Description: Rhetoric, Politics, and Hamilton: An American Musical approaches Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking cultural production as a rhetorical text with implications for contemporary U.S. politics. Chapters analyze the musical in relation to three broad themes: national public memory, social and cultural identity, and democracy and social change.
Review Quotes: "This edited collection offers engaging analyses of Lin-Manuel Miranda's politically complex and massively popular Hamilton, addressing its contributions to and contestations of public memory about the nation-state, cultural discourses about race and gender, and political rhetoric about social movements and change. Foregrounding the pedagogical value of the musical, this book will itself be a valuable resource for scholars and students of rhetoric, performance, and popular culture. Just as the musical mashes up a variety of musical and historical sensibilities, this collection brings together a diverse range of scholarly perspectives including rhetorical, critical race, and intersectional feminist theories and offers close readings of not only lyrics and music but also of a range of historical intertexts that have shaped and been shaped by Hamilton. The essays are clear and compelling and will appeal to critics and fans of the musical alike."-Claire Sisco King, Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University; Editor, Women's Studies in Communication