence with Alexander, too, which must've made her an even more challenging subject to research.
I learned so much about Eliza that wasn't covered in Ron Chernow's Hamilton biography (or Hamilton the musical). Tilar Mazzeo also presents a new theory on the Reynolds Affair based on what we know about Eliza's reaction to the situation. While I'm not sure how much I agree, it was fascinating to read.
The book uses the occasional line from Hamilton, which actually pulled me out of the flow a bit, and at times felt a little clunky when it tried to assign certain emotions to Eliza (we have no way of knowing how she felt in many situations). Other than that, it was well-written and I flew through it.
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