The Civil War (TV series)

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The Civil War is an acclaimed documentary film created by Ken Burns about the American Civil War. It was broadcast on PBS in September 1990. Forty million viewers watched it during its initial broadcast, making it the most watched program ever to air on PBS, to this day remaining one of the most popular shows broadcast by PBS.

The documentary is 11 hours in length, consists of nine episodes and makes extensive use of more than 16,000 archival photographs, paintings, and newspaper images from the time of the war. These are intermixed with contemporary cinematography, music, narration by David McCullough, anecdotes and insights from authors such as Shelby Foote, historians Barbara J. Fields, Ed Bearss, and Stephen B. Oates, and a chorus of voice acted characters such as Sam Waterston as Abraham Lincoln, Jason Robards as Ulysses S. Grant, Garrison Keillor as Walt Whitman, and Morgan Freeman as Frederick Douglass, who read quotes from the historic figures of the period. The film was remastered on the twelfth anniversary of its release, and a book following the movie has also been released.

[edit] Musical theme

The theme song of the documentary, "Ashokan Farewell," which was performed for the film by its composer Jay Ungar, became so closely associated with the war thanks to the film that people frequently and erroneously believe it was written and performed during the Civil War.

[edit] Voices

Described as "voices" by Burns, there is a large cast of actors reading correspondence, news articles, and the like from the Civil War.

†Performer voiced other characters as well

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films of Ken Burns
1980s
Brooklyn Bridge (1981) · Remembering Chicago and World War II (1982) · The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984) · The Statue of Liberty (1985) · Huey Long (1985) · Congress (1988) · Thomas Hart Benton (1988)
1990s
The Civil War (1990) · Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991) · Baseball (1994) · The West (1996) · Thomas Jefferson (1997) · Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997) · Frank Lloyd Wright (1998) · Not For Ourselves Alone (1999)
2000s
See also: