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Worlds Turned Upside Down

by Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

Worlds Turned Upside Down tells the story of the American Revolution as a transatlantic crisis and imperial civil war through the lives of people who experienced it. For many modern citizens of the United States, "the cause of America" that gave birth to a new nation in 1776 and the heroic stories we tell ourselves about its founding remains "in great measure the cause of all mankind." But for the people who lived through it, the revolutionary era upended their lives in ways they could have never imagined. The crisis that engulfed the Atlantic world in the late eighteenth century inspired British Americans, Indigenous nations, enslaved Africans and African Americans, Europeans, and other peoples to question their loyalties, challenge authority, seek freedom, and resist revolutionary change.Worlds Turned Upside Down is narrated and written by Dr. Jim Ambuske.

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Episodes

  1. Episode 23: The Liberation

    With a rebellion underway in New England, the Continental Congress orders an invasion of Quebec, confident that Catholic French Canadians will rally to the Patriot standard, a mere fifteen years after Protestant British Americans helped to conquer the old colony of New France for their king....

  2. Episode 22: The Siege

    Hours after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, rebel British Americans begin laying siege to Boston, trapping thousands of civilians and soldiers in town for months with dwindling supplies, compelling the British to make a costly assault on nearby Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill. Featuring: Rick...

  3. Episode 21: The Vengeance

    The long-simmering rivalry between Virginians and Pennsylvanians for control of the Ohio Country leads to the 1774 massacre of Soyechtowa James Logan's family at Yellow Creek along the banks of the Ohio River, igniting a war for revenge with tragic results. Featuring: Robert Parkinson and...

  4. Episode 20: The Rebellion

    With tensions mounting in British America over Parliament's Coercive Acts, colonists begin losing faith in King George III, while British soldiers march out of Boston to seize arms and ammunition in Lexington and Concord. Featuring: Rick Atkinson, Fred Anderson, Wendy Bellion, Katherine Carté,...

  5. Episode 19: The Gambit

    With British authority collapsing in North America, Britons on both sides of the Atlantic including Benjamin Franklin, Caroline Howe, and Lord Dartmouth engage in desperate and secret negotiations to avoid all the horrors of civil war. Featuring: Julie Flavell, Mary Beth Norton, Michael Hattem…

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  6. Episode 18: The Resurrection

    Fourteen years after British forces conquered New France during the Seven Years' War, Parliament's passage of the Quebec Act in 1774 resurrects old fears of French Catholic tyranny in Protestant British America. Featuring: Katherine Carté, Christian Ayne Crouch, Brad Jones, and Jeffers Lennox....

  7. Episode 17: The Tyranny

    In the wake of the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passes a series of coercive and intolerable acts to punish the tea destroyers and bring order to British America.

  8. Episode 16: The Tea

    British Americans' unquenchable thirst for tea and a looming financial disaster for the East India Company leads to a new crisis in North America when seven tea-laden ships are sent to the colonies in 1773, inspiring Bostonians to dump much of the cargo in Boston Harbor. Featuring: Benjamin Carp,...

  9. Episode 15: The Heavens Fall

    The detainment of a West African-born enslaved Virginian named James Somerset in London leads to a court case decided by England's most powerful judge that challenges the foundations of slavery in the British Empire. Featuring: Christopher Brown, Trevor Burnard, Julie Flavell, and Chernoh Sesay,...

  10. Episode 14: The Corruption

    Months after the Boston Massacre, British Americans calling themselves "Regulators" launch a rebellion in western North Carolina that threatens to engulf the colony in revolution and civil war. Featuring: Abby Chandler, Marjoleine Kars, Cynthia Kierner, and Nathan Schultz. Voice Actors: Sarah...

  11. Episode 13: The Massacre

    In response to rioting and protests over the Townshend Acts, the British deploy four regiments to Boston, leading to a deadly shooting on March 5, 1770, a massacre that wounds a family. Featuring: Serena Zabin and John McCurdy. Voice Actors: Anne Fertig, Grace Mallon, Evan McCormick, Adam McNeil,...

  12. Episode 12: The Conspiracy

    In the wake of the Stamp Act Crisis, the British chart a new course for empire in North America by imposing taxes on paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea, pitting British Americans against Parliament…and each other. Featuring: Patrick Griffin, Zara Anishanslin, Rosemarie Zagarri, and Christopher...

  13. Episode 11: The Resistance

    With the Stamp Act defeated, the Sons of Liberty in New York City celebrate by raising a Liberty Pole in tribute to George III, William Pitt, and Liberty, provoking a violent confrontation with British soldiers quartered in the city's barracks, who see the wooden mast as a monument to mob rule…

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  14. Episode 10: The Stamp

    In the mid-1760s, British fears that a new war with France was only a matter of time leads King George III and his ministers to draw up plans for a permanent army in North America, and a Stamp Tax on the colonies to pay for it, sparking massive protests in British America and beyond. Featuring…

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  15. Episode 9: The Sugar

    In the 1760s, Jamaica and the islands of the British Caribbean were the crown jewels of Britain's American Empire. And as King George III's ministers searched for solutions to a vexing imperial puzzle and moved to counter a pernicious threat in the aftermath of the Seven Years' War, they looked...

  16. Episode 8: The Trade

    At the dawn of a new era after the Seven Years' War, British officials envision commerce and colonies as the key to British independence and its rising glory, but trade in commodities and manufactured goods comes at an awful price. Featuring: Emma Hart, Scott Miller, Ann Smart Martin, Hannah Knox...

  17. Episode 7: The Divide

    With a blueprint in place for transforming British America into an empire of order, George III's goverment begins sending an army of cartographers to map North America, while diplomats in the colonies open negogiations with native nations to draw a boundary line between British and Indigenous...

  18. Episode 6: The Proclamation

    Against the backdrop of Pontiac's War in North America, George III's ministers in London draw on lessons learned in colonial Nova Scotia to begin drafting a blueprint for transforming British America into an empire of order. Featuring: Fred Anderson, Matthew Dziennik, Max Edelson, and Alexandra...

  19. Episode 5: The Uprising

    As the British began to assert control over North America in the wake of the Seven Years' War, the actions of British American settlers and the messages of a native prophet convinced some Indigenous peoples throughout the Ohio Country and beyond that resistance through force was the best way to...

  20. Episode 4: The Empire

    Great Britain's conquest of New France in North America and its victory in the Seven Years' War inspired British subjects on both sides of the Atlantic to look forward to a future they could see but through a glass darkly, as they struggled to make sense of the world that lay ahead, and the cost…

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  21. Episode 3: The Triumph

    Following three years of stinging defeats in the Seven Years' War, the British begin to turn the tide against the French in North America in no small measure because Indigenous peoples decided the war should end. Featuring: Fred Anderson, Christian Ayne Crouch, Matthew Dziennik, Julie Flavell…

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  22. Episode 2: The Nadir

    Following the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in North America, the British and French begin mobilizing for war and appoint commanders-in-chief to lead the war effort, only to clash with colonists over how power, authority, and honor should be used in the colonies. Meanwhile, Indigenous peoples...

  23. Episode 1: The Balance

    In the 1750s, tensions between the British, the French, and Indigenous peoples over control of the Ohio Country in North America lead to the outbreak of a global war with revolutionary consequences. Featuring: Fred Anderson, Christian Ayne Crouch, Max Edelson, Patrick Griffin, George Ironstrack,...

  24. Season One Trailer: The Crisis

    Season One of Worlds Turned Upside Down, "The Crisis," follows the stories of American colonists, Indigenous peoples, and Europeans as they grappled with the revolutionary consequences of Great Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). After celebrating Britain's triumph over the...

  25. Introducing Worlds Turned Upside Down

    Introducing Worlds Turned Upside Down, a podcast about the history of the American Revolution. Coming fall 2023 from R2 Studios. Learn more at www.r2studios.org. Worlds Turned Upside Down tells the story of the American Revolution as a transatlantic crisis and imperial civil war through the lives...

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

Worlds Turned Upside Down tells the story of the American Revolution as a transatlantic crisis and imperial civil war through the lives of people who experienced it. For many modern citizens of the United States, "the cause of America" that gave birth to a new nation in 1776 and the heroic stories we tell ourselves about its founding remains "in great measure the cause of all mankind." But for the people who lived through it, the revolutionary era upended their lives in ways they could have never imagined. The crisis that engulfed the Atlantic world in the late eighteenth century inspired British Americans, Indigenous nations, enslaved Africans and African Americans, Europeans, and other peoples to question their loyalties, challenge authority, seek freedom, and resist revolutionary change.Worlds Turned Upside Down is narrated and written by Dr. Jim Ambuske.

HOSTED BY

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

CATEGORIES

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Worlds Turned Upside Down have?

Worlds Turned Upside Down currently has 25 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is Worlds Turned Upside Down about?

Worlds Turned Upside Down tells the story of the American Revolution as a transatlantic crisis and imperial civil war through the lives of people who experienced it. For many modern citizens of the United States, "the cause of America" that gave birth to a new nation in 1776 and the heroic stories...

How often does Worlds Turned Upside Down release new episodes?

Worlds Turned Upside Down has 25 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

Where can I listen to Worlds Turned Upside Down?

You can listen to Worlds Turned Upside Down on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts Worlds Turned Upside Down?

Worlds Turned Upside Down is created and hosted by Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media.
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