Rick Atkinson has won Pulitzer Prizes both for his reporting and for his work as a historian. He’s written about five wars, and his books include “The Long Gray Line,” the Liberation Trilogy about the United States’ role in the liberation of Europe during World War II and the first two books of the Revolution Trilogy. No less than Ken Burns said that Atkinson is “among the greatest of all historians.” This month, a graphic novel edition of “The British Are Coming: The Graphic Edition, Volume 1,” adapted by Nora Neus and illustrated by Federico Pietrobon, has been published by Ten Speed Graphic. Atkinson answered our questions about the book by email after the book’s publication.
Q. There is a new graphic novel version of your book, “The British Are Coming.” What is it like seeing years of research and hundreds of pages of work presented in this form?
I’m impressed with how Nora Neus compressed the story without dumbing it down, and how artist Federico Pietrobon brought to life, on the page, images I had seen mainly in my head.
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Q. What surprised you the most about your research into the American Revolution?
I’m perpetually surprised by Britain’s commitment to wage war against her own people for eight years across three thousand miles of open ocean in the age of sail.
Q. What is a common misconception about the American Revolution?
Many Americans see the Revolution as a faded lithograph, with a soft sepia tint. It wasn’t like that. The war was relentlessly violent, with atrocities committed by both sides. It was both a civil war and a global war, ultimately fought on four continents and the seven seas.
Q. In America, we tend to learn about the Revolution without focusing on the British Empire’s overextended holdings. Is it fair to say that the conflict in India during this same period limited how many troops and resources the British could focus on America, which perhaps tipped the balance of the war?
I wouldn’t say it was the fighting in India, which was relatively small-scale. But that was part of a vast, global commitment — in British home waters, in the Caribbean, in Central America, in Canada, along the Gulf coast, in West Africa — all of which strained British resources. Britain had been alone, without allies, since 1763, and it caught up with her. America had direct assistance from France, Spain, and the Netherlands, and indirect assistance from Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and other European powers.
Q. There’s often a divide between people who want history to be “positive” and those who, like most academics and historians, present both the good and bad. How do you view this schism?
I’m certain that you can tell the story in all its glory, the good, the bad, and the ugly, without defaming the American cause. My experience is that readers are interested in the truth, not in fairy tales, mythology, or hagiography. The founders are much more complex and interesting than the perfect marble men without flaws that some folks would prefer.
Q. How do you view the aims of the Revolution as we celebrate 250 years later?
The Revolution provided us with a set of noble aspirations — “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” For 250 years, the American project has been about trying to make those aspirational ambitions real, within the warp and woof of our republic.
Q. Many readers know you from your Liberation Trilogy about WWII. How did writing those books help you with your Revolutionary War books?
Spending almost 15 years writing about the American role in the liberation of Europe in World War II affirmed for me something that the founders knew: there are things in this life worth dying for.
Q. Is there an unsung hero of the American Revolution you wish people knew more about? Or a villain who’s gotten off too easily?
Major General Nathanael Greene is second only to Washington as the indispensable man in the Continental Army, and unfortunately, he’s unknown to many Americans today. I’m reluctant to apply the “villain” label to most Revolutionary characters, even those who behave badly. Even Benedict Arnold had redeeming qualities; in the first couple years of the war, he’s the best tactical combat leader on either side.
Q. Besides your own, what are some books about the American Revolution that you recommend to readers?
Oh, there’s a towering stack of them. My “books to get list” includes more than 2,500 titles, and I own about half of them. Some of the good ones include “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “Washington’s Crossing” by David Hackett Fischer; “The Men Who Lost America” by Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy; and “The Papers of George Washington,” Revolutionary War Series, volumes 1 through 37, where the commanding general is most vividly revealed.
The University of Virginia has been curating Washington’s papers since 1968, and they’re almost finished. Washington’s papers are also available free online, along with a half dozen other prominent Revolutionary figures, through Founders Online: https://founders.archives.gov. It’s a fantastic public service.
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Q. Getting back to the graphic adaptation: Did you read comics growing up (or still)? If so, what comics did you read?
Constantly as a kid. Superheroes, of course — a lot of Superman — but also “Classics Illustrated,” which introduced me to some of the greatest stories in literature by the likes of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson. I’m hoping that the graphic edition of “The British Are Coming” will have a similar reach.
Q. What’s something about this adaptation or your original book that you wish people knew?
We’re going to win the war, but it won’t be easy.
Q. Thanks for answering these. Is there a question you wish I’d asked?
I think you covered the waterfront nicely. Thanks for the opportunity.