Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

When I said I was going to “Hamilton,” a friend loaned me her CDs and the accompanying libretto. I listened to the songs and followed along with the words attentively. I’m glad I did, as it enhanced my understanding of the musical when I actually saw it.

This morning I had an errand to run before the Fourth of July festivities got started where we live. As I drove to Bridgman I put my own copy of the music on.

“Hamilton” is the wunderkind of Lin-Manuel Miranda that stormed Broadway and the Tony Awards in 2016. It is the story of the American Revolution through the eyes of “that ten dollar founding father without a father,” another wunderkind, Alexander Hamilton. You have to be living in a deep cave not to know about it. It’s relevant in so many ways, but particularly on the Fourth of July.

I listened to the story told mostly in song and marveled at how this show encapsulates what the revolutionaries when through for our independence. The war started in 1775, before the Declaration of Independence was signed, and ended in 1783. Eight long years.

I sense that many Americans today don’t know much about their history. One easy way to remedy that in terms of our country’s beginnings is to listen to “Hamilton,” whether you ever see a production of it or not.  It’s a marvelous history lesson.