Burr: A Novel
For readers who can€t get enough of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, Gore Vidal€s stunning novel about Aaron Burr, the man who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel€"and who served as a successful, if often feared, statesman of our fledgling nation.  Â
Here is an extraordinary portrait of one of the most complicated€"and misunderstood€"figures among the Founding Fathers. In 1804, while serving as vice president, Aaron Burr fought a duel with his political nemesis, Alexander Hamilton, and killed him. In 1807, he was arrested, tried, and acquitted of treason. In 1833, Burr is newly married, an aging statesman considered a monster by many. But he is determined to tell his own story, and he chooses to confide in a young New York City journalist named Charles Schermerhorn Schuyler. Together, they explore both Burr's past€"and the continuing civic drama of their young nation.
Â
Burr is the first novel in Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series, which spans the history of the United States from the Revolution to post-World War II. With their broad canvas and sprawling cast of fictional and historical characters, these novels present a panorama of American politics and imperialism, as interpreted by one of our most incisive and ironic observers.