cover image KEN BURNS'S AMERICA: Packaging the Past for Television

KEN BURNS'S AMERICA: Packaging the Past for Television

Gary R. Edgerton, . . St. Martin's/ Palgrave, $26.95 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-312-23646-5

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns receives the royal treatment in this lavish study of his life and work. Edgerton (Television Histories), a communications professor at Old Dominion University, examines each of Burns's productions, from his first major effort in 1982, Brooklyn Bridge, up to last year's Jazz. No detail is too small for Edgerton, whether it's how many votes Burns's Huey Long was short for an Academy Award nomination (two) or how much time was devoted to Jackie Robinson's death in Baseball (seven minutes, 50 seconds). Burns is worth all this effort, Edgerton believes, because he is "arguably the most recognizable and influential historian of his generation." In terms of sheer popular appeal, it's difficult to disagree: over 150 million Americans have seen Burns's films (nearly 40 million watched The Civil War alone). Moreover, as Edgerton points out, Burns's signature style (camera panning over still photographs, the recurring use of two or three speakers) has become the defining paradigm for TV documentaries. But as popular and influential as Burns's films have been, they've also been highly controversial. Academic historians, Edgerton recalls, accused The Civil War of being simplistic and downplaying the failures of Reconstruction; musicians were similarly dismayed that Jazz glossed over the years since 1960. Other critics have been put off by Burns himself, who is variously portrayed as sentimental, liberal and self-important (Burns called The Civil War America's Iliad, casting himself in the role of Homer). These criticisms don't bother Edgerton, who rightly points out that controversy is "unavoidable" with such large and complex subjects. (Nov. 5)

Forecast:Popular as Burns's films are, this study will likely appeal to a smaller audience of media students and those interested in how history is presented in film or television.