It’s important to consult different sources and, indeed, some of the biggest critics of the Hamilton portrayal are other historians. Even in long books, authors bring in their own biases, including what they choose to leave out. He decided to rely on one book by Ron Chernow as his sole source. Lin Miranda is an artist, but he’s no scholar. And the bonus is that men, who tend to read a lot less than women, will read these kinds of tomes. But as we like to say in the U.S., “follow the money.”Īmericans love heroic stories, myths, that support our sense of exceptionalism. The subjects were often idealized, more hagiography than scholarly.

I used to read a lot of “great men” biographies, but soon realized that the portrayals were selective.

I took multiple courses on this era at Berkeley and Stanford and immediately recognized the portrayal of Hamilton as BS. I watched the Hamilton musical on the Disney Channel twice. It is written by one of America’s most respected and original writers, who is eagerly promoting it, and who is long overdue for a renaissance. Teachers, students and fans of drama, literature, and history will find much to love. It captures both the earnest engagement that fans of the musical desire, as well as the exhausted disbelief of those who can’t stand it. The perfect tie-in to both the success of and backlash to Hamilton, it is the major voice in contrast to the recent movie. Both durable and timely, this goes beyond mere corrective – it is a meticulously researched rebuttal, an absorbing drama, and brilliant rallying cry for justice. Reed uses the musical’s crimes against history to insist on a radical, cleareyed way of looking at our past and our selves. This powerful play, originally produced at the Nuyorican Poets Café, comprehensively dismantles the phenomenon of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hamilton. Gerald Horne, author of The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the USA

Reed, a verbal acrobat of global renown, demonstrates here why he is widely considered to be the leading intellectual in the U.S. 'In this, his latest work, the protean Ishmael Reed-the legendary artist and prolific writer-continues to burnish his already sterling reputation by dismantling the 'Creation Myth' of the founding of the U.S., as represented in the incredibly profitable play and musical, Hamilton. “That’s a lot of horse hockey, Hamilton.”ĭescribed by the New York Times as “classic activist theater” and “a cross between ‘A Christmas Carol’ and a trial at The Hague’s International Criminal Court.”

The haunting of lin manuel miranda