Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Civil War

"The Civil War was fought in 10,000 places. From Valverde, New Mexico and Tullahaoma, Tennessee to St. Albans, Vermont and Fernandina on the Florida coast. More than three million Americans fought in it and over 600,000 men, two percent of the population, died in it." So begins David McCullough's indelible narration of The Civil War, Ken Burns' consummate and most famous documentary, which he claimed took longer to write, compile, and assemble than his actual subject itself took to fight. The nine part, nearly twelve hour long miniseries is the most complete example of his incredibly influential body of work as it combines a wealth of archival footage told in Burns' signature style, beautiful writing, the inimitable McCullough narration, and a stock of expert contribution (including the show stealing Shelby Foote), all of which detail what now seems a harrowing, unimaginable conflict.