Conversations Live: A Special Conversation on “The American Revolution”
Washington Crossing the Delaware. Painting by Emanuel Leutze, 1851. Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Aired November 13, 2025
Historian Dr. Jared Frederick leads a discussion about American history and the upcoming PBS Documentary by Ken Burns, Sara Botstein, and David Schmidt with guests Dr. Frederike Baer, Dr. Brady Crytzer, and Dr. Christopher Thrasher.
Host
Jared Frederick, Ph.D.Associate Teaching Professor of History
Penn State AltoonaDr. Jared Frederick is the author of numerous books, including Dispatches of D-Day, Hang Tough, Fierce Valor, and Into the Cold Blue. He has appeared on PBS, C-SPAN, and Turner Classic Movies. A former seasonal park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Frederick is now the host of Reel History on YouTube, host of WPSU’s Past PA, and is a professor of history at Penn State Altoona.
Guests
Friederike Baer, Ph.D.Professor of History
Penn State AbingtonFriederike Baer is an award-winning author and Professor of History at Pennsylvania State University Abington College. Her scholarship focuses on the American Revolutionary War and Early American Republic. Her publications include the books The Trial of Frederick Eberle: Language, Patriotism and Citizenship in Philadelphia’s German Community, 1790-1830, which was awarded the St. Paul, Biglerville Prize in American Lutheran History, and Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War, which was honored with the American Roundtable of Philadelphia Annual Book Award, Inaugural American Battlefield Trust Prize for History Honorable Mention, and Society of the Cincinnati Prize. Dr. Baer served as a historical advisor and interviewee for Ken Burns’s film The American Revolution.
Brady CrytzerLecturer of History, Robert Morris University
Associate Editor, Journal of the American RevolutionBrady J. Crytzer teaches history at Robert Morris University. He is the winner of the 2023 Judge Robert K. Woltz History Award. A specialist of the Frontier History of North America, Crytzer is an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Revolution and the author of eight books.Crytzer has been featured on Fox News, NBC Peacock, C-SPAN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Sirius XM, and USA Today.
Christopher A. Thrasher, Ph. D.Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, History
Penn StateChristopher Thrasher is a postdoctoral teaching fellow at the Pennsylvania State University. He studies Native American, colonial, and early U.S. history. His dissertation considers the Revolutionary War period from a unique perspective by centering Muscogee Confederacy history and Muscogee diplomacy with the Cherokee Nation. Previously, he attended the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida, studying Yucatec Maya history.
Corporate funding for THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by The Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Foundation; and the Blavatnik Family Foundation. Major funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein; The Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation; Lilly Endowment Inc.; and the following Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt; Stephen A. Schwarzman; and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst. Additional support for THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was provided by: The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations; The Pew Charitable Trusts; Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling; Park Foundation; and the following Better Angels Society members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg; Perry and Donna Golkin; The Michelson Foundation; Jacqueline B. Mars; Kissick Family Foundation; Diane and Hal Brierley; John H. N. Fisher and Jennifer Caldwell; John and Catherine Debs; The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund; Philip I. Kent; Gail Elden; Deborah and Jon Dawson; David and Susan Kreisman; The McCloskey Family Charitable Trust; Becky and Jim Morgan; Carol and Ned Spieker; Mark A. Tracy; and Paul and Shelley Whyte. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was made possible, in part, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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