425 Ken Burns' The American Revolution

Ben Franklin's World

Liz Covart

Earlyrepublic, History, Benfranklin, Society & Culture, Warforindependence, Earlyamericanrepublic, Earlyamericanhistory, Education, Colonialamerica, Americanrevolution, Ushistory, Benjaminfranklin

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it take to bring the American Revolution to life? How can an event that took place 250 years ago be conveyed to us through modern-day film? Ken Burns and his team worked to answer these questions in their new, epic six-part documentary, Ken Burns’ The American Revolution. Their work promises to deepen, complicate, and transform our understanding of the Revolution over 12 hours of film. But how did Burns and his team make this film? What stories did they choose to tell? And what challenges did they face in telling those stories? Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, the two co-directors of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution, join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of their film and how they made it. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/425 EPISODE OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:03:09 Guest Introduction00:04:42 Becoming Involved in the Documentary00:07:57 Approach to Telling the Story of the Revolution 00:18:57 Images and Representation00:21:53 Challenges Faced00:27:03 Choosing Which Stories to Include00:39:00 Relevance and Meaning of the Revolution00:45:45 Time Warp00:52:15 ConclusionRECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 307: History and the American Revolution🎧 Episode 314: Native Americans in Early American Cities🎧 Episode 327: Ken Burns' Benjamin Franklin🎧 Episode 352: James Forten and the Making of the United States🎧 Episode 382: Hessians🎧 Episode 408: The Memory of 1776SUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 [email protected] YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener CommunityLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center.
0:04.8	A few years ago, learning about the forgotten meaning of the pursuit of happiness changed my life.
0:11.0	When the founders wrote that famous phrase in the Declaration of Independence,
0:14.5	they meant an ongoing commitment to self-improvement and lifelong learning.
0:19.4	This discovery inspired me to write a book, and in my
0:22.1	new podcast, I explore the founder's lives with the historians who know them best. Plus, filmmaker
0:27.9	Ken Byrne shares his daily practice of self-reflection. Join me for Pursuit, the Founders Guide
0:34.2	to Happiness. You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:39.6	And I also just want to say, like, I think there might be, in part because of that, that
0:44.0	paragraph soundbite culture, that you just want to be definitive about things, and that
0:49.2	kills the opportunity to be patriotic.
0:52.9	That shouldn't be a dirty word. You got to care about the place
0:56.0	you live in to improve it. And I think that this, while giving the opportunity to look in the mirror
1:02.1	and say, we don't love that, it also gives you an opportunity to say, we tried something new here,
1:07.0	and that's really, really world important.
1:24.5	Hello and welcome to episode 425 of Ben Franklin's World, the podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about how the people and events of our early American
1:27.8	past have shaped the present day world we live in. And I'm your host, Liz Covart. What does it
1:34.5	take to bring the American Revolution to life? How can an event that took place 250 years ago
1:40.3	be conveyed to us through modern-day film. Ken Burns and his team worked to answer these
1:45.6	questions in their new epic six-part documentary, Ken Burns is the American Revolution. Their work
1:51.5	promises to deepen, complicate, and transform our understanding of the revolution over 12 hours
1:56.7	of film. But how did Burns and his team make this film? What stories did the filmmakers
	...

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