War of Two

Praise

Praise for War of Two

“Sedgwick’s War of Two, like Chernow’s great biography, has depths and details that the musical [Hamilton] cannot match.”—Gordon Wood, The New York Review of Books
 
“[A] lively, wide-ranging and immensely readable book. The world of War of Two is often more personal than political, an intimate portrait of Hamilton and Burr as they plunged toward their fatal collision.”—The New York Times
 
“John Sedgwick has done a great thing here: he has painted a compelling and original portrait of a defining American rivalry. A story of ambition, conviction, and finally of bloodshed.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
 
“In crisp, lively prose, the author presents evenhanded and insightful profiles of two highly intelligent, driven men with substantial flaws and very different characters…[An] entertainingly irreverent account of two consequential men from the dawn of the American republic.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“John Sedgwick rescues the most famous duel in history from musty mythology and gives us a richly textured, spirited, absorbing tale of yearning, rivalry, and pathos. War of Two reads like the Great American Novel—but it’s all true.”—Evan Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Being Nixon: A Man Divided
 
“Sedgwick perceptively suggests that Burr’s skill at influencing public opinion epitomized for the emerging Republicans what Hamilton’s preference for elite governance did for the Federalists: competing versions of democracy.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“An explosive historical narrative. With Sedgwick’s deft, clever writing, this true story of the dangerous and dramatic world of the Founders becomes as gripping as any novel.”—Matthew Pearl, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookaneer
 
“The famous duel has been recounted before, but never with such illuminating attention to the layers upon layers of ambition, vanity, talent, honor and pigheadedness that marked the antagonists…A master storyteller.”—H. W. Brands, New York Times bestselling author of The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace