Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter
Hamilton: The Revolution
by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter
(Audio & Paper)
I am so grateful this book exists. I feel I must start with that. It is a beautiful tribute to creativity and brilliance. So many times I had to stop while making my way through this because I was overcome with emotion. "I LOVE THIS!" I would shout many times to my empty house, startling my cats, upon learning some new something about the way things just fell into place. Or "Noooo! Why can't I hug you?" I'd plead, hearing what made "It's Quiet Uptown" twice as heartbreaking as it was already. I loved learning everything--whether it made me cheer or laugh or cry or feel inspired to create or learn more about history. I am so grateful this book captures the creation of this piece of art and really gets to the heart of what makes it special and unique. The book does an amazing job of balancing the show's creation with the casting and the history as well.
I read this book in two parts. First, I earread it on audio. This was great, apart from the times I teared up or sobbed and had to pull the car over into the nearest parking lot. It filled me with joy every time I hopped into my car. However, it was a lot harder when I got to Disc 5. Though I adored Lin-Manuel reading all his footnotes to me, without knowing the source or line he was referencing, it made the footnotes a little useless on their own. So I let it sit for a while and finally picked it back up. With my copy of the book in hand, gently, and Lin-Manuel in my iTunes, I went page by page, footnote by footnote. Sometimes I had to pause to find the number or find the right page or (most often) read through something in-between songs like a primary source document or let myself be taken away by the amazing photograph. It was slow-going. Once in a while I'd pause just to let the footnote sink in or, in a couple cases, so I could look up the song that was being referenced (Side note: I DO NOT UNDERSTAND why no one has created an album called "The Essentials of Rap for White Girls In Love With the Hamilton Musical Who Need Schoolin'" because I would be buying and analyzing that in a second). In this slow, careful, methodical way, I made my way through the songs on paper, reading their words and listening to Lin-Manuel's "secrets" about them. And occasionally I had to pause it to scream "I LOVE THIS SO MUCH" or to get a new box of tissues because I was crying again. It was great to learn more references and to find out what he thought about writing certain lines as well as what he thought while performing.
I highly recommend the duel experience of both audio and paper. And I can't recommend this book more highly either. I'm sure I'll come back to it when my own creative juices need a kickstart.
Pop Sugar Reading Challenge: A book written by someone you admire