About the Author

Arnold A. Rogow has taught at Stanford University, the University of Iowa, and the City University of New York. He is the author of many books, including James Forrestal: A Study of Personality, Politics, and Policy. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

"Carefully researched and soberly argued . . . a thoughtful and valuable statement about the vagaries of moral and historical understanding." --Richard Bernstein, The New York Times"Rogow's fascinating book, which includes sensational sex and enough indecent innuendos and appalling allegations to rival those of our own age . . . contains page after page of poignant, hilarious and revealing quotations and meditations." --Sarah Booth Conroy, The Washington Post

Those who consider today's politics a vicious affair might brush up on Hamilton and Burr, whose 1804 duel ended the political career of Burr, who was then our vice president, and took the life of Hamilton, earlier George Washington's great Treasury secretary. The puzzle of Hamilton's enmity toward Burr long has been as much a matter for the psychologist as the historian, and Rogow (Thomas Hobbes, LJ 5/15/86) has at it both ways in his study of their fateful relationship. A careful weighing of known facts, elegant in its style, his account is plausible, if not entirely convincing, kinder to Burr and harsher to Hamilton than the historical norm, while denser in detail on the politics of the early republic than some readers will care to absorb. Interesting but optional for academic and public libraries.‘Robert F. Nardini, N. Chichester, NH