Ken Burns' Civil War.. is this worth watching? (crosspost)

[Heather in VA]

I'm trying to decide if we will devote the time to watching this. Has anyone here seen it? Is it worthwhile? Did you find it to be a reasonable portrayal or did he seem to have an agenda?

Thanks
Heather

[ereks mom]

the music as well as the pictures and narration. We really appreciated the expertise of the late Shelby Foote, the narrator. He knew the subject EXTREMELY well, and told the stories as if he had really been there.

The series is very long -- 11 hours, played at normal speed. But ER & I discovered a trick with our DVD player. It can be set to play at 1.5 speed, and the voices don't sound like the Chipmunks, but just like a person talking fast. We watched the series over the course of several days, and ER actually liked it, which is saying something because he does NOT like history.

[Alphabetika]

We're just getting ready to watch this series, so it's good to hear these things. We have watched a few Ken Burns documentaries, though none as long as this, and one reason I so want to watch this one is that I'm always impressed with the music he uses. My dd is a music lover (well, we all are) and I know that hearing music from the Civil War era will be a great enhancement to her studies.

[Kathy in MD]

I'm trying to decide if we will devote the time to watching this. Has anyone here seen it? Is it worthwhile? Did you find it to be a reasonable portrayal or did he seem to have an agenda?

Thanks
Heather

It's a great program! Ken Burns uses quotes and photos from the period. He also uses some current shots from various battlegrounds. I think there are very few reenactment shots, if any. He also uses many historians to give various prespectives. But Shelby Foote has to be the star, if you can declare one individual as starring in the program. He relates the human side of the war.

It's well worth having the entire family to watch it. My hyper-active ds became fascinated with it years ago and constantly rewatches. I credit it with contributine to my ds's love of history.

[Ria]

It's incredible. Probably the best history program I've ever seen.

Ria

[Heather in VA]

well that is about as unanimous as can be. We'll be watching it next week.

Thanks
Heather

[Chris in CA]

It is excellent I would highly suggest it.