The Civil War- A Film by Ken Burns

This is quite simply the very best documentary on the American Civil War, also known as

• The War of Northern Aggression
• The War of Southern secession
• The War between the States

It's an eleven hour series full of the sights and sounds of an era in American history which changed millions of lives and extinguished about a half million others. A war that made some, like Du Pont of Delaware, millionaires and ruined a great number of others. A war that gave the world some of it's first glimpses of what war would look like in the next century, fought in the air and under the sea as well as on the ground ( and under it.)

The major players are all covered in fascinating detail.

The failed businessman and drunk (who could only recognize two tunes - one was "Yankee Doodle and the other one wasn't") who ultimately found his calling in war Ullyses S. Grant. His faithful and ruthless sidekick, William Tecumseh Sherman whose infamous march through Georgia presaged some of the worst aspects of the first and second world wars.

The loyal Virginian, Robert E. Lee who led the brilliant though ultimately doomed fight for southern independence. His top commanders who did not survive the war, Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson who led his armies to a string of stunning victories during his Valley Campaign and the dynamic cavalry commander James Ewell Brown (J.E.B.) Stuart who would die on May 12, 1864 at the age of 31 after being ambushed at Yellow Tavern, Virginia .

Other notable commanders who did survive the war include the legendary and controversial Nathan Bedford Forest, founder of the KKK and about whom William T. Sherman said, "this man must be hunted down and killed if it costs 10,000 lives and bankrupts the [national] treasury." And the tragic George S. Pickett("I have no division.") who led the charge at Gettysburg which lost the battle and perhaps the war.

Meet also the political leaders including the sly Abe Lincoln and the hapless Jeff Davis.

last modified:Wednesday,March 19, 2008 at 04:40