The Civil War (documentary)

The Civil War
A side portion of the 1991 VHS box set of nine volumes
Genre	Documentary
Written by	Geoffrey C. Ward Ric Burns
Directed by	Ken Burns
Voices of	Sam Waterston Jason Robards Julie Harris Morgan Freeman Garrison Keillor Arthur Miller George Plimpton
Narrated by	David McCullough
Country of origin	USA
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9
Production
Producer(s)	Ken Burns Ric Burns
Cinematography	Ken Burns Allen Moore Buddy Squires
Editor(s)	Paul Barnes Bruce Shaw Tricia Reidy
Running time	690 minutes/11 hours 30 minutes (9 episodes)
Production company(s)	Kenneth Lauren Burns Productions (Florentine Films), WETA-TV
Distributor	PBS
Release
Original network	PBS
Picture format	1.33:1
Audio format	Mono
Original release	September 23–27, 1990
External links
Website
Production website

The Civil War is the 1990 American television documentary miniseries created by Ken Burns about the American Civil War. It was first broadcast on PBS on five consecutive nights from September 23 to 27, 1990. Approximately 40 million viewers watched it during this broadcast, making it the most-watched program ever to air on PBS. It was awarded more than 40 major television and film honors. A companion book to the documentary was released shortly after the series aired.

The series was remastered for its 12th anniversary in 2002, although it remained in standard definition (SD) resolution. To commemorate the film's 25th anniversary and the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination, the film underwent a complete digital restoration to high definition format in 2015. This completely restored version aired on PBS September 7–11, 2015.

Mathew Brady's photographs inspired Burns to make The Civil War, which (in nine episodes totaling more than 10 hours) explores the war's military, social, and political facets through some 16,000 contemporary photographs and paintings, and excerpts from the letters and journals of persons famous and obscure.

The series' slow zooming and panning across still images was later termed "Ken Burns effect". Burns combined these images with modern cinematography, music, narration by David McCullough, anecdotes and insights from authors such as Shelby Foote, historians Barbara J. Fields, Ed Bearss, and Stephen B. Oates; and actors reading contemporary quotes from historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Walt Whitman, Stonewall Jackson, and Frederick Douglass, as well as diaries by Mary Chesnut, Sam Watkins, Elisha Hunt Rhodes and George Templeton Strong. A large cast of actors voiced correspondence, memoirs, news articles, and stood in for historical figures from the Civil War.