How the American Revolution Changed the World, With Ken Burns

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ken Burns—the award-winning filmmaker whose documentary films and television series on American history include 'The Civil War' (1990), 'Baseball' (1994), 'Jazz' (2001), and 'Country Music' (2019)—joins the show to talk about the American Revolution and the art of storytelling. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Ken Burns Producers: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up? It's Todd McShay, host of the McShay Show at the Ringer and Spotify.
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0:39.2	It's going to be a great season.
0:43.2	And I hope you'll be with us at the McShay show every step of the way.
0:48.3	Today, The American Revolution with Ken Burns.
0:51.6	I'm guessing you've seen the painting.
0:55.4	Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emmanuel Loitsup.
0:58.9	It's the morning after Christmas, 1776.
1:04.0	Lit by sunrise, men and women are rowing their little boat through blocks of ice.
1:10.1	At the helm, we see George Washington, standing tall, chest out, blue coat,
1:13.6	American flag clutched behind him, face lit by a patriotic morning glow. It's one of the most famous images of patriotism in American history.
1:19.6	It's also a fantasy, like so much about the Revolutionary War.
1:23.6	The flag in the painting, for example, the stars and stripes didn't exist yet.
1:28.2	The crossing didn't happen in daylight, but rather in the middle of night in a freezing storm.
1:33.6	The actual boat that George Washington rode on was much larger than the one pictured in the painting.
1:38.7	It probably had horses and artillery on it.
	...

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