Ron Chernow

Ronald Chernow (born 1949) is an American biographer. He is the author of Washington: A Life, Alexander Hamilton, The House of Morgan, and Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., among other works. He has won the Pulitzer prize, the National Book Award and other prestigious awards for his books, which have often been best-sellers.

Life and career

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Chernow graduated with honors from Yale University and Cambridge University with degrees in English literature. He then began a career as a freelance journalist. From 1973 to 1982, he published more than 60 articles in national publications.^[1] In the mid-1980s, he began work at the Twentieth Century Fund, a think tank based in New York City, where he was director of financial policy studies.^[1] Chernow's wife Valerie, a sociologist, died in 2006.^[2]

Chernow is a current (2010) member and past president of the Board of Trustees for PEN American Center, the eastern U.S. branch of International PEN, an international literary and human rights organization.

Banking

His first book, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance was published in 1990 and won the National Book Award for nonfiction. The book traced the history of four generations of the J.P. Morgan financial empire.^[3] The reviewer for the New York Times Book Review said, "As a portrait of finance, politics and the world of avarice and ambition on Wall Street, the book has the movement and tension of an epic novel. It is, quite simply, a tour de force."^[4]

The Warburgs, Chernow's 1993 account of the German-Jewish Warburg banking family, was awarded the Columbia Business School's George S. Eccles Prize for Excellence in Economic Writing. The book was named as one of the year's twelve best nonfiction books by the American Library Association and a Notable Book by The New York Times.

Chernow's 1997 collection of essays, The Death of the Banker, touched upon his earlier writings and chronicled "the decline and fall of the great financial dynasties and the triumph of the small investor."

Rockefeller

In 1998 Chernow published his biography of John D. Rockefeller, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. The book reflected Chernow's continued interest in financial history, especially when shaped by compelling and influential individuals. The biography was selected by Time magazine and The New York Times as one of the year's ten best books. Time called it "one of the great American biographies."^[5]

Hamilton

In 2004, Chernow published his 832-page biography, Alexander Hamilton. The biography won the inaugural George Washington Book Prize for early American history.^[6]

The reviews in the major scholarly journals were favorable. Professor Stephen B. Presser of Northwestern University wrote:^[7]

"This book is one of those happy rarities: a popular biography that should also delight scholars....This is the kind of synthetic narrative history and biography that is rarely done to such high standards and is clearly one of the best introductions to the American formative era available. Moreover, the way Chernow integrates international affairs, domestic politics, economic and constitutional theory, and astute psychological analysis is nothing short of wondrous."

Washington

Chernow's 904-page Washington: A Life was released on October 5, 2010 (ISBN 978-1594202667). It won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography (2011) and the American History Book Prize. Professor Gordon S. Wood, renowned scholar of the Founding era, wrote:^[8]

"The best, most comprehensive, and most balanced single-volume biography of Washington ever written... One comes away from the book feeling that Washington has finally become comprehensible... [Chernow's] understanding of human nature is extraordinary and that is what makes his biography so powerful."

Future Projects

In April 2011, Chernow signed a deal to write a comprehensive biography on Ulysses S. Grant.^[9] Chernow explained his transition from writing about George Washington to Grant: "Makes some sense as progression. Towering general of Revolution to towering general of Civil War. Both two-term presidents, though with very different results."^[10]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "Chernow biography page at International Speakers Web site". http://www.internationalspeakers.com/speakers/ISBB-553PHR/Ron_Chernow/. Retrieved 2006-09-02. , his agency as a paid speaker.
2. ^ Celia McGee (2006-03-21). "Biographer to Lead PEN Center in the U.S.". New York Times. http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/628/prmID/918. Retrieved 2007-09-03. 
3. ^ "The House of Morgan (review)". http://bluerectangle.com/book_reviews/view_one_review/1995. Retrieved 2011-10-10. 
4. ^ Jeffrey E. Garten, "Their Street Was Paved With Gold," New York Times March 18, 1990
5. ^ Lance Morrow, "Books: John D. Rockefeller: Oil In The Family," Time June 15, 1998
6. ^ "Historian Ron Chernow Awarded First Annual George Washington Book Prize for Alexander Hamilton". Washington College. http://news.washcoll.edu/press_releases/2005/05/08_chernow.php. Retrieved 2007-03-26. 
7. ^ in the Journal of American History June 2006 p 192-3
8. ^ "The Real Washington At Last". The New York Review of Books. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/dec/09/real-washington-last/?pagination=false. Retrieved 2011-11-15. 
9. ^ "Chernow to Write About Ulysses S. Grant". The Book Case. http://www.bookpage.com/the-book-case/2011/04/27/chernow-to-write-about-ulysses-s-grant. Retrieved 2011-11-15. 
10. ^ "Chernow channels George Washington at the Kimmel". NewsWorks. http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/flexicontent/item/27022-chernow-to-take-on-washington-at-kimmel-ask-a-question. Retrieved 2011-11-15. 

External links

• Entry on Ron Chernow at Penguin Group website
• The Founding Fathers Versus the Tea Party by Ron Chernow

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Name	Chernow, Ron
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Date of birth	1949
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