A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On September 23, 2007, the 300-plus member stations of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) aired A Necessary War, the first of seven episodes of The War: A Ken Burns Film. Produced and directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, this 15-hours-long documentary series tells the story of how four American towns – Waterbury, CT, Mobile, AL, Luverne, MN, and Sacramento, CA – and their citizens experienced World War II. Written by Burns’ long-time collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward ( The Civil War, Baseball, Prohibition, and The Vietnam War ), The War is a bottom-to-top look at the Second World War as told by now-elderly members of what former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw calls “The Greatest Generation.” They are a cross-section of American society who experienced “the War” either in far-flung theaters of operation around the world or on the home front back in the States. Their stories – some of which are wryly humorous, and some of which are simply horrifying – reflect The War’s tagline: In ex...

After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.  – Section One, Amendment 18 to the Constitution of the United States On October 3, 2011, the 300 or so member stations of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) aired A Nation of Drunkards, the first of three parts of Prohibition: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick. Written by Burns' long-time collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward and produced by Sarah Botstein, Lynn Novick, and Ken Burns, the series explored one of the most controversial - and least effective - experiments in social re-engineering in American history. Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits. Fanatics will never learn that, though it be written in letters of gold across the sky...

Inning 3: The Faith of Fifty Million People (1910-1920) Written by: Geoffrey C. Ward & Ken Burns Directed by: Ken Burns Before and after World War I, a steady stream of immigrants lands on the shores of America. They want instantly to become American. To pursue the American dream. To play the American game.  But even as thousands of Americans pick up a ball for the first time, even as the country endures a world war, baseball is trying to endure a decade that includes the meanest, vilest, angriest player ever to step onto a field and a scandal that almost destroys the game. - from the DVD episode guide blurb On September 20, 1994, the 300 or so member stations of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) premiered The Faith of Fifty Million People, the third "inning" of the nine-part series titled Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns.  Co-written by Burns and historian Geoffrey C. Ward, this documentary examines the history of the sport of baseball and its i...

Inning 2: Something Like a War (1900-1910) Written by: Geoffrey C. Ward & Ken Burns Directed by: Ken Burns It is a decade of revolution. In China. In Central America. At Kitty Hawk. In Henry Ford's factory. And on America's baseball fields. In 1894, a sportswriter named Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson takes over a struggling minor league - the Western League - and turns it into a financial success. In 1900 he changes its name to the American League and begins talking about challenging the big city monopoly held by the National League. The revolution takes only three years. In 1903, the first World Series is played between the American League Boston Pilgrims and the National League Pittsburgh Pirates. - from the DVD episode guide blurb On September 19, 1994, the 300 or so member stations of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) presented Something Like a War (1900-1910), the second "inning" of Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns. Co-written ...