Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Here is some background context: I’ve seen the show 9 times, including opening nights, off and on-Broadway. I wrote a book review of Ron Chernow’s biography long before I knew there’d be a musical based on it. I’ve given many speeches on Hamilton: The Man, the Myth, and the Musical. I believe that the Hamilton phenomenon is an ideal example of positive cultural change. This book is superb, and a perfect complement to the Cast Recording and live attendance at the show. It gives the reader insight into the details of the creative process by which the show was made, and I’m happy that so many talented people are credited. The chapter titles and graphics style emulate that of the Enlightenment era, so it puts the reader in the mood for that period. In keeping with that timeline, photos show the costumes and staging (with ropes and wooden devices everywhere)—all the way down to the paperwork on George Washington’s desk (including his personalized wax stamp). My decades spent in ballet class helped me appreciate how detail-oriented the dance/movement was presented. For instance, “Burr moves in straight lines because he see no options, and Hamilton moves in arcs, because he sees all the possibilities.” I was happy to learn why the sheets of The Reynolds Pamphlet that end up in the audience (I caught a few during performances) are written in Latin. That’s done so that the audience won’t become too distracted in trying to read what it written on them while the show is going on. This worked because once I knew I couldn’t decipher what the text stated, my focus went completely back to the show. The background on the musical numbers is well done, including how You’ll Be Back purposely pays tribute to the Beatles with riffs from Getting Better and Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite. One of the first things I noticed when I opened the book randomly was the lyrics to Cabinet Battle #3, which contains the case against slavery. What a shame that didn’t make it into the musical. However, I believe there will be a recording release in the future. Glad to hear of Miranda’s admiration of both the musical 1776 and the HBO series on John Adams. In addition, I like how Miranda describes how and why he took creative license when departing from historical facts. For example, he has Hamilton meet both Mulligan and Laurens early in the musical and ignored the fact that the Schuylers had sons. Miranda says, if you want to see a musical with 8 kids, go see The Sound of Music. Much as I was disappointed to see One Last Ride changed to One Last Time, Miranda’s explanation of this contains sound reasoning. Aside from needing to reduce the length of the musical, the number condenses many aspects of Washington’s life more dramatically, and always leaves me in tears. With all of those positives—I can name many more, but prior reviews have covered them well—I need to note a few flaws. Unfortunately, the book is obsessed with race. Whether it is Nuyorican, Latin, Black, Irish, Cuban, Asian, Jewish, or West Indian, it feels like you can’t go more than a few pages without being told about someone’s race. This is dismaying, since the content of one’s character is much more important than the color of one’s skin. This constant identification of one's race tends to deny the freely chosen actions that an individual takes which others of that same race might or might not have taken. Also, though immigrants have certainly helped to make America the greatest country in world history, they are too broadly addressed in the book/musical. Hamilton’s success did not come from being an immigrant, but from being an individualist. He was likely the most consistent defender of individual rights in his era. Individualism is the only cure for racism, which stems from a collectivist, tribalist, view of human nature. For example, Marquis de Lafayette became a hero during the individualist American Revolution, but he almost had his head chopped off during the collectivist French Revolution. Same person, same ideas. The fact that he was an immigrant was not essential to his achievement. Hamilton knew he would perish under the oppressive conditions in the Caribbean, where his ideas would not have been implemented. It was only the pro-reason, pro-individualism America that allowed orphan immigrants like him to rise up and make a difference. I also disagree with the book’s criticism of Hamilton over the war bonds that Revolutionary War soldiers sold to speculators. The speculators faced great risk (as is often the case) in having those bonds pay off, since the odds of America winning the war were miniscule. If we lost the war, I don’t think anyone would have shed tears for the money the speculators lost. However, Hamilton upheld the sanctity of contract. That turned out to be a core principle of his brilliant financial system, which was based on the protection of individual rights. On to a few material critiques: The first copy of the book we bought was not bound very well, as two pages near the end fell out immediately. The second copy had the pages lightly glued together, but they separated easily. I purchased the audio book as well. That was enjoyable, but would be much better if Miranda (who does a great job reading all the footnotes) were to include the sentence that each footnote refers to. Instead, we hear his entertaining footnotes, but without reference to their source. That said, I am elated with this book, and highly recommend it. It will enhance my experience for the next time I see the musical, whenever that is. THANK YOU!