# The Civil War (1990)

> A nine-part documentary narrated by Ken Burns that traces the American Civil War from secession to Lincoln's assassination through letters, photographs and firsthand accounts.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/8991

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 9
- Episode runtime: 76 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary, history, war
- Network: PBS
- Cast: David McCullough, Sam Waterston, Julie Harris, Jason Robards, Morgan Freeman, Paul Roebling, Garrison Keillor, George Black
- TMDB rating: 9.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098769/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: elegiac, sombre, reflective, measured

## What critics say

Widely acclaimed as a landmark documentary series that brings the American Civil War to life through archival imagery, letters, diaries and evocative narration.

## Synopsis

The Civil War (1990) is an American public television documentary miniseries created by Ken Burns for PBS. Across nine episodes of roughly seventy-six minutes each, it recounts the conflict from the secession of the Confederacy through to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Rather than a dramatized story with a single protagonist, the series is built from archival photographs, battlefield maps and period letters and diaries, with the words of historical figures read aloud by actors. Narrator David McCullough guides viewers through the tangled politics, the brutal campaigns and the home front, while voices such as Sam Waterston as Abraham Lincoln, Jason Robards as Ulysses S. Grant, and Morgan Freeman as Frederick Douglass give the record a human presence. The approach is a single continuous chronicle of a national trauma, sober and elegiac in tone, reflective about slavery, sacrifice and reconciliation. Its signature slow pans across still images make the past feel present. Viewers who appreciate The World at War or The Vietnam War will find the same measured, reflective weight here, a finished limited documentary history of American grief and endurance.

## Shows like The Civil War

- [The World at War (1973)](https://ember.film/tv/712)
- [American Experience (1988)](https://ember.film/tv/1112)
- [500 Nations (1995)](https://ember.film/tv/6031)
- [The Vietnam War (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/42089)
- [Five Came Back (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/61653)
- [The War (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/29234)
- [Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997)](https://ember.film/tv/39555)
- [Prohibition (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/36677)
- [9/11: One Day in America (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/104793)
- [Grant (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/85819)

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