Rhetoric, Politics, and Hamilton: An American Musical

Jeffrey P. Mehltretter Drury (PhD, University of Wisconsin) is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at Wabash College. He has published in numerous rhetoric journals and authored two books: Speaking with the People’s Voice (2014) and Argumentation in Everyday Life (2019).Sara A. Mehltretter Drury (PhD, Pennsylvania State University) is Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Director of Democracy and Public Discourse at Wabash College. She has published in Communication Quarterly, Argumentation and Advocacy, and Journal of Public Deliberation, and is an Indiana Humanities Action Fellow.

• Acknowledgments – Sara A. Mehltretter Drury/Jeffrey P. Mehltretter Drury/Henry Egan: Introduction: Hamilton as Cultural and Rhetorical Phenomenon – Jade C. Huell/Lindsay A. Jenkins: The I/Eye of History: Performing Public Memory, Utopia, and Critical Nostalgia in Hamilton – Michaelah Reynolds/Ryan Neville-Shepard: Hamilton and the Entelechy of the American Dream – Sara A. Mehltretter Drury/James Anthony Williams Jr.: Exhibiting Hamilton: History, Memory, and Musical Theater – Christopher Bell: Hamilton as Cosmogonic Myth – John Clyde Russell: Hamilton and Public Memory of the Founding Era: Myth, Humanization, and Comforting Whiteness in "Post-Racial" America – Emily Berg Paup: Patriarchy and Power: A Feminist Critique of Hamilton – Brandon Inabinet: Bondage and Circulation – Jeffrey P. Mehltretter Drury: Political Niceties and Rap in Hamilton – Mark P. Orbe: Diverse Offerings for Understanding U.S. Politics: Analyzing the Invitational Rhetoric of Hamilton and President Barack Obama – Nancy J. Legge: The Rhetorical Significance of Hamilton in Public Protests – Note on Contributors – Index.

"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