Schuyler Sisters Explored Beyond HAMILTON in New Book From Amanda Vaill
Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution is now available for purchase.
By: Michael Major Oct. 27, 2025
The Schuyler Sisters are stepping into the spotlight in a new biography from Amanda Vaill. Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution, out on book shelves now, reintroduces the Schuyler sisters—Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy—to readers who may already know them from Lin-Manuel Miranda's blockbuster Hamilton musical.
A new profile from The New York Times reveals that the book tackles subjects not seen in the musical, including the sisters’ privileged upbringing being supported by enslaved labor. Viall, who previously released a book on Jerome Robbins, also dives deeper in the Angelica's marriage to John Barker Church. It shows her befriending figures like Benjamin Franklin, Mademoiselle d’Eon, and abolitionist Ottobah Cugoano while being immersed in the social circles of London and Paris.
The book does reference the infamous letters between Angelica and Alexander Hamilton, which is explored in the musical.
Eliza Schuyler Hamilton relegated to a more domestic role, fulfilling the supportive wife duties that Hamilton had imagined for her. She does, however, assert her dominance on a copy of The Federalist Papers, which was sent to Angelica. Even after his infidelity through a public affair with Maria Reynolds, Eliza remained fiercely loyal to him.
As is joked about in the musical, Peggy Schuyler receives the least attention in Pride and Pleasure, depicted as the most beautiful but largely sidelined sister. Thoughout the story, her life is marked by chronic illness, miscarriages, and weakness. The biography’s focus remains on Angelica and Eliza.
Pride and Pleasure ends with Vaill using the lives of the Schuyler to explore women's roles in early America, which displays the independence of Angelica and the loyalty of Eliza.
On stage, the Schuyler Sisters were originally portrayed by Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica, Phillipa Soo as Eliza, and Jasmine Cephas Jones as Peggy– doubling as Maria Reynolds. Hamilton can currently be seen in its tenth year on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
