A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

© 1994, 2010 The Baseball Film Project, PBS Distribution Inning 8: A Whole New Ballgame (1960-1970 Directed by: Ken Burns Written by: Ken Burns & Geoffrey C. Ward The 1960s are a turbulent decade for America. There are race riots, anti-war protests, hippies, Woodstock. It is also a turbulent decade for baseball, as one by one the "sacred" institutions fail. It starts with Bill Mazeroski bringing down the mighty Yankees with one dramatic home run, the first ever to end a World Series.  Then, in 1961, Roger Maris pursues Babe Ruth's "untouchable" record. In 1962, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants are replaced by the New York Mets, who compile the worst single-season record of the century.  On Tuesday, September 27, 1994, the 300 member stations of the Public Broadcasting Service aired Inning 8: A Whole New Ballgame (1960-1970) , the penultimate (at the time) episode of Ken Burns' documentary miniseries Baseball.  ...

Inning 7: The Capital of Baseball (1950-1960) Written by: Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns Directed by: Ken Burns The Americans are on the move. Moving to the suburbs. Moving across the country. They are, it seems, restless, Of course, if you're a baseball fan in New York, you don't want to move. You're in baseball heaven.  Year after year, the Yankees are on top of the American League. Year after year, the Giants and the Dodgers fight for the National League crown. Starting in 1949, there is a New York team in the World Series for 10 straight years. And in six of those years, both teams are from New York.  On September 26, 1994, the 300 member stations of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) broadcast The Capital of Baseball (1950-1960), the seventh episode (or "inning") of Ken Burns'  nine-part documentary that chronicled America's national pastime from its beginnings in the 1840s to the early 1990s. Co-written by Burns with historian (and ...

© 1996 Little, Brown and Company (a division of Hachette Book Group) On September 1, 1996, New York-based Little, Brown and Company published The West: An Illustrated History,  the companion volume to the Public Broadcasting Service's documentary miniseries The West: A Film by Stephen Ives , a project that was conceived and produced by Ken Burns . Written by historian Geoffrey C. Ward ( A First Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt ), The West: An Illustrated History is a lavishly illustrated and extremely readable history of America's westward expansion. starting with the arrival of the first Europeans in what is now the state of Texas and ending with the "taming of the West" in the 20th Century. The West: An Illustrated History follows the format of Ward's previous companion books for Burns' The Civil War (1990) and Baseball (1994): it is divided into eight chapters, one for each episode of The West in its broadcast edition. Comple...

© 2010 Alfred A. Knopf On September 21, 2010, New York-based Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of publishing giant Penguin Random House,  released Baseball: An Illustrated History, the updated edition of a 1994 book co-written by historian Geoffrey C. Ward and documentarian Ken Burns as a literary companion to Burns' nine-part documentary series Baseball . The new edition was published to coincide with the fall broadcast of   Baseball: The Tenth Inning: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, the first of several planned sequels to Burns' second entry in the American Trilogy, which began with 1990's  The Civil War and concluded with 2001's Jazz. As a result, the 2010 edition includes a new chapter by author Kevin Baker ( America: The History of Us,   Sometimes You See It Coming, the City of Fire trilogy). Baseball: An Illustrated History follows the format of other companion volumes written either by Ward alone ( The West: An Illustrated History ) or with hi...

On November 23, 2012, the 300 member stations of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) aired  The Central Park Five: A Film by Ken Burns & David McMahon & Sarah Burns, a two-hour-long documentary about the five teenaged black and Latino boys who were arrested and coerced into "confessions" by overzealous New York City detectives and prosecutors in the infamous 1989 "Central Park jogger case." Co-written and directed by documentarian Ken Burns, his daughter Sarah, and producer/director David McMahon, The Central Park Five is a searing and often infuriating case study of racial prejudice, sloppy police work, wrongful prosecution, and the role of mass media in perpetuating a miscarriage of justice. The film, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival several months before it aired on PBS, tells the story of the long ordeal experienced by New York City teens Anton McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Kevin Wise, and Yusuf Salaam after a...

(C) 2017 Public Broadcasting Service & WGBH Boston On November 11, not too long ago, many countries around the world, including the major European powers and the United States of America, observed the Centennial of the end of the First World War, the bloody conflict that began in the summer of 1914 and ended on "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. Fought primarily in Europe but also in other theaters around the world, this calamitous conflict claimed more than 30 million lives and sowed the seeds of other wars and global rivalries that continue to affect our lives in the 21st Century. At the time, the clash of arms that began with the assassination of an Austrian nobleman in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 went by many names. Optimists dubbed it "The war to end all wars" Some German writers called it Der Weltkrieg (the World War). Most people of the time, including Americans, simply called it "The Great War." In the 19...

Inning 6: The National Pastime  (1940-1950) Written by: Geoffrey C. Ward & Ken Burns In Europe, in the Pacific, on the homefront, both African-Americans and whites fight to make the world safe for democracy. When the war ends, Major League Baseball becomes, in fact, what it has always claimed to be: the national pastime. But, at the beginning of the decade, Jackie Robinson's debut is still some years away. Meanwhile, Joe DiMaggio sets a consecutive game-hitting streak that still stands. Ted Williams becomes the last man to hit .400. The once-lowly Brooklyn Dodgers win their first pennant. And World War II takes so much talent from the majors that the St. Louis Browns win a pennant.  24 years ago, fans of Major League Baseball in the U.S. and elsewhere were in a funk. For much of the late summer and early fall, a strike had frozen the 1994 baseball season as the players' union and MLB team owners grappled over - what else - salary caps and revenue sharing. After a...

On September 15, 1996, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) aired The People,  the first of eight episodes of director Stephen Ives' The West, a documentary about the United States' westward expansion and its effects on the history and culture of various peoples, including Americans, Native Americans, Spanish, French, Mexicans, and African Americans. Written by Geoffrey C. Ward and Dayton Duncan, The West  was executive produced by Ken Burns and produced under the aegis of Burns' Florentine Films and Ives' own Insignia Films production company. The West was narrated by actor Peter Coyote, who would later provide narration for later documentaries by Ken Burns, including The National Parks: America's Best Idea, Prohibition, and The Vietnam War.  Presented by Ken Burns and directed by Stephen Ives, this 12-hour film chronicles the epic saga of America's most vast and turbulent region, beginning before European settlement and continuing into the 20th Century. ...

(C) 2007 Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Florentine Films On September 11, 2007, Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s Legacy label published a soundtrack album titled Songs Without Words: Classical Music from The War: A Ken Burns Film.   This 10-track recording was one of four Legacy records that were made as musical tie-ins to Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s seven-part documentary about the American experience during the Second World War. The other three recordings from The War’s soundtrack produced and released by Legacy are: The War: A Ken Burns Film – The Soundtrack Sentimental Journey: Hits from the Second World War – The War: A Ken Burns Film I’m Beginning to See the Light: Dance Hits from the Second World War – The War: A Ken Burns Film Legacy offered all four discs in a deluxe box set and as separate offerings; each album had a specific focus, both thematically and musically speaking, though in general terms Sentimental Journey and I’m Beginning to See the Light...