Three new biographies from Ken Burns
Ken Burns has been called America’s storyteller after creating his definitive documentaries for PBS on “Jazz”, “Baseball” and “The Civil War”. PBS Home Video has announced the release of three new biographies from the acclaimed documentarian to be released later this summer.
Frank Lloyd Wright was the greatest of all American architects. He was an authentic American genius, a man who believed he was destined to redesign the world, creating everything anew. Over the course of his long career, Wright designed over eight hundred buildings, including such revolutionary structures as the Guggenheim Museum, the Johnson Wax Building, Fallingwater, Unity Temple and Taliesin. Wright’s buildings and his ideas changed the way we live, work and see the world around us. Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural achievements were often overshadowed by the turbulence of his melodramatic life. In ninety-two years, he fathered seven children, married three times, and almost constantly embroiled scandal. Some hated him, some loved him, but in the end, few could deny that he was the most important architect in America, and perhaps the world. With exquisite live cinematography, fascinating interviews, and rare archival footage, this riveting film brings Wright’s unforgettable story to life.
Sent by President Thomas Jefferson to find the fabled Northwest Passage, Lewis and Clark led the most important expedition in American history a voyage of danger and discovery from St. Louis to the headwaters of the Missouri River, over the Continental Divide to the Pacific. It was the United States’ first exploration of the West and one of the nation’s most enduring adventures. This extraordinary film tells the remarkable story of the entire Corps of Discovery not just the two famous Captains, but the young army men, French-Canadian boatmen, Clark’s African-American slave, and the Shoshone woman named Sacagawea, who brought along her infant son. Journey with them all, across a breath-taking landscape in an unforgettable experience that explores both the history and promise of America.
Revered as the author of the Declaration of Independence, the most sacred document in American history, yet condemned as a lifelong owner of slaves, Thomas Jefferson remains the enigma that is America. Part One: A young Thomas Jefferson from the Virginia wilderness is transformed by the fire of the Enlightenment into his country’s most articulate voice for human liberty. Torn between serene family life at Monticello and his passion for politics, Jefferson suffers heartrending personal loss, even as he gives voice to a new era of democratic government. He then journeys to Paris as U.S. Minister to France for George Washington and supports the rising French Revolution. Part Two: Returning from France, Jefferson strives to preserve the new, fragile American government and helps create the first political party through his bitter struggles with the Federalists. As third President of the United States, he doubles the size of the county with the Louisiana Purchase, but faces controversy and scandal, finally retiring to his beloved Monticello. His last years are spent founding the University of Virginia and re-establishing his friendship with John Adams. By the end of his remarkable life, he had advanced the cause of religious, political, and intellectual freedom everywhere and had changed the course of human events.
All three documentaries will be available on August 28th for $29.98.
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