Books: An Unlucky Honest Man

THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON, VOLUMES I & II (1,337 pp.)—Edifed by Harold C. Syreff and Jacob E. Cooke—Columbia Universify ($25).

Anyone past the age of 25 who still recalls his history lessons has precise images of the giants who made the American Revolution. Washington was noble—so noble, in fact, that he did not look at all self-conscious when they carved his head on a mountainside. Franklin was a cross between Will Rogers and Santa Claus. Jefferson was the great champion of all that was good—democracy, social justice, and the common man. Hamilton was...