AHR Interview: Historians on Hamilton

The runaway success of the Broadway musical Hamilton has thrilled and challenged American audiences with a racially diverse reimagining of the nation’s founding. The highly acclaimed show has had children and adults alike talking about, and singing about, historical figures such as Alexander Hamilton and documents like the Federalist Papers. But how have historians reacted to this interpretation and popularizing of America’s past? In this episode we speak with some of the contributors to the volume Historians on Hamilton: How a Blockbuster Musical Is Restaging America’s Past, which was published in May 2018 by Rutgers University Press. Our guests are the book’s editors, Claire Bond Potter of the New School and Renee Romano of Oberlin College. They are joined by three additional contributors: Leslie Harris of Northwestern University, Elizabeth Wollman of Baruch College and The Graduate Center at the City University of New York, and Patricia Herrera of the University of Richmond. They spoke with AHR editor Alex Lichtenstein.