You’ve seen the show or heard the music, or maybe you’re a fan of Alexander Hamilton, Revolutionary-era history or the founding fathers, so what does this book give you? The images and explanations below generally illustrate the layout of the book, as well as the information provided – these are the actual book pages for The Grange (Hamilton’s home in Manhattan) and one of the itineraries provided to help if you’re visiting the sites.
For each primary location, either a photograph or an illustration is provided.
The songs from the musical related to the location are listed (by title and act), and a brief explanation of the connection between each listed song and the location is provided.
The characters from the show who were actually at the location (in real life – sometimes it’s not the same as the musical) are listed.
Location and transportation information are provided for each location.
Can you go there? tells you whether there’s actually anything to see (some locations no longer exist), and also provides visitor information.
On the facing page for each location is a location map, which includes subway locations. The location being discussed is marked with a gold star (some maps show multiple locations – all locations other than the one being discussed are marked with a smaller red star).
The historical information for each location varies – sometimes the history of the structure itself or the chain of ownership is of particular note. For each location, a connection between the figures listed under Who was really there? and the location is explained.
All of the names of people or locations in the book, as well as all the songs from the musical, are indexed in the back to make it easy for the reader to look up information.
In addition to providing the above information on individual locations, there are a dozen different suggested itineraries to help the reader make the most of their time in visiting various locations.
Each itinerary gives an expected time-frame (half-day, full-day or full-day+), and there are a couple of themed itineraries.
Each itinerary provides a suggested route to visit the listed locations, as well as a detailed map showing labeled locations (where practical). The page number for the more detailed discussion of each location is also provided for reference (in the eBook, there are hyperlinks to take you directly to the more detailed pages for each location).
Bryan Barreras 