Rick Atkinson on War (Part of The Revolution Is News)

The revolution was war.

Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer-prize winning author of eight books covering five different American wars, appeared in the second of our series of events focused on aspects of the American Revolution. This series is a resource created as part of our initiative The Revolution is News. It’s meant for journalists, teachers, really anyone who is trying to get a quick handle on some of the basic issues of the period. Organized around themes rather than chronology or narrative, we’ve asked leading historians to give us a high level overview and also some gritty particulars about their topic.

There is, as Atkinson reminded us, almost no subject as ubiquitous as war. And as he told us, war reveals character. From the first shots through the last gasps of the conflict, storied leaders and ordinary participants, men and women, enslaved and free, were all profoundly affected by the experience. Rick has appeared as an important voice in Ken Burns’s documentary about The American Revolution and on a host of podcasts and in other interviews and events, but we hope you’ll watch this conversation for his expert insights about this key element: war.

The JCB’s collections include maps of those first moments of war in April of 1775, and accounts from soldiers and generals alike.

If you missed this installment of The Revolution Is News when it happened, check out the recording on YouTube!