NOTE: This interview originally aired on June 10, 2019.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson writes that reading George Washington’s frequent complaints about his troops “transforms the demigod into a sometimes petulant mortal.” As Atkinson’s history of the Revolutionary War digs into the details of war and contemporary writings, it provides a rich, harsh portrait of the country’s often simplified creation story. Atkinson joins Forum to talk about his book “The British Are Coming” and why Americans should still be taking lessons from the country’s founding.