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 ...
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R2 Studios Podcasts
Consolation Prize is a podcast about the United States in the world through the eyes of its consuls. The responsibility for the United States’ reputation in other parts of the world often fell squarely on the shoulders of consuls and they were the first ones called in when Americans got themselves in trouble or were mistreated while they were abroad. How they interpreted their duties sometimes got them involved in all kinds of complicated circumstances. And often, their actions on a personal ...
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The Green Tunnel explores the history and culture of the United States’ most iconic long-distance hiking trail, the Appalachian Trail. Hosted by Mills Kelly, the show delves into topics including the quirky history of trail food, the shelters and structures built along the trail, and dangers you might encounter during a hike.
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250 years after her birth, Jane Austen remains a giant in the cultural zeitgeist. Her works have been adapted hundreds of times over multiple mediums, and she remains one of the most popular writers in the English language. Yet little is known about Jane Austen the person. The majority of her letters were likely destroyed, leaving us only 161. In the absence of her own direct testimony, where do we find the real Jane Austen? In her books? In her family and friends? In the “world” of Jane Aus ...
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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, and Frank Cogliano. Voice Actors: Grace Mallon, Amber …
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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. Voice Actors: Jan Hoffmann, Craig Gallagher, Emmanuel D…
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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.By R2 Studios
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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, James Fichter, Deepthi Murali, and Mary Beth Norton.…
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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, Jr. Voice Actors: Amber Pelham, Anne Fertig, Gillian …
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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 Donelson, Evan McCormick, Norman Rodger, John Terry, and…
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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, and Nate Sleeter. Narrated by Dr. Jim Ambuske. Music…
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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 Minty. Voice Actors: Adam Smith, Melissa Gismondi, Grac…
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You've heard of Jane Austen. She's in our movie theaters, our high school classrooms, even on the British pound, she's inspired more than 400 novel adaptations and probably more than a few of your favorite movies and series. You might even consider yourself a big fan of Jane Austen. But do you know who Jane Austen was? Like, really, who was she as …
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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 and a symbol of sedition. Featuring: Wendy Bellion, Shi…
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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: Jon Kukla, Patrick Griffin, Brad Jones, Abby Chandler,…
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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 west from London, to the islands of sugar. Featuring: …
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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 Tucker, Hannah Farber, and Zara Anishanslin Voice Ac…
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Today’s episode is bittersweet because we have reached the end of our hike. After three years and 50 episodes, we are wrapping up The Green Tunnel with something a little different. Every episode of The Green Tunnel has focused on some aspect of the history of the Appalachian Trail, but today we’re looking forward. What will the AT’s future look li…
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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 America. Featuring: Max Edelson, Maeve Kane, and Alexand…
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On today’s episode of The Green Tunnel, we are exploring a central reason why hikers head to the Appalachian Trail in the first place, to see wildlife. We’ll also talk about how the animals along the trail are changing the way hikers experience the AT and the ecology of the mountains the AT passes through.…
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What long-distance AT hiker hasn’t dreamed of reaching that sign on the summit of Katahdin at the end of their hike? Today, we are headed to the top of the mountain to explore the history of the iconic sign.By R2 Studios
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The Appalachian Trail winds its way through Appalachia which is a place where people make sense of their world through stories. Stories of their lives in the mountains. Stories of the land and its riches. Stories, both fiction and non-fiction, about their journeys. In this episode of The Green Tunnel, we are exploring the history of writing about t…
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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 Montgomery Voice Actors: Grace Mallon and Beau Robbins…
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Iconic Locations: Priest Mountain Shelter
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12:09Did you know a significant number of hikers confess their sins in the logbook in the shelter on Priest Mountain? Why do they do this and what do they confess? Find out on today’s Iconic Locations episode.By R2 Studios
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Benton MacKaye wanted to be sure that anyone who chose to spend a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks on the trail would have the opportunity to really get away from civilization. However, most of the lands MacKaye hoped to route his future trail through were in private hands, owned either by individuals or corporations. If an Appalachian Trail w…
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The Delaware Water Gap is one of the most breathtaking spots along the entire Appalachian Trail and has been a favorite subject of landscape painters since at least the middle of the 19th century. It's an important marker for northbound hikers, but it's also a torturous landscape that many hikers call "Rocksylvania."…
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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 preserve their sovereignty and usher in the revitaliza…
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There is no better way to turn a good hike into a bad hike than taking a wrong turn and hiking miles out of your way. Especially if that means you climbed an extra mountain or two. Today, we are exploring the history of blazing, signing, and mapping the trail from Georgia to Maine.By R2 Studios
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Bear Mountain Bridge sits just north of the oldest section of the entire Appalachian Trail and on today's Iconic Location episode we are what was once the world’s longest suspension bridge.By R2 Studios
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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 of the war they had won. Featuring: Fred Anderson, Ch…
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Today we’re going back to the earliest days of the Appalachian Trail to learn more about the critical role that the Civilian Conservation Corps played in making the trail a reality.By R2 Studios
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Have you ever wondered who Charlies Bunion was named after or why there are two balds with the same name? On today’s Iconic Location episode, we are exploring the mystery of Charlies Bunion.By R2 Studios
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The American Chestnut was one of the most magnificent trees in North America. On today’s episode of The Green Tunnel, we’re going to explore how it lived, how it died, and how – with the help of scientists, non-profit organizations, and passionate volunteers – it just might repopulate the Appalachian Mountains once again.…
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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, John McCurdy, and Serena Zabin. Voice Actors: Dan Howle…
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While no one has ever seen a dragon along the Appalachian Trail, hundreds of thousands of hikers have seen a dragon’s tooth. Viewed from a distance this geological formation looks like one very large, very snaggly fang sticking up out of Cove Mountain.By R2 Studios
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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 like the Haudenosaunee and the Delaware weigh their o…
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This season the history we’re starting with is really, really old. We are exploring the geological history of the rocks and mountains the Appalachian Trail runs through. We will also answer the age-old question, are the mountains actually getting taller?By R2 Studios
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Season Three: The Natural History of the Trail
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1:30On Tuesday, October 17th, The Green Tunnel will be back with Season Three! This season we’re exploring the natural history of the Appalachian Trail. We’ll dig deep into the trail’s geological past, climb chestnut trees, follow some critters down unexpected paths, and consider the history of the trail’s future. We’ll also highlight iconic locations …
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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, and Maeve Kane. Voice Actors: Norman Rodger, Alexandr…
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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 French in the war, Americans began questioning British n…
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Hiking Connecticut with “Jester” Section Hiker
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30:29Planning section hikes can take a lot of work. Luckily, every section hiker out there has a go-to podcast to help with that planning. Julie Gayheart hosts the “Jester” Section Hiker podcast and there is no better resource for anyone interested in section hiking the Appalachian Trail. Today, Julie walks us through what it takes to hike the Connectic…
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A Life Crafted for the Outdoors with Orange Blaze
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1:04:08Today we’re headed to Florida. While the AT doesn’t run through Florida, the state has a lot of great trails, including the Florida Trail. And one of the best ways for you to learn about the FT is by listening to Orange Blaze. This podcast highlights the experience of hikers along the Florida Trail and is hosted by Misti ‘Ridley’ Little.…
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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 of people who experienced it. For many modern citize…
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When the Appalachian Trail project began, volunteer clubs up and down the length of the trail committed themselves to first scouting, then building, and then maintaining the trail. In the last episode of season two, we are digging into the critical role women played in the early years of the AT. They played such a big role, some trail clubs limited…
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Today, we’re hiking on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, to the site of Fontana Dam. It’s the tallest dam east of the Rocky Mountains. Constructed in the 1940s, the dam and its resulting reservoir flooded four towns and affected the daily lives and memories of many people. So, why was the dam built and what lies beneath the cool blue wate…
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The Appalachian Trail is a much more diverse place in 2023 than it was as recently as 20 years ago. But if you spend much time on the trail, you know it’s still a pretty white place. There are many stories about the challenges faced by members of marginalized communities who hike the AT, and we need a lot more research to better understand how the …
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Long before Harpers Ferry, Virginia became the emotional halfway point for Appalachian Trail thru hikers, it was the site of one of the most important events in 19th century American history. In the fall of 1859, the abolitionist John Brown and 22 of his compatriots attacked the federal arsenal there, hoping to spark an insurrection against slavery…
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Throughout its history, the Appalachian Trail has been a place many hikers go for peace, for inspiration, for community, for physical challenge, and in some cases, as a sort of personal spiritual journey. In our show today, we’re taking a close look at the history of these inner motivations to hike.By R2 Studios
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Have you ever wondered where the center point of the Appalachian Trail is? If you guessed Center Point Knob, Pennsylvania you would be wrong. But it was the location of an infamous crime. Well sort of.By R2 Studios
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Finding Virginia’s Lost AT with Dakota Jackson and Mills Kelly
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32:14On this special episode of The Green Tunnel, Dakota Jackson, Director of Visitor Experience at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, talks with Mills Kelly about his new book, Virginia's Lost Appalachian Trail. Dakota and Mills explore the process of digging up the story of Virginia's Lost AT in the archives, and in the memories of the people who reme…
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Today, we’re going to tell you a story from the earliest days of the Appalachian Trail, a time when trail scouts were still trying to find a complete route north or south through what was sometimes unmapped wilderness. It’s a story about a 300-mile-long section of the Appalachian Trail you almost certainly have never heard of.…
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Today we're exploring one of the more famous trail towns along the Appalachian Trail, Damascus, Virginia.By R2 Studios
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Hikers don’t often realize they’re passing through the traditional homelands of many Indigenous nations. In today’s episode, we’re focusing on some of the Indigenous lands the Appalachian Trail runs through as a way of helping to recover at least some of the Indigenous history along the trail’s route.…
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Today, we explore one of the most infamous sections of the Appalachian Trail. Get ready for the ups and downs of Northern Virginia's Roller Coaster.By R2 Studios
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