The American Revolution is often celebrated as a glorious cause, as the period when 13 colonies defied an oppressive empire, declared independence, and created a new nation. In many retellings, the revolution is a local tale of aggrieved colonists who became disenchanted with the greedy Parliament and felt betrayed by their tyrannical king.

But what about the rest of that empire? Of the colonies in North America and the Caribbean that remained loyal to the crown, of places like Ireland, Senegal, and India that were woven into the fabric of an empire that some Americans eventually rejected.

If we take a global view of the American Revolution, do some truths become less self-evident? In this episode, Dr. Jim Ambuske is joined by Dr. Andrew O'Shaughnessy to discuss his recent book, Republic and Empire: Crisis, Revolution, and America's Early Independence.

Hosted by Dr. Jim Ambuske. Executive producers are Dr. Lynn Price Robbins, Jeanette Patrick, and Patrick Long. Audio and video editing by Patrick Long. Revolutions in Retrospect is a joint production of Primary Source Media and Revolutionary Histories.

Five women—two wives, two enslaved women, and one indentured servant—were bound by their connection to the powerful Barbados politician John Peers. Between them, Hester, Susannah, Elizabeth, Dorothy, and Frances bore at least twenty children, many conceived through coercion and violence. Yet even in a world that denied them autonomy over their own bodies, these women carved out remarkable lives for themselves and their children in both Barbados and England.

This transatlantic story explores how family and colonial power were inseparable in a world shaped by race, patriarchy, and unfreedom—and the central role women played in building an empire. While their story survives through an unusually rich archive, these women's experiences echo those of thousands of families across the early modern Atlantic world, revealing both the intimacy and the brutality at the heart of colonial society.

Dr. Lynn Price Robbins is joined by Dr. Jenny Shaw to discuss her book, The Women of Rendezvous: A Transatlantic Story of Family and Slavery.

Hosted by Dr. Lynn Price Robbins. Executive producers are Dr. Jim Ambuske, Jeanette Patrick, and Patrick Long. Audio and video editing by Patrick Long. Revolutions in Retrospect is a joint production of Primary Source Media and Revolutionary Histories.

In the 1760s, the Atlantic world teetered on the edge of Revolution. In the years after the Seven Years' War, a global conflict that transformed Europe, West Africa, and the Americas in ways that many intended and many did not, the very fabric of that world began to unravel. First the American, then the French, followed by the Haitian, and then rebellions in South America frayed, twisted, and in some cases broke long-standing connections between peoples and nations on both sides of the ocean.

An Atlantic system that had taken centuries to build came undone, leaving in its wake monuments to a world turned upside down. This was the Age of Atlantic Revolution. In this episode, Dr. Jim Ambuske is joined by Dr. Patrick Griffin to discuss his recent book, The Age of Atlantic Revolution: The Fall and Rise of a Connected World.

Hosted by Dr. Jim Ambuske. Executive producers are Dr. Lynn Price Robbins, Jeanette Patrick, and Patrick Long. Audio and video editing by Patrick Long. Revolutions in Retrospect is a joint production of Primary Source Media and Revolutionary Histories.