Just in time for America’s 250th birthday, follow Dan Taberski (Hysterical, 9/12, Missing Richard Simmons) as he sets off on his most complicated quest yet: to reclaim the manifesto and write his own. Dan attempts to rescue the manifesto as a form from the sweaty clutches of cynical politicians and mass shooters and return it to its rightful place: with the artists, the warriors, the visionaries, and the mildly crazy regular folks with something to say, the passion to say it, and the courage to do something about it. 

From Audible Originals and Please & Thanks Productions, this 6-part series explores the power of the manifesto and asks: Can we get inspired again… and can we do it without a bullet? 

Listen to Dan Taberski's Manifesto wherever you get your podcasts. Or binge all episodes of Manifesto ad-free right now on Audible. Start your Audible subscription in the Audible App or on Apple Podcasts.

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After six long years of war, the Continental Army was exhausted, and Congress had run out of money. George Washington feared that without a decisive victory, the cause of independence would be lost.

But there was fresh cause for hope in the summer of 1781, as a massive French fleet sailed for the Chesapeake Bay. French and American commanders devised a plan to trap the British Army on a peninsula in Yorktown, Virginia.

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In the aftermath of America’s victory at Saratoga, France entered the Revolutionary War, transforming the colonial rebellion into a global conflict. British officials decided that the path to victory lay in the South. As the fighting shifted to the Carolinas, a brutal civil war erupted, pitting families and neighbors against one another in cycles of violence and retribution.

By 1779, the Patriot cause hung in the balance, undermined by rampant inflation, soldier mutinies, and one of the most notorious incidents of treason in American history.

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In 1777, as Americans sought the support of France, Benjamin Franklin struggled to convince officials in Paris to form a military alliance with the new United States. Meanwhile, British General John Burgoyne planned a grand strategy to crush the rebellion by conquering the Hudson River Valley. That summer, his troops fought the Continental Army in a battle that would turn the tide of the American Revolution.

But late that year, American forces faced a winter of peril as George Washington led his exhausted army into quarters at Valley Forge, where the soldiers endured disease, freezing conditions, and the threat of starvation.

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Ed is the grandson of footballing legend Gordon Banks. He was a national icon, the only goalkeeper ever to win the soccer World Cup for England. But Ed’s heard a rumour: that in 1970, while defending the title, his granddad, his hero, was poisoned… by the CIA. All part of a Cold War plot to bolster a military dictatorship in Latin America, supposedly. Could this possibly be true? Banks did get ill in Mexico in 1970 with food poisoning. And England crashed out, marking the start of decades of hurt. Ed enlists the help of investigative journalist Gabriel Gatehouse. Together they embark on a journey into the bewildering world of Cold War espionage, a journey that threatens to unravel 60 years of sporting history; or possibly… to knock Ed’s granddad off his pedestal. 

Listen to FOUL PLAY on the Audible App or wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of FOUL PLAY early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible App or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts.

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In July 1776, the British Royal Navy began landing a massive armada in New York Harbor, setting up the biggest battle of the Revolutionary War. In response, General George Washington faced the daunting challenge of preparing his motley army to defend New York and keep the colonists’ hopes alive.

In the months that followed, faith in the cause of independence began to waver, and the Continental Army teetered on the brink of collapse. But on Christmas night, the Patriots made a bold strike against the British Army that began with a daring crossing of the icy Delaware River.

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In the aftermath of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, colonial militiamen converged on Boston to confront the veteran British Army. But over the next six months, newly appointed commander-in-chief George Washington struggled to transform a patchwork of amateur militias into a unified national army.

As the conflict wore on, Americans debated whether to escalate the fight and take the unprecedented step of declaring their independence.

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In 1765, King George III and his ministers in the British Parliament sparked outrage in the American Colonies when they announced they were issuing the Stamp Act, the first direct tax on the Colonies. American critics decried the “taxation without representation,” and Boston radicals staged protests, boycotts, and attacks on tax collectors.

After a decade of growing tension over taxes, representation, and imperial control, the first shots of the Revolutionary War rang out in the Massachusetts countryside, as colonial militiamen confronted British regulars on the Lexington village green.

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Thomas Edison is one of the most celebrated inventors in American history, having helped transform a world lit by candles and gas lamps into one powered by electricity. Over his lifetime he was granted more than a thousand patents, and pioneered the very idea of organized innovation at his ground-breaking research and development laboratories. But the story of how he did it is complicated. So, to help us understand Edison’s remarkable achievements, Lindsay is joined by Dr. Paul Israel, Director and General Editor of the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers University. He’s the author of Edison: A Life of Invention. 

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By 1888, the race to power America's cities had become a battle between the rival visions of Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. But when the powerful industrialist George Westinghouse threw his weight behind Tesla and his AC system, what had been a personal falling out became something far larger – a war over the future of electricity itself. Their bitter fight spilled into courtrooms, ignited a national debate about capital punishment, and culminated in a fierce competition for the contract to illuminate the most ambitious event of the decade: the Chicago World’s Fair.

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In the spring of 1884, a little-known Serbian immigrant named Nikola Tesla arrived in America with little more than a letter of introduction to the most famous inventor in the world – Thomas Edison. Tesla went to work for Edison, impressing his new employer with his intelligence and work ethic. But the two men were too different, too stubborn, and too convinced of their own vision to coexist for long. Tesla would break away, determined to prove that his own approach to electricity – a system run on alternating current – was superior to everything Edison had built.

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