As a Brit, I didn't learn about the American Revolution in school. But my children all grew up in the US – and they did. And I noticed that while the Civil War is often portrayed in all its violence and gruesomeness, stories from the revolution focus on heroism.

When I think of the American Revolution, my mind conjures images of impassioned colonists dumping tea into Boston Harbour. Paul Revere's midnight ride through Massachusetts. George Washington crossing the Delaware River. America united, alone and in the right.

But 250 years since the war began, it's time for a different, more complex look at America's origin story. I recently spoke with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson about the realities of the Revolutionary War that often go overlooked. His latest book on the conflict, The Fate of the Day, comes out later this month on 29 April.

It was an eye-opening discussion that taught me a lot – you can watch or read our conversation here:

Below are excerpts from the above conversation, which have been edited for length and clarity.

Katty Kay: It wasn't until recently that I really became aware just of how gruesome the Revolutionary War was. One in 10 Americans who fought in it died, as you recount in your book. The stories from the Battles of Saratoga of 16- and 17-year-olds freezing to death in the fields. I was wondering why you felt it was important to tell that side of the story in your books.

Rick Atkinson: The revolution has kind of a faded lithograph quality to it. The blood has been leached out, but it was a terribly bloody affair. There were at least 25,000 Americans, maybe as many as 35-40,000, who died. That's a larger proportion of the American population at the time to die in any of our wars other than the Civil War. I think the reason that it hasn't been acknowledged to be the bloody affair that it was is in part because of distance. 250 years of distance makes it hard to really feel an emotional connection to the dead. The Civil War, for instance, has photographs of the dead at places like Gettysburg and Antietam. There's none of that in the revolution.

KK: I can see why there was a need in the Revolutionary War to build up the founding fathers into almost Greek gods. Do you think they were sort of put on a pedestal because America needed........

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