Ben Franklin's world is a production of the

Oma Hundro Institute. Hello and welcome to episode 280 of Ben Franklin's world.

The podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about how the people and

events of our early American past

have shaped the present day world we live in.

And I'm your host, Liz Kovart.

The American Revolution is embedded in the American character.

It's an event that can tell us who we are, how we came to be who we are,

and how we can strive to be who we want to be as a nation and as a people.

It's because the revolution has so much to tell us about who we are as Americans

that each generation has had many scholars who have investigated and

interrogated the revolution in its war for meaning and answers. And the generations living in the present day are no different

from generations of the past. Today we meet with Rick Atkinson, a three-time winner of the Pulitzer

Prize, a journalist who has worked at the Washington Post,

and the author of the book The British are coming. The War for America, Lexington to Princeton,

1775 to 1777.

Now, like so many, Rick has turned to the American Revolution for answers.

Specifically, he hopes to explore the contributions the War for Independence made to our national character as Americans.

So during our conversation, Rick reveals why it is important for us to view the American Revolution

through the eyes of both the British and American

perspectives.

The scarcity both the British and American armies experienced during the war, and the violence

...