“I could never have anticipated being schooled in history by random high-schoolers being one of the legacies of this show,” Miranda said to open his acceptance speech. “Quite frankly, my job, and I’ve said this before, is to fall in love for a living.”
Miranda goes on to share in detail exactly how the core motivations for the characters of Aaron Burr, George Washington, and of course Hamilton himself became “unlocked” throughout his writing and studying process. Miranda also elaborated on his journey from reading Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton to falling in love with the character and spending years writing a musical in his honor. “I think the secret sauce is the show is I’m learning the stuff just a chapter ahead of you. I’m falling in love with these characters, and I’m falling in love with the fact that they’re not the people I grew up learning about in AP US history. They’re flawed and they’re messy.”
“The secret to my performance in the show is that I really play my father, Luis Miranda,” Miranda shares. “He too grew up in a small town in the Caribbean and said, ‘I’ve gotta get out of here I gotta get to New York.’ And he got a scholarship to New York, and he got out. That’s when I realized, I know this guys, and I’m gonna write about him.” He added, “This show is a love letter to my wife, Vanessa.”
Towards his conclusion, Miranda spoke on the importance of Eliza, “I don’t think people expect to go to this show and be moved, but they’re moved because of Eliza Hamilton. I think we all hope that when we pass on, the people who know us are gonna keep our memory alive in some way.”
Created in 2005, the Washington Book Prize recognizes new works that offer fresh perspectives on George Washington and our nation’s Founding Era. One of the largest literary honors presented each year, the $50,000 prize is awarded jointly by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, and Washington College.
Critics and audiences have been effusive in their praise for Hamilton, which tells the story of the nation’s first treasurer using rap, hip hop, and diverse casting. The Wall Street Journal called it “the best and most important Broadway musical of the past decade,” and New York Times columnist David Brooks described it as “Bold, rousing, sexy, tear-jerking and historically respectful–the sort of production that asks you to think afresh about your country and your life.”
Miranda’s special recognition marks the first time the George Washington Prize has been presented to a play. In announcing Miranda’s selection, a spokesperson for the Washington Book Prize Committee stated, “In capturing the hearts of all who have seen it, Hamilton has clearly made the lessons of our Founding accessible and engaging while hewing to historical fact. We honor Lin-Manuel Miranda with a Special Achievement Award for this extraordinary accomplishment.”
Miranda’s recognition circles back to the first George Washington Book Prize, which was awarded to Ron Chernowfor his biography Alexander Hamilton in 2005. According to Miranda, Chernow’s book was the inspiration for his blockbuster musical. In May 2015, Nick Bunker became the eleventh winner of the Prize, for his book An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America.
More information about the George Washington Book Prize is available at washcoll.edu/gwbookprize.