Why We Need A Good Dose Of Ken Burns’ ‘Civil War’ Documentary Right Now

The Federalist ^ | 21 August 2017 | Gregory S Bucher

[euram]

In the ongoing debate about Confederate monuments, Slate has republished a 2011 article by professor James M. Lundberg attacking Ken Burns’ monumental “Civil War” documentary. Although he concludes with an appreciation of Burns’ achievement, he disapprovingly notes the series’ sentimental tone and points to problems such as its “tidy vision of national consensus,” being “deeply misleading and reductive,” and its “careful 15 minute portrait of slavery’s role in the coming of the war” being nearly negated by Shelby Foote’s 15-second anecdote about a “ragged Confederate who obviously didn’t own any slaves” telling his inquiring Union captors that he’s fighting “because you’re down here.”

Lundberg’s complaints, like many currently raised against Confederate statues, strike me as misleading and reductive. We might start by considering the documentary’s sentimental tone. Now, sentimental appeal as a tool of rhetoric is not the same as cogent argument, and one should immediately admit the obvious: the documentary is manipulative.

[laplata]

I don’t remember any women but Mary Chestnut’s diaries being narrated.

My memory isn’t as good as it used to be either.

[lodi90]

Given the total leftist fanaticism of Burns, I doubt if he would make the same documentary today.

---

I was thinking the same.

[Clutch Martin]

The Foote trilogy should bbe required reading.

[lightman]

Only the rich could afford them. They were expensive.

Most slaveowners understood that these people-as-property were an investment which depended on the continued health of the ones in chains. Therefore, they wanted to keep them fit, strong, and healthy. Seven-year indentured servants fared far worse. They were expendable.

[lodi90]

There was some Civil War nostalgia in the 1930’s for sure. They had a famous reenactment at Gettysburg with vets that was filmed.

[lodi90]

Here you go:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2013/jul/01/civil-war-gettysburg-anniversary-pictures

[Clutch Martin]

Search:

The racist roots of gun control.

Very interesting.

[laplata]

I agree wholeheartedly.

[x]

Have blacks ever said a public thank you to all the whites who were killed or maimed in the Union Army?

I'm pretty sure somebody did.

Read the accounts of Lincoln's reception by the freed slaves of Richmond.

Plenty of accounts of freed slaves greeting union troops in the same spirit.

But isn't it in the nature of free people not to be too servilely grateful?

So African-Americans came to celebrate their own contributions to winning their freedom in the same way that Americans don't dwell on the French contribution to our victory in the Revolutionary War,

[Lysandru]

Slavery was not the reason nor the cause of Lincoln’s war...

I want you to go out to the Internet and look at the various Acts of Secession that the Confederate states passed to secede from the Union. You will usually find the words "slave state" or "slavery." You pretty much won't find "tariff." In the South Carolina resolution of principles passed to explain the secession, you will find complaints about Yankee states failing to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act (states' rights for me but not for thee).

Can you tell me what Abe Lincoln's position was on tariffs during the 1860 Election Campaign without looking it up? Are you telling me that South Carolina passed its secession resolution before the Electoral College even met to elect Lincoln because of tariffs???

Yes, tariffs were a sore point. But let's not be blind to what the very politicians who made the decisions wrote down!

[Lisbon1940]

He did the same thing to baseball and jazz, two American inventions.

[laplata]

There was at least one black woman whose narrative I really appreciated. Barbara somebody?

>><<

FYI-I just looked and Colene Dewherst narrated most of the women’s quotes but individual names weren’t given.

[freedomjusticeruleoflaw]

I wonder why we haven’t heard from Mr. Burns? I know that he would be against confederate monument removal, but he is also a big lefty.

[x]

I doubt if he would make the same documentary today.

A lot has changed since then. My older relatives really loved the series.

I suspect that one reason for the great popularity of show was the WWII/Korea generation, the last generation to know Civil War veterans, and maybe the last generation of Americans to be deeply united.

Much of the talk about combat and combatants in that long ago war struck a chord with the older generation that is now passing from the scene.

[x]

I remember a lot of irreverent jokes about how the only things as boring as the National Park System were baseball and jazz ...

[Publius]

..."Ashokan Farewell" is a sad piece of music...

Not sad. Wistful. Nostalgic. It's in D Major throughout.

Ungar: "Ashokan Farewell"

[Lisbon1940]

All those things are good enough n their own right, without added mawkishness.

[tbpiper]

I prefer the movie “Gods and Generals” to the Ken Burns documentary.

[Hugin]

The truth is nearly the exact opposite. The only states of the old confederacy that pay more in taxes than they receive in spending are TX and FL. The rest are some of the highest net takers. The lowest net takers are the mostly the northeast and far west.

[lil'bit]

There is the dreaded ghost amendment. The Corwin Act (13th Amendment). The one that no state that seceded would accept. The one that would have made slaves chattel forever and ever. This was Ole Abe's position and proves it wasn't about the slaves.