Ken Burns’s Wake-Up Call

Battle lines are already being drawn in the ongoing commemorations for the semiquincentennial of the American Revolution. Ken Burns’s new docuseries The American Revolution has generated a stream of negative reviews from conservative outlets, including National Review and AMAC, arguing that the series is “bad history” and “ahistorical woke nonsense.” On the reverse, Variety, RogerEbert.com, and NPR have lauded Burns’s achievement in compelling Americans to “think differently about U.S. History,” with dramatic reviews marking foreboding parallels evoked by the timing of the film’s release with recent No Kings protests. One perspective cannot get away from Burns’s “agitprop,” including his heavy implication that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy inspired American democracy. The other side won’t see past contemporary politics to allow the show’s problems.