Historian Rick Atkinson is returning to Kansas City on Tuesday, April 14 for a speaking event with the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum.
A former Star reporter, in recent years, Atkinson has focused his writing on the Revolutionary War, and has released two books in a trilogy about that era.
"The Fate of the Day," which was published in 2025, focuses on the years of 1777 to 1780.
Atkinson told KCUR's Up To Date that diving into the American Revolution allows people to learn something about "the traits that fashion the American character."
"I think we see ingenuity and persistence, but also bellicosity and pugnacity, all part of the complexity of the American character. Beyond that, in some ways more important than that, I think it's important to reflect on what they were fighting for," Atkinson said.
"They bequeathed (to us) not only personal liberties, but also structures on how to divide power and keep it from concentrating in the hands of authoritarians who think primarily of themselves. They were fighting not only against what they defined as tyranny in the form of George III and an oppressive British mother country, but to forestall, to prevent future tyrannies. This is the essence of what the revolution was about."
- Rick Atkinson, historian and author
Event: The Fate of the Day, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 14 at Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 W 47th Street, Kansas City, MO 64112. Attendees must register online.
