Alexander Hamilton was once the least recognized face on any dollar bill, but as the unlikely subject of a hit musical, he’s now known to people who have never opened a history book. In From Obscurity to Greatness, UW-Madison’s John P. Kaminski tries to add flesh to our understanding of America’s first Treasury Secretary by culling through diaries, letters and 18th century newspapers, curating a selection of quotes by Hamilton and about him. Turns out he was not well loved by his contemporaries. Abigail Adams to her husband John: “He has so damned himself to everlasting infamy, that he ought not to be Head of any thing.” Although credited with saving the young United States from bankruptcy, Hamilton was criticized for being born out of wedlock. Kaminski believes that a fragile sense of honor led him to accept Aaron Burr’s fateful challenge to a duel. (Dave Luhrssen, Shepherd Express, January 2017)