Description
This event, originally titled ‘The American Revolution’, took place on 24 February 2026. The information below is correct as of the publication date.
How the birth of America turned the world upside-down. The making of a landmark documentary, with directors Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein, and historians Rick Atkinson and Stephen Conway, in conversation with editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg.
The remarkable new film series, The American Revolution, examines how, 250 years ago, thirteen colonies on the Atlantic Coast rose and united in rebellion and won their independence, giving birth to the United States of America and inspiring democratic movements around the globe.
The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a civil war, and a world war. It impacted millions – from Canada to the Caribbean and beyond. Few escaped its violence. But it was also a movement that overtime inspired people around the world to imagine new and better futures for themselves, their nations, and for humanity. It ultimately opened the door to advance civil liberties and human rights, and it asked questions that we are still trying to answer today.
The film follows dozens of figures from a wide variety of backgrounds, drawing on thousands of images, maps, archival documents. It features leading historians of the Revolutionary era, including Rick Atkinson and Stephen Conway who spoke at the event.
The panel also discussed The Atlantic's 'The Unfinished Revolution', a special magazine issue that is part of an ongoing reporting project to examine the founding of the United States and bring the nation’s history to bear on its present and future. The Atlantic partnered with the British Library on several pieces of reporting and research that appear in this special issue.
This event was presented in association with PBS and The Atlantic by the Eccles Institute for American Studies at the British Library.
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Speaker Bios:
Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost fifty years. He has directed and produced some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including Brooklyn Bridge, The Civil War and, most recently, The American Revolution with Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt. Ken’s films have been honoured with major awards, including seventeen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations. In 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Ken was honoured by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2022, Ken was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Sarah Botstein has produced some of the most acclaimed documentaries on PBS. Sarah is producer and co-director of The American Revolution along with Ken Burns and David Schmidt. Her previous work includes Jazz, The Vietnam War and Hemingway. Sarah works closely with PBS LearningMedia to develop educational materials as part of the Ken Burns Classroom, and she was an original contributor to Ken Burns's UNUM.
Jeffrey Goldberg is the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic and is the moderator of Washington Week with The Atlantic on PBS. He joined The Atlantic in 2007 as a national correspondent and in 2016 was named editor-in-chief. Jeffrey previously served as the Middle East correspondent and then the Washington correspondent for The New Yorker. Jeffrey’s numerous awards include the National Magazine Award for Reporting and the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Rick Atkinson is a best-selling author, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and former Washington Post journalist. He is the author of the New York Times best-selling The British Are Coming, the first volume of his acclaimed Revolution Trilogy, which has earned numerous honours. Atkinson served as a historical advisor for the PBS documentary series The American Revolution.
Stephen Conway is Emeritus Professor of History at University College London. His research has focused on eighteenth-century Britain and Ireland, and in particular on their place in the wider world. His publications include The British Isles and the War of American Independence and War, State and Society in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Britain.
About the Eccles Institute for the Americas and Oceania:
Founded in 1991, the Institute builds, curates and preserves the Library's Americas and Oceania collections and champions knowledge and understanding of these regions through its wide-ranging fellowships and awards, cultural events, research training, programmes for schools and collection guides.
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