The saga of the gifted Schuyler sisters,embroiled in turmoiltriumphand tragedy at the very heart of our country’s founding. In a letter to her sisterEliza Hamiltonat a time when their family was embroiled in scandals both personal and politicalAngelica Schulyer wrote that her sister may have spared herself all this pain had she married into another family ΓÇ£less near the sun.ΓÇ¥ ΓÇ£But thenΓÇ¥ she continuesEliza ΓÇ£would have missed the pridethe pleasurethe nameless satisfactions.ΓÇ¥ In Pride and PleasureAmanda Vaill draws on deep archival research and never published letters to uncover the stories of these two remarkable womenfollowing both from their childhoods as colonial aristocrats through their marriages to unconventional men and divergent paths in adulthoodΓÇöElizaΓÇÖs first as helpmeet to the prodigious Alexander Hamilton and then as a philanthropist and political lobbyistand AngelicaΓÇÖs as a socialite and confidante of powerful men such as Thomas Jeffersonthe Marquis de Lafayetteandscandalouslyher own sisterΓÇÖs husband. Togetherthe twin stories of the Schuyler sisters create a captivating narrative of loveloyaltyand conviction. The women Vaill takes as her subjects in Pride and Pleasure were in their own ways as formidable asand in some respects stronger thanthe men they lovedmarriedand mothered. They may have signed no declarationsnegotiated no treatiesenacted no lawsbut their stories are embedded in the very pattern of American historythe warp on which it is woven.