May I recommend Ken Burn's Civil War

[FLPanhandle]

In the debate over statues and confederate flags and discussions on the Slavery vs. States Rights and the myth of the "Lost Cause", this is an excellent series.

The depth of research (letters and diaries and photographs), plus the observations of historians make this the best documentary on the Civil War ever made.

I wish he would do one on the aftermath. Reconstruction.

[BigmanPigman]

1. I have watched this a few times. The writer (I forget his name)

has such a charming way of speaking and his narrative is compelling.

Shelby Foote is his name.

[FLPanhandle]

5. David McCullough is a great narrator in the series too.

and a wonderful historian too.

[SweetieD]

2. I watched it years ago. I didn't care for it. I feel like he sanitized a lot of things and bought

into a grandiose portrayal of Lee without balance. Also I wonder if Burns would change anything about the series and the way certain elements were portrayed.

[FLPanhandle]

3. I didn't see Lee portrayed as grandiose

He was obviously a major player thus was covered in detail.

I thought Ken Burns did a great job of humanizing the historical characters.

[tonyt53]

4. I agree with you completely. Nothing about it placed Lee on a pedestal.

[CBHagman]

11. As I recall, it repeatedly referenced the damage Lee had done.

I forget the precise quote or the historian who delivered it, but the point was made that a man like Lee, whose first loyalty was to his home state and not to the United States, could do more damage than someone acting under another motivation.

Then there was the review of Gettysburg, particularly the carnage during Pickett's charge. It's not a romanticized view of Lee.

[SweetieD]

13. Perhaps grandiose is not the right word. But I remember not liking the portrayal and I know

I am not the only one critical of the doc in that aspect. You can Google criticisms about it.

I watched it years ago and just remember not liking the way things were portrayed but I didn't take notes. It was probably 20 years ago when I saw it.

[haveahart]

6. I think it was the best. It's not that Lee is such an evil pariah. It's about the evil of

the people distorting their own history in the aftermath of the Civil War. I don't Burns "sanitized" the portal of Lee too much. I think it was accurate and honest retelling of the situation as it really was then.

The Civil War was horrible and reasons for it were not single. There was slavery and states' rights and some of the states' rights issues were about taxes but most were about the right to own slaves. The ownership of slaves was, at that time, a matter of economic interests more than moral interests. Everything in history must be put into context.

The intentional evil of slavery comes in the aftermath with Jim Crow, lynchings, and discrimination. We should not fail to understand this. Slavery was bad and evil on its own and was practiced by the wealthy at that time (who incidentally treated poor whites almost as poorly). What happened AFTER the Civil War that makes and marks this country still is that many of the poor whites, because of the south's loss' were turned into the evil, hateful, racists of today. They were fed a bunch of bullshit about the war, and being too ignorant and unable to reason, read, or think for themselves they became the victims of southern distortion of the Civil War. They could not see or understand how they were being used as war fodder and led to believe that it was on their behalf that were fighting and dying by the thousands as the southern fat cats survived to create the system of racist crap we are now having to live with.

Just my opinion. I wish there would be an in-depth documentary on the Reconstruction and aftermath as well done as Ken Burns Civil War.

[FLPanhandle]

8. Ken Burns got a lot of hate for calling out slavery as the primary cause of the war

Also, for showing the evils of the system.

I agree that a series on the aftermath, reconstruction, and the rise of Jim Crow would be a great documentary for Burns to go after.

[Brother Buzz]

7. DU's underpants was riffing on Ken Burns last week

Dearest Clarissa,

I fear our numbers are shrinking and our morale is low. It's been over a week since one of us has killed anyone and the George Dickel is running low. The AM radio signal is weak and our website has been booted off several internet platforms. We will endure if only until we figure out what network now carries NASCAR.

Give my love to Rose.

Signed,
Jedediah Beauregard White

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029491850

[FLPanhandle]

9. That's great!

I missed that one.

[applegrove]

10. Never seen it. Heard it was fabulous.

[canetoad]

12. Has some

Pretty stunning music too!

[Brother Buzz]

14. All that music was recorded in a studio in just ONE day!

JAY UNGAR: We were asked by Ken Burns to come to Brattleboro, Vermont, and record music for THE CIVIL WAR series, and this would be a lot of the traditional, period music. And as it turns out, a lot of that music was in our repertoire, as square dance musicians and string band musicians. And we spent a day (recording). Pieces of sheet music were put in front of us—these would be the original arrangements—and then together with Ken, we created new arrangements to fit the various scenes that he described.

The way he worked at that point was he would sit in the middle of a group of musicians and describe a moment from an emotional point of view in the film, and we would try to express that through the tune that we were being asked to play. So, we would reinterpret these tunes, and it was really fun and an exciting day of music. And we just sat, and we went through tune after tune, playing in all different ensembles—you know, more instruments, less instruments, different feels, different moods, different emotions. And it was all just trying to get ideas.

But that actually became the final soundtrack, so it was spontaneous and heartfelt and in the moment. We didn't have a chance to sit down and try to refine it, make it perfect. It's a little raw and very honest, and I think that's part of why it works.

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/civil-war/about/about-music/

[canetoad]

15. Interesting to know

Thank you

[cwydro]

16. I wonder if that's on Netflix. Good suggestion.

Thanks!