The American Revolution - Ken Burns
Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2025 9:17 am
I was surprised by how little I actually knew about the founding of our country before watching this extraordinary documentary. It's embarrassing, actually.
I never considered that the long eight year conflict was a bloody, vengeful, and passionate civil war, too, with half the population remaining loyal to King George III, including many of the officers who eventually led the continental army; among them George Washington. It was a period of deep distrust among family members, former friends, and neighbors who violently and cruelly opposed each other.
The events that followed the gunshots fired in Concord and Lexington were extremely complicated and driven by so much more than just opposition to the military authority and laws imposed by the King and British Parliament.
When it was finally resolved, the American revolution had inspired similar uprisings across Europe and Africa and Asia, forever changing the political and economic landscape.
I recorded and binge-watched the entire series over four days and highly recommend it. The storytelling is compelling and without a single mention of the almost trite, shouted alarm that I learned as a child, "The British are coming. The British are coming." With the exception of the millions of indigenous people and some French and Spanish explorers, everyone on the eastern continent was British.
I never considered that the long eight year conflict was a bloody, vengeful, and passionate civil war, too, with half the population remaining loyal to King George III, including many of the officers who eventually led the continental army; among them George Washington. It was a period of deep distrust among family members, former friends, and neighbors who violently and cruelly opposed each other.
The events that followed the gunshots fired in Concord and Lexington were extremely complicated and driven by so much more than just opposition to the military authority and laws imposed by the King and British Parliament.
When it was finally resolved, the American revolution had inspired similar uprisings across Europe and Africa and Asia, forever changing the political and economic landscape.
I recorded and binge-watched the entire series over four days and highly recommend it. The storytelling is compelling and without a single mention of the almost trite, shouted alarm that I learned as a child, "The British are coming. The British are coming." With the exception of the millions of indigenous people and some French and Spanish explorers, everyone on the eastern continent was British.
