Biographies

Explore the captivating life of Aaron Burr and his duel with Alexander Hamilton. Based on his early achievements, Aaron Burr, Jr., should have become an obscure but respected figure in American history. An officer in the Continental Army, a high-flying lawyer, and an influential politician, his career peak was becoming the third vice president in US history. But after all these achievements, Burr's name is now associated with corruption and cruelty. He killed a man in an illegal duel while in office, and interest in that man, Alexander Hamilton, has revived Burr's reputation as one of history's villains. It was a reputation earned not just through the duel, in which he killed one of the brightest lights in the political firmament, but through a treasonous conspiracy after leaving the vice presidency. Who was Aaron Burr? What drove him to such achievements and such failures? And how did a respected politician become a publicly reviled villain?

Explore the fascinating life of Alexander Hamilton! Alexander Hamilton is one of the most extraordinary figures in American history. A deep thinker, a military leader, and a political dynamo, he was George Washington's right-hand man and perhaps the most important figure in the shaping of the Constitution. His policies and practices in government set the United States down a path of commercial wealth and economic stability. His ideas still resonate in the powerful nation he helped create. During his time, Hamilton was a divisive figure. A political extremist who antagonized the conservative parts of the new republic while protecting its former opponents. The man at the heart of the nation's first major sex scandal. A political operator whose actions outraged opponents and eventually led to the duel that cost him his life. It was an extraordinary life, made more extraordinary by Hamilton's origins. He was an outsider, an immigrant from the Caribbean who arrived in New York to make a new life for himself. In doing so, he helped to shape the framework of politics and commerce in America. In retrospect, the amazing thing about his fame is not its recent resurgence, but that it took so long for him to be widely recognized.

Explore the captivating life of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong is recognized alongside Chiang Kai-Shek and Sun Yat-Sen as one of the most influential figures of modern Chinese history. His political control of the nation waned during his later years, but he remained the Chairman of the Community Party of China since it was established in 1949 to the day he died on September 9, 1976. As the founding father of the People's Republic of China and the centerpiece of one of the world's most intense personality cults, the extent of his influence is difficult to understate. Today, Mao's legacy can inspire slavish devotion, outright condemnation, as well as, a hesitance to look too closely at the negative aspects of his legacy. The fact that his influence spanned over nearly three decades also makes it difficult to arrive at a holistic understanding of his impact on China. The official line from the Community Party of China, which was popularized by Deng Xiaoping, is that Mao was "70 percent correct and 30 percent wrong". This biography details Mao's remarkable journey from being the son of a peasant to one of modern history's greatest - and highly polarizing - leaders. It aims to provide a better understanding of Mao as a person and to try to unpack the personality traits and personal experiences that shaped his worldview and actions.