
What Ken Burns’ The American Revolution warns us about today
About this episode
After a decade in development, legendary documentarian Ken Burns released his long-awaited series, The American Revolution. Burns returns to Rapid Response to share key lessons from the founding of the United States—and the parallels between the revolutionary era and today. He also reflects on his admiration for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, the obstacles he faces in his ongoing quest for truth, and why the pursuit of virtue is as essential to American democracy as the pursuit of happiness.
This episode originally aired on Rapid Response in November 2025.
Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Get every episode summarized
Each time Rapid Response publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from Rapid Response

On's 16-year overnight success: Zendaya, Federer, and outrunning competition
Rapid Response

NFL Kickoff: the science gets more damning, but the money keeps growing
Rapid Response

Masters of Scale: Always be the challenger, with Savannah Bananas founder Jesse...
Rapid Response

When AI agents do your shopping, everything changes, with Shopify’s Jess Hertz
Rapid Response