Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9780780617902 Format: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC ISBN: 0780617908 Label: Pbs Home Video Manufacturer: Pbs Home Video Number Of Items: 9 Publisher: Pbs Home Video Release Date: June 03, 1997 Running Time: 660 minutes Studio: Pbs Home Video Theatrical Release Date: September 23, 1990 Sales Rank: 2054
Description: Hailed as a documentary masterpiece without parallel, Ken Burns' filmed chronicle of America's most terrible and destructive conflict will hold you in thrall as it portrays the strategies and action of the war's famous battles, and tells the stories of illustrious generals and ordinary field soldiers, politicians and rogues, heroes and a beleaguered President. Winner of two Emmy Awards, the series begins by looking at the fateful causes of the war that led to the firing on Fort Sumter, to the devastating battles of Shiloh, Antietam and Gettysburg, climaxing with Lee's surrender and the assassination of President Lincoln. Vivid photographic imagery and narration by many of today's most acclaimed performers highlight this epic program. Titles are: "The Cause of 1862," "A Very Bloody Affair 1862," "Forever Free 1862," "Simply Murder 1863," "The Universe of Battle 1863," "Valley of the Shadow of Death 1864," "Most Hallowed Ground 1864," "War Is All Hell 1865," and "The Better Angles of Our Nature 1865 ."
Amazon.com essential video: The most successful public-television miniseries in American history, the 11-hour Civil War didn't just captivate a nation, reteaching to us our history in narrative terms; it actually also invented a new film language taken from its creator. When people describe documentaries using the "Ken Burns approach," its style is understood: 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 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 relearn and finally understand our history, but also to feel and experience it. --Dave McCoy
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - As good as it gets.
This is another great documentary accredited to Ken Burns. Nicely done and extremely informative. I purchased this for my wife who loves it and has watched it several times over.
Rating: - A true masterpiece, regardless of historical reservations!
Regardless of historical reservations and allegations of bias from both North and South, I regard this work of Ken Burns as a true masterpiece. I bought my first set on VHS several years ago at Gettysburg, ... Read More
Rating: - Great piece of work; good start for beginning historians.
This series is THE definitive documentary on the American Civil War - it's the first of it's kind in style and content and powerfully evocative of the spirit of the time. However, there are some inconsistencies ... Read More
Rating: - Great but misleading
Very entertaining, a masterpiece really. However, it perpetuates the myth that the abolition of slavery was at the heart of the war. So many facts run counter to this notion. For example, until well into the war, ... Read More
Rating: - A great collection, drama and great narration, and some good history as well.
I watched this series when it first came out in 1990 on PBS, and was mezmerized by it, also studing U.S history at that time and having read a rather large Civil War book for a class project as well. Now on weekends ... Read More
- As good as it gets.
- Great but misleading