If you love Hamilton, the musical, this is the book for you. It is a perfect read for die-hard Hamilton fans.

Well-written and insightful, this book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the inspiration and making of the musical.

I have to say, my favorite part was listening to Lin-Manuel Miranda read his footnotes for each song. Listening to various antidotes and explanations for the lyrics really makes you realize what a great writer Miranda is. I also loved seeing some of Miranda’s original notes on the lyrics and story. For this, I really recommend the audiobook, because listening to Miranda read/rap his original lyrics is the most amazing thing ever.

The book also contains the lyrics for each song (including ones that are not on the cast recording) and photos of the cast in various environments (on stage, back stage getting ready, etc.).

The only reason that I didn’t give this a 5-star review is that I feel like sometimes the text went so in-depth into various topics that I got a little bored. I enjoy musicals but I’m not big on the who’s who of production so when there would be a whole chunk about someone I had never heard of, I kind of zoned out. I wanted to hear more about the actual musical instead of all on the backstories of the people involved. Don’t get me wrong, many of the backstories were really interesting and earned their spot in the book, but others just felt like filler. Obviously everyone worked incredibly hard on this amazing creation, but sometimes it was just too detailed for me. That is just my personal experience. Die-hard musical fans would probably not agree.

Overall, a fascinating read. Plus, the majority of the narration is done by Mariska Hargitay so SVU fans can rejoice as well. A perfect companion to such an awe-inspiring musical. 

Goodreads