Ken Burns Collection

In this episode of Modern Marvels, filmmaker Ken Burns studies the design, construction, and meaning of the Statue of Liberty.

Leonardo works as a military engineer, designs fanciful flying machines, studies light and shadow, investigates gravity, dissects cadavers, and pens treatises on a vast array of subjects, all while seeking the perfect patron. In Florence, Milan, Rome and finally France, he pours the sum of his scientific and artistic knowledge into a portrait that would become the most famous painting on earth.

Get set for an adventure that marked a new era in America! Filmmaker Ken Burns presents the hilarious 1903 saga of the first transcontinental automobile trip. On a visionary whim and a

This episode of American Stories by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns presents the history of one of our greatest icons. For over a century, she has stood on Liberty Island, a gift from France created by sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi. Torch eternally aloft, Lady Liberty has been the symbol of hope for generations of immigrants. Interviews with ordinary Americans reveal the statue's great significance. Nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy, this documentary...

The populist governor of Louisiana and United States senator, Huey Long captured the American imagination with his dramatic speeches and promise of "Every man a king." "The Kingfish" governed during the Great Depression, advocating public works and spending money on state highways, hospitals, schools, and old age pensions. Acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns examines Long's extraordinary career from his political beginnings in the 1920s until his 1935 assassination....

This episode tells how, by the end of the 19th century, industrialization had left many Americans worried about whether the country would have any pristine land left. Poachers in the parks were rampant, and visitors were littering or carving their names in wilderness sites. Congress had yet to establish judicial authority or set aside appropriations for protection of the parks. This sparked a conservation movement by organizations such as the Sierra...

From player salaries to performance-enhancing drugs, baseball's latter days have seen more than their share of controversy and confusion. This program covers the period from the 1994 player strike through the 2009 Major League season. Ample attention is given to the steroid problem, with a focus on Barry Bonds-both his stellar career and the scandal in which he became embroiled. But the film also discusses other major issues, such as how the sport...

Somehow, even though the sale of alcohol is outlawed, by the late 1920s America has become the world's largest importer of cocktail shakers. As the Jazz Age rallies on, buoyed by an unprecedented winning streak on Wall Street, it seems the party will never end. A new generation of women join the nightclub whirl, and Hollywood and songwriters alike glamorize their drinking, smoking, and dating. The hypocrisies and unintended consequences of Prohibition...

Franklin Roosevelt runs for vice president in 1920 and seems assured of a still brighter future until polio devastates him the following summer. He spends seven years struggling without success to walk again, while Eleanor builds a personal and political life of her own. FDR returns to politics in 1928 and, as governor of New York, acts with such vigor and imagination during the first years of the Great Depression that the Democrats turn to him as...

With South Vietnam in chaos, hardliners in Hanoi seize the initiative and send combat troops to the South. President Johnson escalates America’s military commitment, authorizing bombing of the North and deploying ground troops in the South.