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"for any student of American history this is a must"
"quite simply this is seminal viewing"
"a piece
of history so enthralling you must buy it" |
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The American Civil
War
by Ken Burns |
Review
A documentary which was five years in the making and
investigates the American Civil War. With over 16,000 archive photographs,
lithographs, period paintings and newspaper features as well as
battlefield tours.
The most successful public-television miniseries in American
history, the 11-hour American Civil War defined what has since
become known as the "Ken Burns approach" - voice-over narrators reading
letters and documents dramatically and stating the writer's name at their
conclusion, fresh live footage of places juxtaposed with still images
(photographs, paintings, maps, prints), anecdotal interviews, and romantic
musical scores taken from the era he depicts.
The American Civil War uses all of these devices to evoke
atmosphere and resurrect an event that many knew only from stale history
books. While Burns is a historian, a researcher, and a documentarian, he's
above all a gifted storyteller, and it's his narrative powers that give
this chronicle its beauty, overwhelming emotion, and devastating horror.
Using the words of old letters, eloquently read by a variety of
celebrities, the stories of historians like Shelby Foote and rare, stained
photos, Burns allows us not only to learn and understand history, but also
to feel and experience it.
Click below for more information, or to
buy from Amazon:
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