January (1776: The World Turned Upside Down Season 1 Episode 1)

This is the 1st episode of 1776: The World Turned Upside Down, a 12-episode serial by Serial Box Publishing in partnership with The Associated Press.

A failed corset-maker, fired from his second career as a tax collector, Thomas Paine could never seem to do anything right—until he published a pamphlet that would become the first ‘call to action’ in the American Revolution: Common Sense.

In collaboration with The Associated Press, Serial Box presents 1776: The World Turned Upside Down. Our first nonfiction series tells the month-by-month story of the most important year in American history through the eyes of ordinary citizens - failed corset-makers, farmers, and high school dropouts, some of whom became our nation’s most revered heroes. Letters, news articles, and diary entries from this pivotal year, combined with the insights of three of the AP's top journalists reveal the courage, conviction, fallibility, and sometimes base motives of the people who invented America. From the publishing of Common Sense on January 10th to the battle of Trenton on December 26th, this was the year that America began to form the bold, brave and occasionally infuriating identity that we still know today.