Summary/Abstract

Ken Burns talks about his new PBS film, an in-depth look at one of the most controversial episodes in U.S. history. "The Noble Experiment," notes Burns, left a legacy of organized crime, moral hypocrisy, single-issue politics, and unintended consequences from which we're still recovering..

Content

"Slavery was our worst idea," says legendary documentarian Ken Burns. "I'm not sure that Prohibition was second, but it's really up there."

Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns^[1] (born July 29, 1953)^[1] is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs. His most widely known documentaries are The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2001), The War (2007), The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009), Prohibition (2011), The Central Park Five (2012), and The Roosevelts (2014).

Burns' documentaries have been nominated for two Academy Awards and have won Emmy Awards, among other honors.