November 2025 IssueNEWS | 11 October 2025The American Experiment At 250, the Revolution’s goals remain noble and indispensable.
Behind The Atlantic’s November 2025 Issue Cover Capturing the Revolutionary era in its complexity, contradictions, and ingenuity. Plus: A guide to the figures.
The Myth of Mad King George He was denounced by rebel propagandists as a tyrant and remembered by Americans as a reactionary dolt. Who was he really?
No One Gave a Speech Like Patrick Henry How he roused a nation to war
Why Concord? The geological origins of the American Revolution
What We Learned Filming The American Revolution The co-directors of the new PBS series describe how they made a documentary about a war distant in time and shrouded in myth.
Why Did Benjamin Franklin’s Son Remain Loyal to the British? One of the most influential and ardent Patriots couldn’t persuade his son to join the Revolution.
The Black Loyalists Thousands of African Americans fought for the British—then fled the United States to avoid a return to enslavement.
You Have No Idea How Hard It Is to Be a Reenactor Benedict Arnold’s boot wouldn’t come off, and other hardships from my weekend in the Revolutionary War.
Secrets of a Radical Duke How a lost copy of the Declaration of Independence unlocked a historical mystery
The Insurrection Problem Violence has marred the American constitutional order since the founding. Is it inevitable?
So Much Madeira What the Founding Fathers ate—and drank—on July 4, 1777
Whose Independence? The question of what Jefferson meant by “all men” has defined American law and politics for too long.
How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.
The Moral Foundation of America The idea that everyone has intrinsic rights to life and liberty was a radical break with millennia of human history. It’s worth preserving.
What the Founders Would Say Now They might be surprised that the republic exists at all.
What Is Colonial Williamsburg For? Telling the full story of the town’s past is an easy way to make a lot of people mad.
The Many Lives of Eliza Schuyler She lived for 97 years. Only 24 of them were with Alexander Hamilton.
The Lincoln Way How he used America’s past to rescue its futureAuthor: Stacy Schiff. Jeffrey Goldberg. Peter Mendelsund. Rick Atkinson. Drew Gilpin Faust. Robert A. Gross. Robert M. Thorson. Ken Burns. Sarah Botstein. David Schmidt. Source
