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America has gone Hamilton crazy. Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony-winning musical has spawned sold-out performances, a triple platinum cast album, and a score so catchy that it is being used to teach U.S. history in classrooms across the country. But just how historically accurate is Hamilton? And how is the show itself making history?
Historians on "Hamilton" brings together a collection of top scholars to explain the Hamilton phenomenon and explore what it might mean for our understanding of America's history. The contributors examine what the musical got right, what it got wrong, and why it matters. Does Hamilton's hip-hop take on the Founding Fathers misrepresent our nation's past, or does it offer a bold positive vision for our nation's future? Can a musical so unabashedly contemporary and deliberately anachronistic still communicate historical truths about American culture and politics? And is Hamilton as revolutionary as its creators and many commentators claim?
Perfect for students, teachers, theatre fans, hip-hop heads, and history buffs alike, these short and lively essays examine why Hamilton became an Obama-era sensation and consider its continued relevance in the age of Trump. Whether you are a fan or a skeptic, you will come away from this collection with a new appreciation for the meaning and importance of the Hamilton phenomenon.
Historians on "Hamilton" brings together a collection of top scholars to explain the Hamilton phenomenon and explore what it might mean for our understanding of America's history. The contributors examine what the musical got right, what it got wrong, and why it matters. Does Hamilton's hip-hop take on the Founding Fathers misrepresent our nation's past, or does it offer a bold positive vision for our nation's future? Can a musical so unabashedly contemporary and deliberately anachronistic still communicate historical truths about American culture and politics? And is Hamilton as revolutionary as its creators and many commentators claim?
Perfect for students, teachers, theatre fans, hip-hop heads, and history buffs alike, these short and lively essays examine why Hamilton became an Obama-era sensation and consider its continued relevance in the age of Trump. Whether you are a fan or a skeptic, you will come away from this collection with a new appreciation for the meaning and importance of the Hamilton phenomenon.
Reviews
"A thought-provoking and carefully crafted collection of scholarship that has much to offer readers interested in music, theater, or American history." -Library Journal
"Cumulatively, the essays in Historians on Hamilton provide a useful and impressive range of perspectives from which to appreciate the historical significance of the Broadway sensation, to evaluate the historical accuracy of the story Hamilton tells, and to prod us to consider the contemporary stakes of the historical narratives we consume, celebrate, and propagate." - H-Net (H-War)
"Cumulatively, the essays in Historians on Hamilton provide a useful and impressive range of perspectives from which to appreciate the historical significance of the Broadway sensation, to evaluate the historical accuracy of the story Hamilton tells, and to prod us to consider the contemporary stakes of the historical narratives we consume, celebrate, and propagate." - H-Net (H-War)
| Illustrations | 25 colour and 6 black & white illustrations |
|---|---|
| Pages | 288 |
| Dimensions | 203 x 132 |
| Date Published | 30 Mar 2018 |
| Publisher | Rutgers University Press |
| Subject/s | History History of the Americas Theatre studies Musicals |
- Chronology
- Introduction: History is Happening in New York - Renee C. Romano and Claire Bond Potter
- Act I: The Script
- Chapter 1: From Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton to Hamilton: An American Musical - William Hogeland
- Chapter 2: "Can We Get Back to Politics? Please?" Hamilton's Missing Politics in Hamilton Joanne B. Freeman
- Chapter 3: Race-Conscious Casting and the Erasure of the Black Past in Hamilton Lyra D. Monteiro
- Chapter 4: The Greatest City in the World? Slavery in New York in the Age of Hamilton - Leslie M. Harris
- Chapter 5: "Remember….I'm Your Man": Masculinity, Marriage, and Gender in Hamilton Catherine Allgor
- Act II: The Stage
- Chapter 6: "The Ten Dollar Founding Father": Hamilton, Money and Federal Power - Michael O'Malley
- Chapter 7: Hamilton as Founders Chic: A Neo-Federalist, Antislavery, Usable Past? - David Waldstreicher and Jeffrey L. Pasley
- Chapter 8: Hamilton and the American Revolution on Stage and Screen - Andrew M. Schocket
- Chapter 9: From The Black Crook to Hamilton: A Brief History of Hot Tickets on Broadway - Elizabeth L. Wollman
- Chapter 10: Looking at Hamilton from Inside the Broadway Bubble - Brian Eugenio Herrera
- Act III: The Audience
- Chapter 11: Mind the Gap: Teaching Hamilton Jim Cullen
- Chapter 12: Who Tells Your Story: Hamilton as a People's History - Joseph M. Adelman
- Chapter 13: Reckoning with America's Racial Past, Present, and Future in Hamilton Patricia Herrera
- Chapter 14: Hamilton: A New American Civic Myth by Renee C. Romano
- Chapter 15: Safe in the Nation We've Made: Staging Hamilton on Social Media - Claire Bond Potter
- Sample Syllabus
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on Contributors
- Index
