Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution by Amanda Vaill

 

The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution by Amanda Vaill. Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 2025. Adult nonfiction. History. 720 pages.

     Readers who are familiar with the Hamilton musical, will immediately recognize the Schuyler sisters. Angelica and Eliza and Peggy are central to the Alexander Hamilton tale. In this well researched and documented history of the Schuyler family and the early history of America, Amanda Vaill has done a masterful job of showing their influence on the events of the American Revolution itself. The two beautiful older sisters, Angelica Church, and Eliza Hamilton share a deep love for Alexander Hamilton himself. Interestingly, when Hamilton is killed in a duel with Aaron Burr, Eliza advocates for saving his papers and documents and his place in American history. She outlives him by decades. 

from online: 

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE
FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD IN BIOGRAPHY
FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE IN BIOGRAPHY

"Marvelous . . . An act not only of recovery, but of world building." --The Atlantic

"A thoroughly fascinating biography, filled with Vaill's signature warmth, humor and insight." --The New York Times Book Review

"Elegantly written, intimately detailed and infused with feeling, a gripping account of these two remarkable women, their elite family and their tumultuous era." --The Wall Street Journal

"One of our great biographers takes the sisters out of Hamilton's supporting cast and puts them front and center." --Town & Country

America's founding era reconsidered through the lives of two women as formidable as, and in some respects stronger than, the men they loved, married, and mothered.