Hot take (with recency bias): Ron Chernow

Homer and Virgil were historians at the end of the day. Whether what they reported as happening was true or not is as irrelevant as whether Alexander Hamilton threw away his shot at Aaron Burr or not. Their writings, just like Chernow’s, are steeped in legend.

Chernow’s work has excellently captured:

Alexander Hamilton John D Rockefeller JP Morgan Ulysses (!) S. Grant Etc.

As I type this out, perhaps the best comparison for Chernow is actually Plutarch? Either way, I haven’t seen anyone mention him and that would be an unfortunate oversight.