Interviews | Posted by TV Time Machine 26.09.11
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Filmmaker Ken Burns is interviewed by host Jim Benson about his Emmy Award-winning documentary career including The Civil War, Baseball, and his latest PBS masterpiece, Prohibition.

In this edition of TV Time Machine, we are proud to welcome a gentleman whose remarkable chronicles of American history are forever now part of television history, Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. Over a nearly twenty-year span, Mr. Burns has made full use of the medium’s potential to edify and enlighten, turning a vast wasteland into a vast garden of lyrical masterpieces documenting the American and human experience. The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The War and The National Parks, are among the more than twenty extraordinary films Mr. Burns has brought to both the small and large screens.

Over the next few segments, Ken Burns will not only help us explore virtually every aspect of his remarkable contribution to television, but will also delve into his brand-new documentary, premiering Sunday, October 2nd on PBS, Prohibition. Again, for those of you intrepid enough to belly up to the bar, feel free to open up a tab, as we slip from the restraints of the present, and make a toast to a rather spirited, past!

Listen to the Interview Below

Ken Burns audio interview Segment One

In this segment, host Jim Benson talks to filmmaker Ken Burns about his early years growing up, attending Hamphire College in Massachusetts and studying under the tutelage of photographer Jerome Liebling. Mr. Burns also discusses his concern about the nation’s alarming ignorance of history, the genesis of his classic documentary masterpiece The Civil War, and the poetic and legendary letter featured on The Civil War, written by soldier Sullivan Ballou to his beloved wife, Sarah.

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Ken Burns audio interview Segment Two

For the second segment, host Jim Benson discusses with Emmy-winning filmmaker Ken Burns, Mr. Burns’ PBS documentary from 1994, Baseball, the importance of the sport on culture and society, and the gambling and steroids scandals that have bedeviled the game. Ken Burns then talks about his latest PBS documentary, Prohibition, the women’s temperance movement that preceeded it, and modern day parallels including race, immigration, taxes, and polarized political discourse that sharply mirror the issues of the past, that ultimately led to the passage of Prohibition.

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Ken Burns audio interview Segment Three

For the final segment, host Jim Benson discusses with Ken Burns the impact that legendary criminals such as Al Capone had on society during the darkest days of Prohibition, the rapant hypocracy that the new law manifested, and how The Great Depression served as a death knell for the failing law. Mr. Burns also talks about the special features included on the Prohibition DVD, and his upcoming documentary projects for PBS, including a documentary chronicling the Vietman War.

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