Alexander Hamilton has had a very good year. Not only has he been frequently cited as the leading authority on impeachable offenses, but his conduct in explaining his relations with Maria Reynolds and her blackmailing husband has been justly hailed as befitting a gentleman caught, out in a tawdry affair: forthright, unflinching, and painfully honest.

Richard Brookhiser could not have known this would happen when he set out to write his new profile of our most striking Founding Father, but no one needs a topical reason to explore again the life, mind, and character of this perplexing and beguiling man.