Tempest in a Teacup

Why does country music make you cry, but rock and roll doesn’t? We revisit a musical interpretation of a divided America in this episode from 2017. Get ad-free episodes to Revisionist History by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Pushkin+ subscribers can acc ... Show More

How does genius emerge? Kicking off our summer series, Malcolm digs into the Revisionist History archive to revisit Elvis Costello’s song “Deportee” and explore the power of innovation. Get ad-free episodes to Revisionist History by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pu ... Show More

Starting next week, we revisit four of Malcolm’s favorite episodes from the Revisionist History archives, all about music.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

On December 16th, 1773, a band of American patriots quietly boarded three ships in Boston Harbour, under the cover of night. Armed with axes and hatchets, they pried open the crates on board and poured their contents into the ocean. The crates contained tea; black-leaved Bohea an ... Show More

"We have only been making a little salt-water tea." This is the story of the Boston Tea Party. The East India Company and the needs of the global British Empire are intertwined, and Parliament wants the American colonies to help foot the bill by drinking the company's tea. The Ea ... Show More

The Boston Tea Party is often invoked as a symbol of non-violent protest, but how true is that picture? In episode two, we meet the Sons of Liberty – an organisation which, in combatting the rising taxes levied from the American colonists, sometimes turned to brutal and intimidat ... Show More

The consequences of the protest are vital in understanding the role of the Boston Tea Party in the revolution that was to come. In episode four, we hear more about the immediate fallout from the destruction of the tea, and the brutal crackdown by Britain’s government that proved ... Show More

Boston is situated in present-day Massachusetts, right on the northern Atlantic coastline.  It’s picturesque, it’s lively and it’s steeped in stories of how the United States gained its independence from Britain. Today you’ll hear those tales of organization, patriotism and madne ... Show More

“Last night three cargos of tea were emptied into the sea. This morning a man of war sails. This is the most magnificent movement of all. There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots, that I greatly admire.”The Boston Tea Party occurs amid the g ... Show More

Why does the Boston Tea Party still loom so large in the popular story of American independence today? Is it right that it holds so much significance? And what has been the impact of the protest in global history? In the final episode of our series, experts Benjamin Carp, Sarah C ... Show More

December 16, 1773. Samuel Adams sits in a crowded meeting of American colonists at Boston’s Old South Meeting House. He’s watching small groups of men slip quietly out the door. Once outside, the men don disguises and make their way toward three ships moored in the harbor – each ... Show More

In 1765, nine middle-class businessmen began meeting under Boston’s Liberty Tree. Over time, merchants, artisans, shopkeepers, even politicians joined the secret society known as the Sons of Liberty. Not only did they orchestrate the Boston Tea Party, they inspired the American R ... Show More

"Damn you, fire, be the consequences what it will!" ​ This is the story of the Boston Massacre. In the aftermath of a second botched attempt to tax the Americans and stop them from smuggling, John Hancock's accused of smuggling and Boston gets occupied by a British army. Then, on ... Show More