Florentine Films.
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
Tells of the story of Jack Roosevelt Robinson a sharecropper's son who elevated an entire race and country when he broke major league baseball's color barrier in 1947. The film illuminates Robinson's place as a leader and icon of the civil rights movement whose exemplary life and aspirational message of equality continue to inspire generations of Americans.
4) Jazz
Language
English
Description
Documentary exploring the history of jazz from its beginnings through the 1990's, including the stories of many of its creators and performers. Includes archival video, still photographs, historical performances, and newly recorded interviews and musical performances.
5) Baseball
Language
English
Description
The definitive documentary of America's pastime, baseball. Through a skillful blend of still photographs, film footage, interviews and voice overs, the the history of "The Game" is brought to life. Covering the period from the 1840's to 1994 (just before the strike), the high and low moments, heroes and villains are explored and examined, providing an in-depth, informative, and enthralling look at this truly American passion.
Language
English
Description
Ken Burns documents the worst human-made ecological disaster in American history, when a frenzied wheat boom on the southern Plains, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s, nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation. Vivid interviews, dramatic photographs, and seldom-seen movie footage bring to life incredible stories of human suffering and perseverance. Includes bonus features.
Language
English
Description
Traces the birth of the national park idea in the mid-1800s and follows its evolution for nearly 150 years. Using archival photographs, first-person accounts of historical characters, personal memories and analysis from more than 40 interviews, and what Burns believes is the most stunning cinematography in Florentine Films' history, the series chronicles the steady addition of new parks through the stories of the people who helped create them and...
Language
English
Description
Tells the story of the most important expedition in American history, led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Includes the stories of the young army men, French-Canadian boatmen, Clark's African-American slave, and the Shoshone woman named Sacagawea who went with them.
10) Prohibition
Language
English
Description
This videodisc explores the extraordinary story of what happens when a freedom-loving nation outlaws the sale of intoxicating liquor, and the disastrous unintended consequences that follow. The utterly relevant cautionary tale raises profound questions about the proper role of government and the limits of legislating morality. When the country goes dry in 1920, after a century of debate, millions of law-abiding Americans become lawbreakers overnight....
Language
English
Formats
Description
Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein's three-part, six-hour documentary series examines how the American people and leaders responded to one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of the twentieth century, and how this catastrophe challenged America's identity as a nation of immigrants and the very ideals of democracy.
The U.S. and the Holocaust examines America's response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century....
Language
English
Description
It is an epic overflowing with heroes and hopefuls, scoundrels and screwballs. It is a saga spanning the quest for racial justice, the clash of labor and management, the transformation of popular culture, and the unfolding of the national pastime. Here is the story of a nation at work and play. Experience it in ten thrilling "innings" from master storyteller and award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns
14) Jazz
Language
English
Formats
Description
"A virtuoso performance by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns, Jazz celebrates the music of America -- from blues and ragtime to swing, bebop and fusion. With Jazz, Ken Burns reaches the high note of his epic trilogy on American life that began with 'The Civil War' and continued with 'Baseball'" -- Container.
15) Mark Twain
Language
English
Description
Recounts Mark Twain's life told primarily through his own words. Includes interviews with Hal Holbrook, Arthur Miller, William Styron and many others.
16) The Vietnam War
Language
English
Formats
Description
The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, The Vietnam War, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides -- Americans who fought...
17) The war
Language
English
Description
Tells the story of ordinary people in four quintessentially American towns - Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota - and examines the ways in which the Second World War touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America.
Language
English
Description
The game of baseball continues to reflect the complicated country that created it. Players and owners wage a battle over money and power; Cal Ripken becomes the game's new Iron Man; sluggers Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds do things that have never been done before; the Yankees build a dynasty, while their arch rivals, the Red Sox, stage the greatest comeback in history. In September of 2001, baseball offers the hope that things will one...
Language
English
Description
They called themselves the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, but because of their ecstatic dancing, the world called them Shakers. Through diaries, archival photographs, music and stunning cinematography, Ken Burns creates a moving portrait of this group.