Author Rick Atkinson on why the American Revolution still inspires and intrigues

Author Rick Atkinson is known for his gripping narratives of military conflict, from World War II to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian, Atkinson last year released his second book on the American Revolution, The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780, which debuted at the top of the nonfiction bestseller list, and was featured in Ken Burns' 2025 documentary series on PBS.

Atkinson, the Pamela and Jack Egan Visiting Professor in 2026, will speak at Duke on March 3 at 5 pm in the Reynolds Theater in an event co-sponsored by the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy, Polis: Center for Politics, the Provost's Initiative on Pluralism, Free Inquiry and Belonging, the Sanford School of Public Policy and Transformative Ideas. Tickets, which are free and available to the public, can be reserved at the Duke Box Office. 

He sat down for an interview about the Revolution and what it can still teach us 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

You’ve described the American Revolution as this country’s “creation story.” What is the importance of that story today, including for those Americans who don’t see themselves in that story? 

Image

The American Revolution tells us something about who we are, where we came from, what our forebears believed and what they were willing to die for—the most profound question any people can ask themselves. That's true whether your ancestors arrived here in the 17th century or a decade ago, because the Revolution established the principles and aspirations that form the bedrock of the country today. It's a perpetual work in progress, and always has been. To make a more perfect union is our task and that of generations yet unborn, to cite a phrase often invoked by the founders.

We celebrate George Washington as one of the greatest Americans and he similarly celebrated in his day, yet your books detail mistake after mistake that he made in waging the Revolutionary War.  How do we make sense of that?

These were not marble men and women. They had feet of clay, as we all do. General Washington was often an indifferent tactician, a guy who could exhibit a molten temper, and who, in his lifetime at Mount Vernon, had at least 577 enslaved people working his plantation. You can't square that circle, morally. Yet his many attributes make him, proverbially, the indispensable man, with a just claim to being the father of the country. Ken Burns keeps a small neon sign in his film editing room that reads, "It's complicated." And so it is. To my eye, that makes Washington and others more intriguing and gives them, flaws and all, human dimensions.

We are in an era of intense political and social polarization, both here and abroad. What can the American Revolution teach us about how to overcome that? 

First, it reminds us that we've endured more difficult crises before, existential crises, and have managed to summon the resolve and grit to make our way through. It shows that leaders can emerge with grace, wisdom, and fortitude. And it affirms what remain the greatest aspirational assertions of humankind: that everyone is created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That's a magnificent pole star to show us true north.  

July 4th will mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. How do you plan to celebrate? 

I'm lucky enough to celebrate in an old-fashioned way—at the beach, grilling hamburgers before watching fireworks with my grandchildren.