Ken Burns

Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American documentary filmmaker and founder of Florentine Films. His PBS documentaries include The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2001), The Vietnam War (2017), and Country Music (2019). He pioneered the signature "Ken Burns effect" of panning and zooming over still photographs, which became a standard technique in documentary filmmaking.

Podcast appearances

• The Joe Rogan Experience: Episode #2336, discussing American history, democracy, and documentary craft
• This Past Weekend: Bringing historical storytelling to a comedy audience

Key topics

• American history and democracy
• Documentary filmmaking craft
• PBS versus commercial television
• The Vietnam War and its lessons
• Upcoming projects (e.g. American Revolution series)

See also

• Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, who host The Rest Is History and operate in a similar history-meets-entertainment space
• History and Storytelling