Book Review: The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr by H.W. Brands

There's times you're surprised at the thoughts a book prompts. Take the new biography of Aaron Burr by H.W. Brands. I couldn't help but think about how technology may impact authors and readers of history and biographies.

You see, one of the primary sources for The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr is Burr's letters, particularly to his daughter, Theodosia. Consider the state of written correspondence today, though. More and more of it consists of email or texts that are easy victims of hard drive failures or targets for the "delete" key.

Although Burr is the subject of numerous biographies, Brands' use of the letters between Burr and Theo, named after her mother, allows a somewhat different perspective. As the title may suggest, this sketch seems to look more at Burr the man than the other categories in which he could be placed — politician, duelist, accused traitor. While Brand concisely covers the breadth of Burr's life, it is clear that the father-daughter relationship was an extraordinary one. Burr was decades ahead of his time when it came to Theo. Throughout his life, he was devoted to seeing that she had an education equal to any man's. Even after she was married and a mother, Burr would suggest matters for her to study and ask that she report back her thoughts and ideas upon doing so. His view of women was such that he described Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy, as "a work of genius."

Despite his love for his daughter, Burr's ambitions frequently took him away for extended periods of time. Yet those ambitions never produced the greatness Burr believed was his future. Burr's political status in his native New York made him one of the key figures in the struggle between Alexander Hamilton's Federalists and Thomas Jefferson's Republicans, a dispute Brands summarizes rather handily. This would lead him to become Jefferson's vice president in 1800, only for Jefferson to shut him out and Burr be left off the ticket when Jefferson sought re-election.

Article Author: Tim Gebhart

Tim Gebhart lives in Sioux Falls, SD, where he practices law in order to provide shelter for his family, his dogs, and his books. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and his blog de guerre is A Progressive on the Prairie.

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