If you think Alexander Hamilton was the devil incarnate ?

? you?ll love Thomas J. DiLorenzo?s latest book, Hamilton?s Curse: How Jefferson?s Archenemy Betrayed the American Revolution ? and What It Means for America Today.

A response to recent biographies that have portrayed Hamilton in a positive light, DiLorenzo?s book serves as a lawyer?s brief against America?s first treasury secretary.

[N]o matter how many contemporary historians, politicians, and pundits celebrate Hamilton?s influence, the fact is that his political legacy has been largely a curse on America, not a blessing. Many of America?s economic and political achievements for whch neo-Hamiltonian writers often credit Hamilton have often occurred despite rather than because of the adoption of his principal ideas ? centralized governmental bureaucracy, public debt, business-government ?partnerships,? protectionism, heavy taxation and regulation, monetary manipulation through central banking, and corporate welfare. Moreover, many of the disasters of American history have their roots in Hamilton?s philosophy of centralized governmental power combined mercantilist economics. This would include not only the War between the States, which claimed more than 600,000 American lives, but also the massive political corruption that followed the war, the U.S. government?s imperialist bent that began in the late nineteenth century with the Spanish-American War, the destruction of constitutional government by activist federal judges, the invasive tyranny of the IRS, our gargantuan national debt, and the monetary expansion and economic interventionism that led to the Great Depression. And this is only a partial list.

DiLorenzo tells us how he really feels throughout the course of the remaining pages.

While it would be impossible to read the text and walk away with a positive impression of Hamilton?s legacy, DiLorenzo leaves some key questions unaddressed. If Hamilton was so evil, why did Washington regularly side with Hamilton during the Hamilton-Jefferson disputes? For that matter, why did archenemy Jefferson keep a bust of Hamilton in Monticello?

Both facts suggest that the case against Hamilton is not quite as clear-cut as DiLorenzo suggests. For a brief take on a book that offers a different perspective of Hamilton?s work, click here.