An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns has directed film projects such as The Civil War, Baseball, The West, The War, and The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, all of which were developed for PBS. The late historian Stephen Ambrose said, “More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source.” While The New York Times has called Burns “the most accomplished filmmaker of his generation.”
His documentary, The Tenth Inning, which first aired in September 2010, picks up where his 1994 epic Baseball left off and captures the ugly, dark side of major league baseball in the 1990s and how the rise of performance drugs has reshaped America’s national pastime.
Prohibition, a three-part series aired in October 2011.
An eloquent keynote speaker, Ken Burns always address what we share in common, not what divides us. He discusses his famous celebrated documentary films, The National Parks, The Civil War, Baseball and Jazz, reveals the leadership models in the unexpectedly dramatic story of Lewis and Clark, delves into the complete and often contradictory lives of great American figures including Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mark Twain, and celebrates the achievements of the common soldier in The War.
“There is too much ‘pluribus’ these days,” Ken Burns says, “and not enough ‘unum.’ I’m in the business of ‘unum.'” He does this in his films, of course, but also in his equally acclaimed and riveting speeches before business and community audiences. Great oratory has all but disappeared from our public discourse, so it is indeed refreshing to have Burns remind us…words matter.
Photo Credit: Tim Llewellyn Photography
Categories: Author and Writer, Campus, Human Interest, Town Halls
