🗽The American Revolution - Ken Burns New Documentary - PBS Nov. 16 - Smithsonian Magazine

Last edited Fri Nov 14, 2025, 04:13 PM - Edit history (2)

- Ken Burns Says His New Documentary Forced Him to Revisit Everything He Thought He Knew About the American Revolution, Smithsonian Magazine, Nov. 13, 2025. * Film Trailer Below

Ahead of the PBS production’s premiere, the legendary filmmaker and co-director Sarah Botstein share insights on their research process and the surprising, long-overlooked stories featured in the 6-part series
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A John Trumbull painting of the death of General Hugh Mercer at the Battle of Princeton in 1777, Yale University Art Gallery
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The American Revolution is shrouded in myth. But the war that created the United States was much more than the oft-told tales of the founding fathers.

It was a bloody, gritty affair, a tragic civil war and a global conflict as much as it was a war for independence. To portray this complexity and piece together how the history Americans think they know actually unfolded, acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns and co-directors Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt spent more than nine years interviewing scholars and researching first-person accounts of the Revolution.

The result is “The American Revolution,” a six-part, 12-hour documentary series that premieres on PBS on November 16.

Debuting ahead of America’s 250th anniversary in July 2026 (and just before Thanksgiving, a much-mythologized American holiday), the highly anticipated series covers the beginning of the French and Indian War in May 1754 through the end of the Revolution in 1783, in addition to touching on the creation of the Constitution in 1787 and George Washington’s election as the nation’s first president in 1789.

Burns and his colleagues recount battles and key events through the eyes of everyday people, as well as historical leaders like Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Narrated by prominent actors, including Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and Samuel L. Jackson, the documentary conveys the grim reality of war—for instance, the lice and frostbite experienced by soldiers—and examines how the American resistance morphed from angry mobs in Boston looking to resolve specific issues with England into an organized militia fighting for self-rule.

- The American Revolution | A Film by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein & David Schmidt
- Need to know: How to watch Ken Burns’ “The American Revolution” The six-part series will air on PBS at 8 p.m. Eastern over six consecutive nights, between November 16 and November 21. All of the episodes will be available to stream on PBS.org and via the PBS app as of November 16...
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ken-burns-says-his-new-documentary-forced-him-to-revisit-everything-he-thought-he-knew-about-the-american-revolution-180987667/