Tilar J. Mazzeo, who has done careful research for this first full biography of Eliza Hamilton, promotes an interesting theory about her possible role in the 'Reynolds Affair' ... Some may balk at her mixing scholarship with a willingness to talk about Eliza as though she knows what her every mood was...but others will applaud her ability to portray Eliza as a three-dimensional character.
...[a] satisfying cradle-to-grave biography ... Drawing from an impressive breadth of sources, Mazzeo shows what made Eliza, in the words of her husband, Alexander, the 'best of wives, best of women' ... Mazzeo gives less attention to the years during which Eliza exercised her widow’s independence, which is disappointing. Nevertheless, this is an expertly told story that’s certain to captivate Hamilton fans and intrigue anyone interested in early U.S. history.
The narrative tends toward mostly charming yet sometimes flat vignettes ... The prose is by turns trite and breathless ... Readers may wish for a more detailed treatment of Eliza’s work, as a widow, with New York’s Orphan Asylum Society. A middling biography of a worthy subject.
