Revolution 250 Podcast

Robert Allison
  • 4.6 (32)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Revolution 250 is a consortium of organizations in New England planning commemorations of the American Revolution's 250th anniversary. https://revolution250.org/Through this podcast you will meet many of the people involved in these commemorations, and learn about the people who brought about the Revolution--which began here. To support Revolution 250, visit https://www.masshist.org/rev250Theme Music: "Road to Boston" fifes: Doug Quigley, Peter Emerick; Drums: Dave Emerick

  1. Fighting for Philadelphia with Michael C. Harris

    1D AGO

    Fighting for Philadelphia with Michael C. Harris

    . Why did Philadelphia matter so deeply to both the British and the Continental Army? How did strategy, logistics, and personalities shape the campaign that culminated in Brandywine, Germantown, and the winter at Valley Forge? And what did the occupation of the revolutionary capital mean for civilians caught between armies?  Michael C. Harris tells this story in his new book, Fighting for Philadelphia:  Forts Mercer and Mifflin, the Battle of Whitemarsh, and the Road to Valley Forge.  This campaign around the new country's largest city, in the marshes, woods, and fields of Pennsylvania and New Jersey was a critical turning point testing the resilience of the American people and military and reshaping the war's momentum.  . Tell us what you think! Send us a text message!

    42 min

  2. FEB 10

    Being Thomas Jefferson with Andrew Burstein

    Who was Thomas Jefferson?  Do we really need another book about him?  Andrew Burstein has written other books on Jefferson, and his new book, Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate Portrait answers both questions with depth and grace.  Jefferson was an extraordinarily interesting person, and Burstein navigates his ambition, friendships, rivalries, political controversies, and intellectual inquiries.  Biography, Burstein shows, is not just storytelling but interpretation, recovering what Jefferson and his generation thought they were doing as they built a new nation, reconsidering the Revolution as lived experience rather than legend/  Burstein shows  Jefferson and his contemporaries as vividly human architects of an unfinished experiment. Tell us what you think! Send us a text message!

    43 min

  3. FEB 3

    American Experience in British Prize Law, 1776-1804, with Suzanne Amy Foxley.

    On today’s episode of the Revolution 250 Podcast, host Professor Robert Allison charts a course across storm-tossed legal waters with historian Suzanne Amy Foxley, author of The American Experience of British Prize Law, 1776–1804. From the decks of daring privateers to the hushed chambers of admiralty courts, Foxley reveals how the American Revolution was fought not only with muskets and cannon, but with writs, warrants, and meticulously argued cases. Together, they explore how captured ships became “prizes,” how neutral nations navigated perilous seas of diplomacy and commerce, and how early Americans learned to play a global legal game while still inventing their own nation. Listeners will discover the human stories behind the paperwork: sailors gambling their lives for profit and patriotism, merchants insuring fortunes against the tides of war, and judges wrestling with British legal traditions in a world suddenly unmoored from the Crown. It’s a conversation where maritime adventure meets courtroom drama, and where the Revolution emerges as a battle for legitimacy as much as liberty. Set your compass, trim your sails, and join us for a voyage into the law that helped shape America’s place on the world’s oceans Tell us what you think! Send us a text message!

    43 min

  4. JAN 27

    Spinning History into Cinematic Gold with Kirk Ellis

    Lights, camera, Revolution! In this episode of the Revolution 250 Podcast, host Professor Bob Allison sits down with acclaimed filmmaker Kirk Ellis to explore the alchemy that turns ink on a page into images that linger in the national memory. Ellis, the creative force behind the celebrated screen portrayals of Benjamin Franklin (2024) and John Adams (2008), pulls back the curtain on shaping complex founders into compelling, human characters. From distilling intricate historical texts into sharp, resonant dialogue to balancing documentary truth with dramatic momentum, he shares how research, imagination, and restraint combine to build stories worthy of the era they depict. The conversation wanders through script drafts, set designs, and the quiet, crucial choices that make a candlelit room feel alive and a political argument feel urgent. It’s a master class in storytelling, where history doesn’t just speak, it steps into the frame. Whether you’re a filmmaker, a history lover, or a teacher seeking new ways to bring the founding generation to life, this episode offers a front-row seat to the craft of turning the written word into a cinematic legacy. Tell us what you think! Send us a text message!

    43 min

  5. JAN 20

    Manufacturing Independence with Robert Smith

    Manufacturing Independence: Forging a Nation in the Crucible of War What did it really take to turn rebellion into a revolution—and ideals into a functioning nation? In this episode of the Revolution 250 Podcast, host Professor Robert Allison welcomes Professor Robert Smith of the Valley Forge Military College, author of Manufacturing Independence:  Industrial Innovation in the American Revolution, for a sweeping conversation about the workshops, foundries, supply lines, and human ingenuity that powered the American cause. Smith peels back the romantic veneer of the Revolution to reveal a world of iron, timber, powder, and persistence. From cannon cast in makeshift furnaces to uniforms stitched by candlelight, listeners discover how farmers, artisans, merchants, and soldiers became the hidden engine of independence. Together, Allison and Smith explore how local industry, wartime logistics, and civilian resilience shaped strategy on the battlefield and survival on the home front. This episode invites you into the noisy, smoky, and determined world behind the musket’s flash—where a nation was not only declared, but made. Whether you’re a history devotee or a curious first-time listener, Manufacturing Independence offers a fresh lens on how Americans forged freedom with their hands as much as with their words. https://www.westholmepublishing.com/book/manufacturing-independence-robert-f-smith/ Tell us what you think! Send us a text message!

    43 min

  6. JAN 13

    Sarah Bradlee Fulton with Bob Hyldburg

    In this episode of the Revolution 250 Podcast, host Robert Allison of Suffolk University speaks with Independent Historian Bob Hyldburg, who is leading the effort to erect a public statue honoring Sarah Bradlee Fulton in Medford. Sarah Bradlee Fulton emerges as a figure woven through some of the most dramatic moments of the Revolution in Massachusetts. She took part in the Boston Tea Party, helping disguise and equip the participants who struck a symbolic blow against imperial authority. In the bloody aftermath of the Battle of Bunker Hill, she aided wounded Provincial soldiers and assisted families driven from their homes as Boston became an armed camp. Months later, in March 1776, Fulton carried critical intelligence out of British-occupied Boston to the American lines, information that helped secure the fortification of Dorchester Heights and hastened the British evacuation of the city. This episode invites listeners to reconsider the Revolution not only as a story of famous generals and statesmen, but as a collective struggle sustained by courage, resolve, and individuals like Sarah Bradlee Fulton, whose legacy is finally being brought into view. https://www.lookingbackatMedfordhistory.com Tell us what you think! Send us a text message!

    38 min

  7. JAN 6

    Tom Paine's War with Jack Kelly

    Few figures of the American Revolution wielded words as powerfully as Thomas Paine. In this episode of the Revolution 250 Podcast, host Professor Robert Allison is joined by historian and journalist Jack Kelly, author of Tom Paine’s War, for a wide-ranging conversation about Paine’s outsized influence on the Revolutionary cause. Kelly explores how Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense transformed colonial resistance into a popular movement for independence, reaching audiences far beyond elite political circles. The discussion traces Paine’s role as a wartime propagandist, the impact of The American Crisis during the darkest days of the war, and George Washington’s strategic use of Paine’s words to sustain morale in the Continental Army. The episode also examines Paine’s complicated personality, his transatlantic radicalism, and his uneasy place in the postwar United States, where the man who helped ignite the Revolution found himself increasingly marginalized. Together, Allison and Kelly consider why Paine mattered so deeply in his own time and why his ideas about liberty, democracy, and popular sovereignty continue to resonate 250 years later. A compelling look at the power of ideas in wartime America, this episode reminds us that the Revolution was fought not only with muskets and cannon, but with ink, paper, and the force of persuasion. Tell us what you think! Send us a text message!

    39 min

  8. 12/30/2025

    The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the Founding with Joseph J. Ellis

    Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Joseph J. Ellis joins host Professor Robert Allison to talk about his new book, The Great Contradiction: The Tragic side of the American Founding.  Drawing on decades of scholarship, Ellis reflects on the ideas, personalities, and hard choices that shaped independence and the early republic. Together, Allison and Ellis explore what made the Revolution truly revolutionary, how figures like Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison, whose stories Ellis has told in works such as Founding Brothers and Passionate Sage, understood their moment in history, and why the founding era continues to challenge, inspire, and provoke debate 250 years later. Insightful, candid, and  engaging, this episode offers listeners a master historian’s perspective on America’s most consequential generation—and the unfinished work they left behind. Tell us what you think! Send us a text message!

    45 min
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About

Revolution 250 is a consortium of organizations in New England planning commemorations of the American Revolution's 250th anniversary. https://revolution250.org/Through this podcast you will meet many of the people involved in these commemorations, and learn about the people who brought about the Revolution--which began here. To support Revolution 250, visit https://www.masshist.org/rev250Theme Music: "Road to Boston" fifes: Doug Quigley, Peter Emerick; Drums: Dave Emerick

Information

  • Creator
    Robert Allison
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    286
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Revolution 250 Podcast
  • Show Website
    Revolution 250 Podcast

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