Rivals Unto Death: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

by Rick Beyer Narrated by Rick Beyer

Overview

From the bestselling author of The Greatest Stories Never Told series, the epic history of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's illustrious and eccentric political careers and their fateful rivalry.

The famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr was the culmination of a story three decades in the making. Rivals unto Death vividly traces their rivalry back to the earliest days of the American Revolution, when Hamilton and Burr—both brilliant, restless, and barely twenty years old—elbowed their way onto the staff of General George Washington. The fast-moving account traces their intricate tug-of war, uncovering surprising details that led to their deadly encounter through battlefields, courtrooms, bedrooms, and the wildest presidential election in history, counting down the years to their fateful rendezvous on the dueling ground.

This is politics made personal: shrill accusations, bruising collisions, and a parade of flesh and blood founders struggling—and often failing—to keep their tempers and jealousies in check. Smoldering in the background was a fundamental political divide that threatened to tear the new nation in two, and still persists to this day.

The Burr and Hamilton that leap out of these pages are passionate, engaging, and utterly human characters inextricably linked together as Rivals unto Death.

Editorial Reviews

MARCH 2017 - AudioFile

The author certainly has excellent timing—writing and narrating this audiobook in the midst of Alexander Hamilton’s star turn as the “Founder Father du jour.” This is good history—a work that both entertains and informs as it tells a story that, perhaps unfortunately, mirrors the political animus we see in our present age. As narrator, Beyer knows his words and paces the story effectively as it leads inexorably to its tragic end. His voice is friendly and familiar—as if a friend were reading you his favorite sections. But while Beyer reads clearly, and with some variation in his voice, there’s nothing special about his presentation. It may be up to the listener to bring a spark of curiosity to the audiobook. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

"They were the best of enemies, two stalwart men of the national stage whose differences—personal and political—seemed to capture larger conflicts churning within our young republic. In this fascinating dual biography, Rick Beyer brings these two towering figures to vivid life on the page. In Beyer's fine hands, the long feud between Burr and Hamilton seems part opera buffa, part Greek tragedy. As the pages keep turning, we feel ourselves pulled along a collision course—one that still has powerful resonance today."
—Hampton Sides, bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and In the Kingdom of ice

MARCH 2017 - AudioFile

The author certainly has excellent timing—writing and narrating this audiobook in the midst of Alexander Hamilton’s star turn as the “Founder Father du jour.” This is good history—a work that both entertains and informs as it tells a story that, perhaps unfortunately, mirrors the political animus we see in our present age. As narrator, Beyer knows his words and paces the story effectively as it leads inexorably to its tragic end. His voice is friendly and familiar—as if a friend were reading you his favorite sections. But while Beyer reads clearly, and with some variation in his voice, there’s nothing special about his presentation. It may be up to the listener to bring a spark of curiosity to the audiobook. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173812070
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	02/21/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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