Ken Burns on the American Revolution

Ken Burns Makes the Case for the Greatness of 1776

Ken Burns talks to Jacobin about his new documentary, The American Revolution; the ongoing project of 1776; and why the Declaration of Independence was far more than a revolt of slaveholders and the wealthy.

Ken Burns Talks to Jacobin About the Revolutionary Benjamin Franklin

Ken Burns sat down with Jacobin to discuss his new documentary, Benjamin Franklin, and how the founding father’s spirit of humanitarianism and progress led him to establish America’s first abolitionist society two years before the Declaration of Independence.

Ken Burns Talks to Jacobin About the Revolutionary Muhammad Ali

The new four-part PBS documentary Muhammad Ali, codirected by Ken Burns, examines the life of the legendary boxer and antiwar radical. Burns talks to Jacobin about how a kid from Kentucky named Cassius Clay became “the spirit of the 20th century.”

Ken Burns Talks to Jacobin About the Radical Ernest Hemingway

From fighting alongside communists in the Spanish Civil War to backing revolutionaries in Cuba, documentarian Ken Burns shows us the radical side of writer Ernest Hemingway in the new PBS docuseries Hemingway. Burns talks to Jacobin about Hemingway’s forgotten left-wing politics and why the writer still matters.