Launching today and just ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary, a special issue of The Atlantic brings together a remarkable group of scholars, essayists, and reporters to revisit America’s founding era, measuring the success of the American experiment, two and a half centuries later, against the lofty dreams and designs of the founding generation. In an editor’s note, The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, writes of the issue, “You will see that we are not simplistic, jingoistic, or uncritical in our approach, but we are indeed motivated by the idea that the American Revolution represents one of the most important events in the history of the planet, and its ideals continue to symbolize hope and freedom for humankind.” He continues, “We are publishing this at the end of 2025 for a number of reasons: This month marks the launch of an Atlantic project meant to explain the meaning of the Revolution and its consequences, which we will carry through all of next year … We also recognize that the American experiment is under extraordinary pressure at the moment, and we think it important to do anything we can to illuminate the challenges we face.”For the cover––which unfolds across a three-panel gatefold––the artist, Joe McKendry, painted a tableau of figures drawn from the stories in the issue. Some are instantly recognizable—Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson––while other figures will be less familiar. Standing beside George Washington is a man he enslaved, Harry Washington, for whom no image exists. Altogether, the figures represent different sides of the war, of the period’s political ferment, and of early American society itself, and convey the ambition of this special issue: to capture the Revolutionary era in all of its complexity, contradictions, and ingenuity.The issue, titled “The Unfinished Revolution,” features 21 articles divided into five chapters: “Defiance,” “Conflict,” “Independence,” “Memory,” and “Crisis.” Releasing online today are the first two chapters. In Chapter One, historian Rick Atkinson writes about “The Myth of Mad King George,” who was denounced by rebel propagandists as a tyrant and remembered by Americans as a reactionary dolt, but the truth is much more complicated. In “No One Gave a Speech Like Patrick Henry,” Drew Gilpin Faust writes about how Henry roused a nation to war. Robert A. Gross and Robert M. Thorson’s “Why Concord?” examines the geological origins of the American Revolution; they write: “Concord was lucky in its location, inheriting advantages from natural landscape and history on which its inhabitants could build a sense of place and community. It was a fierce determination to defend that community, with its tradition of town-meeting government, that inspired the resistance to the British regulars.”For the second chapter, “Conflict,” also publishing today, the co-directors of the forthcoming PBS documentary series The American Revolution––Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt––describe the difficulties of creating a film about a war fought before the advent of photography. The Revolution is so enveloped in myth, they write, that it would take a lifetime to make clear its stakes. Stacy Schiff’s “Dear Son” looks at how the Revolution tore apart Benjamin Franklin and his son William, who remained loyal to the Crown. Andrew Lawler’s “The Black Loyalists” tells the story of the thousands of African Americans who fought for the British—then fled the United States to avoid a return to enslavement. Finally, staff writer Caity Weaver embedded with a group of Revolutionary War reenactors to play out the Battle of Bunker Hill, writing that the chief merit of reenacting is “not that it glorifies past accomplishments or condemns past failures, but that it emphasizes how any action humans have ever performed, whether for good or for ill, has been carried out by ordinary women and men.”These will be joined by a wide selection of pieces in the coming days, including staff writer George Packer making the case for patriotism, Anne Applebaum on how America no longer lives up to its founding ideals, and David Brooks on how America might save itself from autocracy. Fintan O’Toole asks what the Founders would make of America today. Jake Lundberg, The Atlantic’s in-house historian and archivist, writes about Abraham Lincoln calling upon the spirit of 1776. The issue’s chapters include contributions from Danielle Allen, Ned Blackhawk, Victoria Flexner, Annette Gordon-Reed, Jane Kamensky, and Elaine Pagels; an excerpt from Jeffrey Rosen’s forthcoming book, The Pursuit of Liberty; The Atlantic’s John Swansburg on how “Rip Van Winkle” became our founding folktale; and staff writer Clint Smith on how authentic Colonial Williamsburg should be.Coming Thursday, October 9: “Chapter Three: Independence”Danielle Allen: “Secrets of a Radical Duke”Jeffrey Rosen: “The Nightmare of Despotism”Victoria Flexner: “We Hold These Turkeys to Be Delicious”Annette Gordon-Reed: “Whose Independence?”Elaine Pagels: “The Moral Foundation of America”Ned Blackhawk: “The 27th Grievance”Coming Friday, October 10: “Chapter Four: Memory”Fintan O’Toole: “What the Founders Would Say Now”Clint Smith: “Just How Real Should Colonial Williamsburg Be?”Jane Kamensky: “The Many Lives of Eliza Schuyler”Jake Lundberg: “Lincoln’s Revolution”John Swansburg: “America’s Most Famous Nap”Coming Tuesday, October 14: “Chapter Five: Crisis”Anne Applebaum: “The Beacon of Democracy Goes Dark”David Brooks: “The Rising”George Packer: “America Needs Patriotism”Please reach out with any questions or requests to interview the issue’s contributors.Press Contacts: Anna Bross and Paul Jackson | The Atlantic press@theatlantic.com