Explore a timeline of Ken Burns films

Leonard da Vinci (2024)
A 15th century polymath of soaring imagination and profound intellect, Leonardo da Vinci created some of the most revered works of art of all time, but his artistic endeavors often seemed peripheral to his pursuits in science and engineering. Through his paintings and thousands of pages of drawings and writings, Leonardo da Vinci explores one of humankind’s most curious and innovative minds.

The American Buffalo (2023)
The dramatic story of America’s national mammal, which sustained the lives of Native people for untold generations, being driven to the brink of extinction, before an unlikely collection of people rescues it from disappearing forever. Ken Burns recounts the tragic collision of two opposing views of the natural world—and the unforgettable characters who pointed the nation in a different direction.

The U.S. and the Holocaust (2022)
[Co-directed with Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein] Inspired in part by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition and supported by its historical resources, The U.S. and the Holocaust examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, the eugenics movement in the United States and race laws in the American south.

Benjamin Franklin (2022)
Ken Burns’s two-part, four-hour documentary, "Benjamin Franklin," explores the revolutionary life of one of the18th century's most consequential and compelling personalities, whose work and words unlocked the mystery of electricity and helped create the United States.

Muhammad Ali (2021)
[Co-directed with Sarah Burns and David McMahon] Muhammad Ali brings to life one of the most indelible figures of the 20th century, a three-time heavyweight boxing champion who captivated millions of fans across the world with his mesmerizing combination of speed, grace, and power in the ring, and charm and playful boasting outside of it. Ali insisted on being himself unconditionally and became a global icon and inspiration to people everywhere.

Hemingway (2021)
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick explore the life and work of the legendary writer and his enduring influence on literature and culture.

Country Music (2019)
Explore the history of country music – from its roots in ballads, hymns and the blues to its mainstream popularity – and meet the unforgettable characters and storytellers who made it “America’s Music.” Directed by Ken Burns.

The Mayo Clinic (2018)
Take a timely look at how one institution has met the changing demands of healthcare for 150 years—and what it can teach us about facing the challenges of patient care today.

The Vietnam War (2017)
The Vietnam War is a ten-part, 18-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. In an immersive 360-degree narrative, Burns and Novick tell the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never before been told on film. The Vietnam War features testimony from nearly 100 witnesses.

Defying the Nazis (2016)
Join an American couple's courageous mission in 1939 to help refugees escape Nazi-occupied Europe. Over the course of two years, the pair will risk their lives so that hundreds can live in freedom. A film by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky.

Jackie Robinson (2016)
Jack Roosevelt Robinson rose from humble origins to cross baseball's color line and become one of the most beloved men in America. A fierce integrationist, Robinson used his immense fame to speak out against the discrimination he saw on and off the field, angering fans, the press, and even teammates who had once celebrated him for turning the other cheek.

The Roosevelts (2014)
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History chronicles the lives of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of the most prominent and influential family in American politics.

The Address (2014)
This powerful film tells the story of a tiny school in Putney Vermont, where students are encouraged to practice, memorize, and recite the Gettysburg Address.

The Central Park Five (2012)
The story of the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park in 1989. Directed and produced by Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns, the film chronicles the Central Park Jogger case, from the perspective of the five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice.

The Dust Bowl (2012)
The Dust Bowl chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the Great Plow-Up, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation.

Prohibition (2011)
[Co-directed with Lynn Novick] PROHIBITION tells the story of the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed. Prohibition was intended to protect all Americans from the devastating effects of alcohol abuse. But, paradoxically, the enshrining of a faith-driven moral code in the Constitution caused millions of Americans to rethink their definition of morality.
 

The Tenth Inning (2010)
Introducing an unforgettable array of players, teams and fans, the film showcases the era's extraordinary accomplishments as well as its devastating disappointments. Combining extraordinary highlights, stunning still photographs, and insightful commentary by players, managers, and fans, The Tenth Inning interweaves the story of the national pastime with the story of America.

The National Parks (2009)
Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature's most spectacular locales, the film is a story of people from every conceivable background—rich and poor, soldiers and scientists, natives and newcomers—who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

The War (2007)
[Co-directed with Lynn Novick] The War is the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four American towns. The war touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America and demonstrated that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.

Unforgivable Blackness (2005)
Jack Johnson was the first African American Heavyweight Champion of the World. His dominance over his white opponents spurred furious debates and race riots in the early 20th century.

Horatio's Drive (2003)
In the spring of 1903, on a whim and a fifty-dollar bet, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson set off from San Francisco in a 20-horsepower Winton touring car hoping to become the first person to cross the United States in the new-fangled "horseless carriage." Most people doubted that the automobile had much of a future. Jackson's trip would prove them wrong.

Mark Twain (2001)
In his time, Mark Twain was considered the funniest man on earth. Yet he was also an unflinching critic of human nature, using his humor to attack hypocrisy, greed and racism. In this series, Ken Burns has created an illuminating portrait of the man who is also one of the greatest writers in American history.

Jazz (2001)
Jazz has been called the purest expression of American democracy; a music built on individualism and compromise, independence and cooperation. Ken Burns follows the growth and development of jazz music from the gritty streets of New Orleans to Chicago's south side, the speakeasies of Kansas city and to Times Square

Frank Lloyd Wright (1998)
[Co-directed with Lynn Novick] This two-part documentary explores the life of one of America's greatest architects -- hated by some, worshipped by others and ignored by many. Using archival photographs, live cinematography, interviews, newsreel footage and home movies, the film tells the story of Wright's turbulent life and his extraordinary professional career.

Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997)
The remarkable story of the entire Corps of Discovery – not just of the two Captains, but the young army men, French-Canadian boatmen, Clark’s African-American slave, and the Shoshone woman named Sacagawea, who brought along her infant son. As important to the story as these many characters, however, was the land itself, and the promises it held.

Thomas Jefferson (1997)
Thomas Jefferson is a two-part portrait of our enigmatic and brilliant third president. Thomas Jefferson embodies within his own life the most profound contradictions of American history: as the author of the Declaration of Independence, he gave voice to our fervent desire for freedom, but he also owned more than 150 slaves and never saw fit to free them.

The West (1996)
A nine-part series chronicling the turbulent history of one of the most extraordinary landscapes on earth. Beginning when the land belonged only to Native Americans and ending in the 20th century, the film introduces unforgettable characters whose competing dreams transformed the land. It was a tragic, inspiring intersection where the best of us met the worst of us—and nothing was left unchanged.

Baseball (1994)
The story of Baseball is the story of America. It is an epic overflowing with heroes and hopefuls, scoundrels and screwballs. It is a saga spanning the quest for racial justice, the clash of labor and management, the transformation of popular culture, and the unfolding of the national pastime

Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991)
For fifty years radio dominated the airwaves and the American consciousness as the first “mass medium.” Empire of the Air examines the lives of three remarkable men who shared the primary responsibility for this invention and its early success and whose genius, friendship, rivalry and enmity combined in unexpected and often tragic ways.

The Civil War (1990)
Between 1861 and 1865, Americans made war on each other and killed each other in great numbers if only to become the kind of country that could no longer conceive of how that was possible. What began as a bitter dispute over Union and States' Rights, ended as a struggle over the meaning of freedom in America.
 

Thomas Hart Benton (1989)
His paintings were burly. Energetic. And as uncompromising as the Midwestern landscapes and laborers they celebrated. Thomas Hart Benton depicted a self-reliant America emerging from the Depression. Ken Burns tells the bittersweet story of an extraordinary American artist who became emblematic of the price all artists must pay to remain true to their talents and themselves.

The Congress (1988)
For 200 years, the United States Congress has been one of the country's most important and least understood institutions. Using historical photographs and newsreels, evocative live footage and interviews, Ken Burns chronicles the events that have shaped the first 200 years of congress and, in turn, our country.

Huey Long (1985)
He was hailed as a champion of the poor and reviled as a dictator. Louisiana's Huey Long rose to Governor and U.S. Senator on a platform of social reform and justice, all the while employing graft and corruption to get what he wanted. Ken Burns reveals a complex and comprehensive portrait of the man, his politics and the power he so obsessively sought.

Statue of Liberty (1985)
This 1985 Ken Burns film chronicles the creation and history of the Statue of Liberty and what it represents to all Americans. Narrated by David McCullough, the film traces the development of the monument--from its conception, to its complicated and often controversial construction, to its final dedication--and offers interviews with a wide range of Americans to explore the meaning of the statue.

The Shakers (1984)
They called themselves the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, but because of their ecstatic dancing, the world called them Shakers. Ken Burns creates a moving portrait of this particularly American movement, and in the process, offers us a new and unusually moving way to understand the Shakers.

Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
Today it's a symbol of strength and vitality. 135 years ago, it was a source of controversy. This documentary examines the great problems and ingenious solutions that marked the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. From conception to construction, it traces the bridge's transformation from a spectacular feat of heroic engineering to an honored symbol in American culture.