Particle.news
Download on the App Store
9 ARTICLES
·
last wk.

Ken Burns' The American Revolution Debuts on PBS With a Hard Look at the Founding

Burns presents a complex origin story that centers violence, contradiction and overlooked voices, while rejecting claims the project is partisan.

A John Trumbull painting of the death of General Hugh Mercer at the Battle of Princeton in 1777
The 1851 painting by Emanuel Leutze titled "Washington Crossing the Delaware." Ken Burns is back with “The American Revolution,” a six-part, roughly 12-hour documentary that debuts on WTTW-Ch. 11 and carries on over the next five nights. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Image
Image

Overview

  • PBS will air the six-part, roughly 12-hour docuseries over one week from Nov. 16–21, with episodes narrated by Peter Coyote.
  • Ten years in production with a reported budget exceeding $30 million, the film draws on nearly 20,000 archival items and large-scale reenactments across the original 13 colonies.
  • The series foregrounds enslaved and free Black Americans, Native peoples, women and ordinary civilians, emphasizing the Revolution’s brutality as well as its ideas.
  • Prominent actors voice historical figures, including Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Mandy Patinkin and Josh Brolin as the voice of George Washington.
  • Burns and his co-directors describe the work as an inclusive history intended for broad audiences, releasing it ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary to inform today’s civic conversation.