The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr

The word "heartbreak"—not to mention the book's subtitle—may imply that Brands (history, Univ. of Texas, Austin; Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) has taken a turn toward melodrama, but he fairly presents the dramas of Burr's life in the second in his "American Portraits" series of entertaining historical snapshots. Readers who know Burr only as the man who shot Alexander Hamilton will learn that he tied with Jefferson for electoral college presidential votes and became vice president. After the fatal duel, Burr went west to attempt self-reinvention but found more trouble when the Jefferson administration claimed he meant to lead the western states in secession; Brands uses the trial record to create a gripping account of Burr's acquittal. Referencing Burr's published correspondence with his daughter Theodosia, he goes on to paint an intimate portrait of Burr as committed feminist and doting father. Theodosia's disappearance at sea en route to a reunion with her father is heartbreaking.