R2 Studios at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) is excited to announce that Jim Ambuske, Jeanette Patrick, and Mills Kelly have been awarded $272,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities in support of our latest podcast, Worlds Turned Upside Down.
Worlds Turned Upside Down is a narrative documentary podcast series about the history of the American Revolution. The series draws on contributions from an international cast of leading experts to explore the conflict through the lives of British Americans, Indigenous nations, enslaved Africans and African Americans, Europeans, and other peoples who experienced it as a transatlantic crisis and imperial civil war.
“As we prepare to observe the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, Worlds Turned Upside Down strives to meet the public’s demand for histories of the American Revolution while challenging their assumptions about it,” said Jim Ambuske, host and producer of Worlds.
The series is already well underway in its first season, “The Crisis.” Season One follows the stories of British American colonists, Indigenous peoples, and Europeans as they grappled with the revolutionary consequences of Great Britain’s victory in the Seven Years’ War.
This generous grant from the NEH will support the podcast’s second season, “The War of Reconciliation.” Season Two will challenge the public’s general understanding of the American Revolution by countering the pervasive belief that political independence was always the end goal for rebelling colonists. Episodes will cover the Siege of Boston beginning in April 1775 through the drafting and adoption of the Declaration of Independence in the summer of 1776 to trace why a struggle for reconciliation ended in imperial disunion.
Like every series produced by R2 Studios, all episodes of Worlds Turned Upside Down are available for free on all major podcast apps, including Apple, Spotify, and Goodpods, as well as YouTube. Full transcripts for each episode and suggestions for further reading are available on our website.
Start your revolutionary journey by listening to Worlds Turned Upside Down from the beginning. For continued updates on the project, visit R2Studios.org and sign up for our newsletter, Good Tape.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.
ABOUT THE ROY ROSENZWEIG CENTER FOR HISTORY AND NEW MEDIA (RRCHNM) Founded in 1994 by Roy Rosenzweig, RRCHNM was created as a part of George Mason University’s Department of History and Art History with the mission to democratize access to history. RRCHNM creates meaningful digital histories used by millions of people around the world. Learn more about RRCHNM’s current projects, graduate student education, podcasts, and K-12 educational resources here: https://rrchnm.org/
