– Americans More or Less
Have Always Been Divided –
by Jane Levere | Forbes | November 16, 2025
The American Revolution, a new six-part, 12-hour documentary series that explores the country’s founding struggle and its eight-year War for Independence, premieres tonight on PBS and airs nightly through Friday, November 21. The full series is also available to stream beginning today at PBS.org and on the PBS App.
In production for over nine years, the series was directed and produced by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt and written by Geoffrey C. Ward. Its broadcast was scheduled for 2025, the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution, which began in the spring of 1775, over a year before the Declaration of Independence.
According to PBS, the series “examines how America’s founding turned the world upside-down. Thirteen British colonies on the Atlantic Coast rose in rebellion, won their independence and established a new form of government that radically reshaped the continent and inspired centuries of democratic movements around the globe.”
PBS also said viewers can “experience the war through the memories of the men and women who experienced it: the rank-and-file Continental soldiers and American militiamen (some of them teenagers), Patriot political and military leaders, British Army officers, American Loyalists, Native soldiers and civilians, enslaved and free African Americans, German soldiers in the British service, French and Spanish allies and various civilians living in North America, Loyalist as well as Patriot, including many made refugees by the war. The American Revolution was a war for independence, a civil war and a world war. It impacted millions – from Canada to the Caribbean and beyond. Few escaped its violence. At one time or another, the British Army occupied all the major population centers in the United States – including New York City for more than seven years.”
“The American Revolution is one of the most important events in human history,” said Burns. “We went from being subjects to inventing a new concept, citizens, and set in motion democratic revolutions around the globe. As we prepare to celebrate the 250thanniversary of our founding, I’m hopeful that people throughout the country will come together to discuss the importance of this history and to appreciate even more what our ancestors did to secure our liberty and freedoms.”
According to PBS, “the series features original footage that highlights the beauty and diversity of the North American landscape. The team shot in every season over the course of several years and at nearly a hundred locations, within and beyond the original 13 colonies, including at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, Colonial Williamsburg, Fort Ticonderoga, Jamestown Settlement, Minute Man National Historical Park, Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Mount Vernon, Valley Forge National Historical Park, the South Carolina backcountry, overseas in London and the English countryside, and elsewhere. The filmmakers also worked with extensive networks of reenactors to film troop movement and camp life.”
Among the 60 actors bringing characters in the series to life are Jeff Daniels, Tom Hanks, Ethan Hawke, Damian Lewis, Laura Linney, Mandy Patinkin, Wendell Pierce, Liev Schreiber, Dan Stevens and Meryl Streep.
The film uses a wide variety of music, both from the period and newly commissioned works. Music from the documentary, featuring performances by Brooklyn Rider, Nora Brown & Steph Coleman, Rhiannon Giddens, Jennifer Kreisberg and Yo-Yo Ma among others, is available now on Circle Records.
PBS LearningMedia, working with WETA and other station partners and national and local organizations, is leading classroom outreach and has developed digital resources and professional learning opportunities for educators and students in grades 3-12. The materials are available on the Ken Burns in the Classroom site on PBS LearningMedia.
In an interview with Forbes, Burns said some 30 of his personal images, shot on his iPhone on his three-hour morning walks near his home in New Hampshire, appear in the series.
Noting that history doesn’t repeat itself, but rhymes, he predicted viewers of the series would be reminded that Americans “more or less have always been divided.”
He also suggested the series would have “meaning for everybody in different ways. That’s the great gift of a good story. It’s really your film, it’s not mine any more. It’s just out there for everybody’s individual reactions.”
Read the rest of the original article at Forbes.