Hamilton and the Law: Reading Today's Most Contentious Legal Issues through the Hit Musical edited by Lisa A. Tucker is a great book for anyone looking to learn more about Alexander Hamilton. The musical is a story of America with some rap included. It involves legal individuals as well as lawyers because that is who was there. Constitutional and other law elements are in the musical and this book gives some more details about those parts.

Hamilton and the Law: Reading Today’s Most Contentious Issues Through the Hit Musical is such a unique educational read that I will recommend to my government students, fans of the musical, or anyone who wants to learn a little more about current issues in today’s society. The book made learning about complex topics interesting, fun, approachable, and understanding in a way I doubt they would be otherwise. I liked how it also wove throughout increased detail of the Founding Father for greater understanding of both the musical and the information presented. This is one that I intend to reference in class for years to come.


Thank you to @netgalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

For my students that love the musical Hamilton, this book was perfect for giving them the historical context that they need to fully appreciate the musical and the actual history. I loved it. Great companion to the musical and my classroom.

Like most people, I became obsessed with Hamilton the musical. This is a great book for someone that is interested in learning more about Alexander Hamilton and the law.

A great book. Thank you to NetGalley for your allowing me to read this book. I highly recommend reading it.

The best thing I liked in this book is the multiple perspective provided by the contributors about Hamilton, the musical and Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers.

It made me curious to read more about American history.

Edited by Lisa A. Tucker, comprising of 33 essays by leading legal minds. From two former U.S. solicitors general to leading commentators on culture and society, they all contribute wonderful, coherent essays.

I absolutely love reading books that combine two of my favorite things. In this case, it was Hamilton: An American Musical and the law/political science. The book is divided into 8 sections, that cover areas from the constitution to race to women to dueling, copyright, and legacy. The first two sections were a bit repetitive for me since learned most of what they said in my undergrad political science classes.

The essays on race and women were especially interesting to me since those are topics I care deeply about. I loved the essays on "When Your Job is to Marry Rich: Marriage as a Market in Hamilton" and "'Love' Triangles: Romance and Domestic Violence." Both of these looked at the difficulties of being a woman during the time of revolution.

I also loved the essays "Race, Nation, and Patrimony, or, the Stakes of Diversity in Hamilton" and "Hamilton and the Power of Racial Fables in Examining the U.S. Constitution." There's a dived among POC about having a diverse cast play historical figures who were slave owners, but also the idea that through this POC can reclaim a part of America and its founding that never belonged to them before.

Hamilton: The Revolution, Daveed Diggs (who originated the roles of Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson) remarks about how Hamilton affected his relationship to America despite having "always felt at odds with this country. . . . You can only get pulled over by police for no reason so many times before you say, 'Fuck this.' (Chapter 10). Similarly, Leslie Odom Jr. (the original Aaron Burr) reflected on how the portrayal of these historical figures as people of color affected him: "In the first two minutes of the show, Lin [Manuel-Mirand] steps forward and introduces himself as Alexander Hamilton, and Chris steps forward and says he's George Washington, and you never question it again. When I think about what it would mean to me as a 13-, 14-year old kid, to get this album or see this show-it makes me very emotional" (Chapter 10).

It's fascinating how many people this musical has touched and made think about America and myths and legacies and race and women in different ways or re-think about them. It's also amazing that this younger generation gets to grow up with the idea that they can make their own story, legacies, and take their own shots. They are knowledgeable in the idea that Hamilton, Washington, Burr, and the other founding fathers are not myths or legends or unattainable ideals. They were human, they made mistakes, and they did the best they could with what they had. They made mistakes and yes, they were slave owners. No one is denying that they were great men, the best we can do is acknowledge that they were men. They were fallible. I think this text will help people place what Lin Manuel-Miranda did with Hamilton in the context of American law and policy.

This really was an enjoyable read, the book felt informed and it kept me invested when reading it. Overall I really enjoyed reading this.

I read Hamilton and the Law right before the release of the musical on Disney+ and, since I hadn’t yet had any experience with the musical prior to that (apart from what bits I’d overheard my children singing from their rooms), I felt like it enhanced my experience of seeing it knowing that so many legal experts had been influenced by it. It’s fascinating to me that actual historical events and people can be interpreted as art in such ways that would impact and influence the minds of the law enforcers and makers in our land in such a profound and largely positive way. Thank you for the opportunity to read Hamilton and The Law!!

I loved how this book began. I didn’t plan on reading it until next week but I was just glancing through it and I couldn’t stop reading. I am a huge Hamilton fan so I really liked this book and I got to see the musical from a new aspect. Another thing I liked was that the law references weren’t too complicated or difficult to understand for people like me who are not familiar with the technical terms related to law. But there were parts where the book contradicts itself which I wasn’t a huge fan of. Overall, it was a fun read.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I found the concept of the book really interesting, and I liked how we could see the different views of everyone who contributed to the collection. For someone with limited knowledge on American Law (I'm from Ireland so it was a wild experience), many of the essays were written so they were quite easy to digest and understand.

Of course, I did notice there were some moments when there was clashing with some of the essays but as I said previously it all comes back to the different perspectives and research done by those people. At some times I found that the musical was quoted at times that wasn't necessary or had perhaps too long a quote where it could have been shortened and just as useful. I obviously love the musical, which was what first brought me to requesting this arc but when the same quotes are added and some for no reason, ie not backing up points the author is making, I just thought they could have been left out.

Some sections were more enjoyable and engaging than others but with collections of stories or, in this case, essays, it is the luck of the draw and every person might be drawn to different topics that are brought up.

I wasn't sure what to think about Hamilton and the Law when I first came across it. Law books aren't a genre that I'm familiar with, and I was worried that the analysis would go over my head without a background in the material. My worries weren't necessarily founded. The essay style makes this book easy to approach in small chunks, and informative.

Some essays landed, and some were not as effective in their analysis for me. It felt like they contradicted each other in places, both in terms of opinion and factual basis. But I can see this being excerpted in classrooms to great effect. I'll definitely be adding it to my library collection, and recommending it to readers either interested in the musical or the history.

A great anthology about legal issues associated with the Hamilton Musical. It's amazing how something that happened centuries ago can be so relevant today. This is a must-have in your nonfiction library and used in the classroom to engage legal scholars with history and contemporary issues in our society.

I'm going to start by listing the good parts of this book : On the one hand, it was very interesting, and it showed me sides of the musical that, even with all of the discourse I read on various platforms (... Fine, on Tumblr), I didn't consider.

Also, even though the level of familiarity with the US legal system needed to understand this book varied from essay to essay, it was clear enough for me (I did take a few classes for which I did some research on the US government, and those did help a lot, especially since I'm French).

Now for the more negative parts. There were lots of repetitions, which can be expected in a collection of essays by different authors, but what made me sigh the most was the amount of Hamilton quotes. Now, this is a petty critic, since it is a book about Hamilton, but it was a bit much, especially since a lot of them were the same being quoted over and over again. Yes, I do love Hamilton also, and I do know it by heart. I get the reference. (Honestly it may be what appeals to other people, again, I'm being petty).

Another consequence of it being a collection by different authors was that some of the essays contradicted each other, which would be fine (and the point of the collection) if it only applied to the opinions being discussed, but also to the history itself. One example that I noted was that one essay made the point that only a specific category of people could immigrate to the US in the 18th century (namely WASPs), and the next said that actually, there were no laws and anyone could come, free for all entry! Anyway, it was just something that made it confusing to read.

I did like that the essays were organized by themes, because some themes were definitely more engaging than others (no offense to copyright lawyers, you're doing an important job, I just. Couldn't deal.) and if readers want to read essays only relating to a theme, they don't have to sort them out themselves.

To conclude, I'm definitely glad that I read it, even though I had some problems with it, because some aspects were illuminating, not only for the musical, but also for real-life history. My only regret is that I didn't have this book when I was debating my English Politics/Economics teacher in college, because it would have provided me with way better arguments than I had back then.

Couldn't help but finish this one in one sitting-- Hamilton and the Law was interesting, informative, and beautifully written. As someone who has never been to America, this book has helped me gain an in depth understanding of one of the most indispensable founding fathers of the country and gain a different perspective on the constitutional issues. As a huge Hamilton fan, reading this was incredibly intriguing and exciting.

As a AP US History teacher I thought this book was very informative. I learned a lot more about Hamilton and what he did to help create this nation. Much of what I learned, I will be able to use in the classroom. The writing was very good as well.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this was a total delight. Engaging enough (and jargon-free) for non-lawyers, detailed enough for nerds, and with enough surprising takes to keep me turning pages. Just when we think we’ve heard every possible take on Hamilton, this anthology has some terrific new insights.

This book describes the reason behind the creation of Hamilton, the very popular musical, as well as the history that is embedded within the play. A great refresh on one of the most integral founding fathers and an interesting look into the context behind the musical that would be interesting for any fan of the Broadway show.