Volume 52, Number 2 · February 10, 2005
That Hamilton Man
By Mike Wallace
Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America
an exhibition at the New-York Historical Society, New York City, September 10, 2004–February 28, 2005
When I first heard that the New-York Historical Society was promoting its Alexander Hamilton exhibition by blanketing its block-long façade with a banner imprinted with an immense ten-dollar bill, it sounded like a wonderfully whimsical marketing device, a Barnumesque bit of barkerism on behalf of a Founder who eminently deserved a full bells-and-whistles show. But in the event, the gargantuan head and gigantic logo, 'The Man Who Made Modern America,' proved all too consistent with the exhibit within: a glorification of Hamilton as hero. 'Modern America' was not made by Alexander Hamilton, although a more modest case can be made for his contribution to the development of key financial and political institutions. Instead, in the interest of advancing a deeply anachronistic argument about Hamilton's contemporary relevance, the show opts for one-sided, hagiographic boosterism.[1]
Review, 3429 words
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