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Thoughts on the American Revolution by Ken Burns?
Posted on 4/9/26 at 4:57 pm
Posted on 4/9/26 at 4:57 pm
I do like how he has more nuance that the “King George and the Loyalists were the worst people ever” and “the Patriots were the objectively correct side” stuff you learn in school.
But it does get a little tiresome how he constantly talks about blacks and Native Americans.
But it does get a little tiresome how he constantly talks about blacks and Native Americans.
8
Posted on 4/9/26 at 5:16 pm to UFFan
It was a mess.
He tried to weave too much into the story and it came out unintelligible.
I understand he tried to paint a comprehensive picture of what was going on at the time. Instead of a Norman Rockwell, he gave us a Jackson Pollack.
It really needed to be divvied up into separate episodes on the Native Americans, African Americans, Women, Loyalists, Politics, and then warfare/battles. Him cramming it all together in every episode made it really hard to like because it got too hard to follow.
ETA: This is coming from someone who likes the American Revolution part of our history, and I also like Ken Burns work. He's very thorough. This is his George Lucas - Phantom Menace film. Nobody in his inner circle told him it was bad because he's "so great".
He tried to weave too much into the story and it came out unintelligible.
I understand he tried to paint a comprehensive picture of what was going on at the time. Instead of a Norman Rockwell, he gave us a Jackson Pollack.
It really needed to be divvied up into separate episodes on the Native Americans, African Americans, Women, Loyalists, Politics, and then warfare/battles. Him cramming it all together in every episode made it really hard to like because it got too hard to follow.
ETA: This is coming from someone who likes the American Revolution part of our history, and I also like Ken Burns work. He's very thorough. This is his George Lucas - Phantom Menace film. Nobody in his inner circle told him it was bad because he's "so great".
This post was edited on 4/9/26 at 5:20 pm
Posted on 4/9/26 at 5:30 pm to UFFan
quote:Agreed. We were never taught that a good portion of the Hessians stayed to help colonize the U.S. Stuff like that, those colonists who returned to England, the brothers against brothers that was previously assumed to have not started until the Civil War.
I do like how he has more nuance that the “King George and the Loyalists were the worst people ever” and “the Patriots were the objectively correct side” stuff you learn in school.
quote:It would be tiresome if it was the same old thing, but what he gave us was entirely different to what we were presented in school. They told us that the Indians and Slaves/Free Men were totally on the side of the Patriots, when that's the furthest from the truth. People should know that England sold men back into slavery and abandoned huge numbers to die.
But it does get a little tiresome how he constantly talks about blacks and Native Americans.
Posted on 4/9/26 at 5:45 pm to UFFan
Apparently, Ben Franklin got the idea of a United States type country from the Indians. He literally says that.
Posted on 4/9/26 at 6:32 pm to Shiftyplus1
quote:
Apparently, Ben Franklin got the idea of a United States type country from the Indians. He literally says that.
Yeah, Burns was trying to rewrite history with that which made his other “facts” dubious at best. I also got tired of hearing about the noble Indians that did little wrong.
For anyone interested there are several breakdowns debunking burns claim by historians on YouTube. Burns took something that was interesting and injecting his own politics. No it wasn’t that extreme but it was noticeable and personally, I’m just tired of the leftist bullshite always getting thrown in our face when you turn on the television.
Posted on 4/9/26 at 7:18 pm to BugAC
the indian's were there own worst enemies they fought among themselves to the point of self extinction.
Posted on 4/9/26 at 10:34 pm to dickkellog
quote:Funny coincidence that they thrived for thousands and thousands of years and then committed suicidal genocide just as we got here.
the indian's were there own worst enemies they fought among themselves to the point of self extinction
Posted on 4/9/26 at 10:38 pm to BugAC
quote:Burns wasn’t rewriting history. He was repeating what previous historians had claimed about American Indian democracy. Actually he didn’t repeat it, he had current historians doing the repeating.
Yeah, Burns was trying to rewrite history with that which made his other “facts” dubious at best. I also got tired of hearing about the noble Indians that did little wrong.
You can bring out your YouTube historians to disprove it, but they’re arguing with 50 years of other historians, not Ken Burns.
Posted on 4/9/26 at 10:47 pm to UFFan
He’s a hack
Posted on 4/10/26 at 8:22 am to Madking
Ken Burns is washed up and has let his political agenda ruin the content he develops.
Posted on 4/10/26 at 8:36 am to Fewer Kilometers
quote:Happy to read your cited work. This was never a thing.
Burns wasn’t rewriting history. He was repeating what previous historians had claimed about American Indian democracy.
Posted on 4/10/26 at 8:57 am to Fewer Kilometers
quote:
You can bring out your YouTube historians to disprove it, but they’re arguing with 50 years of other historians, not Ken Burns.
This is all based on a throwaway line that Benjamin Franklin said at the Albany Convention in 1754. It wasn't enduring toward the Iroquois Confederacy at all. He essentially said, "If these savages can unite and self-govern then so, too, can the Colonies."
Posted on 4/10/26 at 9:08 am to StrongOffer
quote:If you'd read my posts, you'd know that I've never said that it was my work. It's what historians have postulated for years and has been mentioned in pop culture going back decades. Ken Burns didn't "rewrite history" with this. He had people discussing what historians had "rewrote" decades ago.
Happy to read your cited work. This was never a thing.
Posted on 4/10/26 at 9:12 am to Fewer Kilometers
quote:I meant any cited works, not ones you personally wrote. And putting the works of idiots trying to rewrite history into a documentary makes him an idiot.
If you'd read my posts, you'd know that I've never said that it was my work. It's what historians have postulated for years and has been mentioned in pop culture going back decades. Ken Burns didn't "rewrite history" with this. He had people discussing what historians had "rewrote" decades ago.
Posted on 4/11/26 at 8:36 am to BugAC
quote:
Burns took something that was interesting and injecting his own politics.
Burns has been coasting on the fumes of his Civil War series for ages. Each series is worse than the last.
Another Lucas parallel
Posted on 4/11/26 at 8:49 am to UFFan
Your first mistake is watching anything that involves Ken Burns.
Posted on 4/11/26 at 10:38 am to BitBuster
You're correct. It was not cohesive at all and it constantly felt like it was starting over. It tried to tell every story and ended up telling none.
Posted on 4/11/26 at 11:27 am to UFFan
I trust Ken Burns with history about as much as I do a chimp to sail me to Italy
Posted on 4/11/26 at 6:04 pm to Fewer Kilometers
Muh Natives invented democracy
Posted on 4/11/26 at 6:17 pm to Fewer Kilometers
quote:
He was repeating what previous historians had claimed about American Indian democracy.
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