MANCHESTER CENTER>>  Presidential biographer Willard Sterne Randall will discuss how the life of Alexander Hamilton inspired a major Broadway musical in a talk at Manchester’s First Congregational Church on October 4 at 7:00 pm. His talk, “Hamilton: The Man and the Musical,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and is free and open to the public. Talks in Manchester are hosted by Manchester Community Library.

From his birth in the Caribbean to death in a duel, Alexander Hamilton’s life was part romance, part tragedy—and the inspiration for the blockbuster Broadway musical. Randall will discuss the man and the musical, with excerpts from its score.

Willard Sterne Randall is the author of thirteen books, including Benjamin Franklin and His Son, which won a Frank Luther Mott Award for research from University of Missouri Graduate School of Journalism; Benedict Arnold, Patriot and Traitor, a runner-up for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Thomas Jefferson, A Life, selected as one of Publishers Weekly‘s best biographies of 1993; George Washington, A Life, included in Readers Digest‘s Best Nonfiction of 1997; and Alexander Hamilton: A Life. Randall recently received the Award of Merit from the American Revolution Roundtable in New York City, only awarded twice before in that organization’s 50-year history. He teaches American history at Champlain College in Burlington.

Manchester Community Library is underwritten by The Perfect Wife Restaurant & Tavern, Spiral Press Café, and Vermont Renewable Fuels.

The statewide underwriters for the First Wednesdays 2017-2018 series are the Alma Gibbs Donchian Foundation, The National Life Group Foundation, and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences through the Vermont Department of Libraries.

“Hamilton: The Man and the Musical” is underwritten by Keelan Family Foundation.

The First Congregational Church of Manchester is located at 3624 Main St. (Rt. 7A) in Manchester, VT. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Manchester Community Library at 802.362.2607 or the Vermont Humanities Council at 802.262.2626 or info@vermonthumanities.org, or visit www.vermonthumanities.org.