# The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014)

> A seven-part documentary that interweaves the lives of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt across more than a century of American history.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/57967

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 7
- Episode runtime: 117 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary, history
- Created by: Ken Burns
- Network: PBS
- Cast: Peter Coyote, David McCullough, Meryl Streep, Edward Herrmann, Paul Giamatti, Theodore Roosevelt, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Franklin D. Roosevelt
- TMDB rating: 8.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3400010/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: reflective, intimate, measured, nostalgic, sincere

## Synopsis

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014) is a US documentary miniseries created by Ken Burns for PBS, a seven-episode history docuseries running about fourteen hours in total. Narrated by Peter Coyote with a voice cast that includes Meryl Streep as Eleanor Roosevelt, Edward Herrmann as Franklin Roosevelt and Paul Giamatti as Theodore Roosevelt, the series weaves three lives of America's most prominent political family into one continuous story. Historian David McCullough and Doris Kearns Goodwin appear as on-camera commentators, and archival footage of the Roosevelts themselves anchors each episode. The engine of the series is the way political ambition, family rivalry and personal loss push these figures through the Gilded Age, the progressive era, the world wars and the New Deal. Each episode moves through photographs, letters, newsreel and period documents, building a century-long portrait from Theodore's 1858 birth to Eleanor's death in 1962. Its tone is measured, reflective and warmly humane, closer to a patient family memoir than a dry lecture. Fans of Ken Burns' The Civil War and the John Adams miniseries will find resonance in its blend of archival intimacy and sweeping American history.

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