#ron chernow

[howcomethatthisishappening]

Opened Chernow on a random page today

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[charl0ttan]

fav nonfiction book? (if it's too many, you can go w/ just in the last year)

lately ive been listening to ron chernow's mark twain biography from last year and its so totally cool to hear abt him finally!! one of those figures that Everyone Knows but nobody rly knows all that much about his whole actual life story. i think hes super fascinating. the way he was able to break the mold of someone born in a small missouri town during the era of american slavery in The Eighteen Thirties. it was really such an uphill battle for him to get to penning huck finn's "all right, ill go to hell". (not to say he was perfect of course because holy shit of course not LMAO i mean he never even came around on native americans At All) BUT ANYWAY ive just rly enjoyed hearing especially about his rise to prominence and such which i related to a lot from my own rise online. and i do honestly see myself in him. its the kurt vonnegut of it all. kurt vonnegut was the mark twain of the 20th century. did u know that? its yrue. which is just to say i think im kindred with twain in the same sort of satirical and opinionated but also silly type of way. although im more niceys. samuel was honestly kind of a dick in person. mercurial spirit. quick to bother. did you know mark twain is a sentence? mark two. steamboating phrase. two fathoms deep water means a steamboat can pass through. mark twain. yeap ✅

[ourtalechara]

Occasionally, I think about Lin-Manuel Miranda's thought process behind why he made Hamilton, and every single time I imagine him in like a stereotypical teenage girl room, with posters of his favorite boy bands on the wall and a big closet with shoes and cutesy clothing, and he's laying, stomach down, on his bed, over the white bed cover with pink hearts, reading his copy of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, eating ruffles, and going, "he's just like me, fr fr."

[deadpresidents]

do you think history should be more kind to ulysses grant? i personally think he gets treated unfairly in history and is hated because of the lost cause mythology and the corruption in his administration, which wasn’t completely his fault.

Yes, I agree 100%. Even with his fame from the Civil War, I think Grant is actually one of the great underrated all-around figures of American history and not just because of his military accomplishments. I think he was a genuinely remarkable person because of how he overcame his flaws and weaknesses and many, many, many failures, and because he was, at his core, an immensely honorable and righteous human being.

With some of the recent studies and biographies about Grant during the past 15 years, I've also started to join many other historians in reevaluating and better appreciating his Presidency during an especially impossibly time to be President. In particular, I'd suggest checking out these three recent books to get a sense of how good and great of an American and a man Ulysses S. Grant truly was:

•Grant (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Ron Chernow [2017] •The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by H.W. Brands [2012]

•American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Ronald C. White [2016]

[oddyseye]

I don't know if this is just a thought of mine, but, sometimes I overthink about Hamilton's teen years and can't help but wonder if somebody took advantage of him (in a bad way), I think the main reason why I think this is because in most of the fan fics about his boyhood, I constantly see a constant thing, people older than him are always his first partners, which is weird. Anyways, I guess I also have this headcanon (?) because of him being on a constant search for romantic validation.

Anyways, I don't think I made sense.

No, I understand completely. It makes sense given the way people talk about him. Chernow, for instance, has this notoriously clumsy phrasing that honestly planted some of these ideas in my head too. He writes:

“Because the style of eighteenth-century letters could be quite florid, even between men, one must tread gingerly in approaching this matter, especially since Laurens’ letters to Hamilton were warm but proper. It is worth noting here, however, how frequently people used the word feminine to describe Hamilton—the more surprising given his military bearing and virile exploits. When John C. Hamilton was preparing his father’s authorized biography, he omitted a loose sheet that has survived in his papers and that describes the relationship between Hamilton and Laurens thus: ‘In the intercourse of these martial youths, who have been styled “the Knights of the Revolution,” there was a deep fondness of friendship, which approached the tenderness of feminine attachment.’ Hamilton had certainly been exposed to homosexuality as a boy, since many ‘sodomites’ were transported to the Caribbean along with thieves, pickpockets, and others deemed undesirable. In all thirteen colonies, sodomy had been a capital offense, so if Hamilton and Laurens did become lovers—and it is impossible to say this with any certainty—they would have taken extraordinary precautions. At the very least, we can say that Hamilton developed something like an adolescent crush on his friend.”

Reading that as a teen or even just as someone trying to understand Hamilton’s emotional life, you can’t help but think, okay...this kid grew up around people who were criminalized for their sexuality, who were treated as dangerous or immoral, and he’s already described as “feminine” in a society that equates that with weakness or deviance. The implication—even if it’s unintended—is that Hamilton’s early environment included exposure to sexual danger or at least to the societal framing of sexuality as violent or illicit. Add in the way he seems to seek intense emotional bonds with older figures, and you start to wonder if his need for validation and affection as a teen was partially a response to trauma or precarity in his early life.

So yeah, I totally understand the headcanon impulse. Chernow’s phrasing is awkward, overcautious, and honestly kind of terrifying if you read between the lines, and it definitely made me, at least for a while, think along these lines too. It’s one of those moments where biography—trying to explain affection in eighteenth-century letters—accidentally invites speculation about formative vulnerability. And Hamilton, being Hamilton, never makes it easy to separate emotional intensity from personal history.

[super-powerful-queen-reyna]

In Hamilton's biography by Ron Chernow, there's a few paragraphs about Hamilton being gay asf for Laurens, and surprisingly enough for Lafayette.

Disclaimer: maybe Hamilton and Lafayette just used flowery prose, as it was common in 18th century letters. Also Laurens' writing was very proper. But Hamilton was often described as feminine (even though he was a highly-regarded military officer), and his grandson said that his friendship with Lafayette had a note of romance.

[cecilia37]

"Had Washington's military career ended with the French and Indian War, he would have earned scarcely more than a footnote in history, yet it is impossible to imagine his life without this important preamble. The British Empire had committed a major blunder by spurning the talents of such a natural leader. It said something about the imperial system that it could find no satisfactory place for this loyal, able, and ambitious young subject. The proud Washington had been forced to bow and scrape for a regular commission, and it irked him that he had to grovel for recognition. Washington's military career would be held in abeyance until June 1775, but in the meantime he had acquired a powerful storehouse of grievances that would fuel his later rage with England."

-- Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life, Chapter 8: Darling of a Grateful Country, p. 92.

[lexveryreal]

life sucks but i met ron chernow and told him i love his book so it cant be that bad

and i meant that genuinely