Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr
- ISBN-10
- 1429532424
- ISBN-13
- 9781429532426
- Pages
- 540
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2007
- Publisher
- Viking
- Author
- Nancy Isenberg
Description
Nancy Isenberg's eye-opening, painstakingly researched biography reveals a true patriot. A brave participant in the Revolutionary War and and Enlightenment figure as much as Jefferson, he was a feminist and an inspired politician, statesman, and legislator who promoted decency instead of the factionalism that threatened the solidity of the young nation. He was a brilliant orator and lawyer who served as New York's attorney general and senator, before his election as vice president. Burr was, in short, a loyal citizen who had the bad fortune to make a powerful enemy early in his career. Alexander Hamilton was preoccupied with Burr for more than a decade, and subverted his career at every turn through outright lies and slanderous letters. Hamilton and Burr's other political rivals successfully denounced Burr as a man of extreme tastes, but the facts show him to be a man of moderation and open-mindedness generations ahead of his time. Isenberg shows us the gritty reality of eighteenth-century America, with its cutthroat politics, partisan maneuvering, sexual indiscretions, financial fiascos, and media slander.
