The American Revolution

Anyone trying to make sense of today's turbulent US politics needs to look at history first. Volker Depkat - historian, professor of American Studies, and member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences in Lower Saxony - explores how the United States works in his Deutschlandfunk podcast Amerika verstehen and in his book Die Amerikanische Revolution (C.H. Beck 2026). Published to mark the 250th anniversary of the USA, the book traces the escalating conflict between Britain and its colonies after 1763, surveys the economic, social, and cultural landscape of the era, and shows how the American Revolution continues to shape the United States today.

This evening Depkat joins American Studies scholar Daniel Göske, president of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences in Lower Saxony, for a discussion.