Ken Burns and Erik Larson on America's history from crisis to Civil War

Рет қаралды 38,235

Ай бұрын

Ken Burns talks with bestselling author Erik Larson about his new book, The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War (2024), which explores the choices of one of our greatest presidents in American history.
UNUM: One nation, many stories.
UNUM is a new way to explore American history through scenes selected from over 40 films by Ken Burns. We're constantly curating new topics, providing historical context for the conversations we are having today.

Пікірлер: 100

@lisalivingston6473 Ай бұрын

I got a chill up my spine when Erik Larson warned us to pay attention to people who speak of a modern-day Civil War. After watching the events of Jan. 6, 2021 unfold, I think it is wise to take his warning to heart. I pray that our country can find its footing and start to heal the deep divisions that separate us. I thank God every day that I was born an American, and I have always tried not to take my freedom for granted.

@ThomasCranmer1959 22 күн бұрын

What happened on Jan. 6th was a riot. It was deliberately encouraged by the CIA and FBI to prevent the electors being sent back to the state legislatures. The election was clearly stolen and everyone knows it. Votes were counted for days and even weeks after the election was over!

@jamieryman 22 күн бұрын

Excellent piece! Could listen to these two speak for hours 👏👏

@leeschillinger4020 5 күн бұрын

It is a thrill to see an interview with Eric Larson and conducted by Ken Burns! I am totally in completely engrossed in demon of unrest! it is a wonderful book as are all of Eric Larson’s books. And as for the host, his wonderful documentaries are peerless❤ thank you both for adding so much to this world❤❤❤

@lawharrington Ай бұрын

Sadly, it is likely that few Southerners outside of the communities with old line Whig newspapers ever learned of the conciliatory lines in Lincoln’s first inaugural address. The media at that time were about a fragmented as today.

@daleodberg6714 Ай бұрын

Thank you. I have read The Devil in the White City and The Garden of Beasts and look forward to The Demon of Unrest.

@mariellouise1 Ай бұрын

Hope Ken will make a PBS documentary of these topics. Or this interview should be shown on PBS. Every member of Congress should have a copy of The Demon of Unrest.

@johngoldenbritt5112 Ай бұрын

The Demon of Unrest is hard to put down. A great piece of history.

@ELL289 Ай бұрын

Just ordered a copy. Thank you for a really interesting interview. You both have such a deep store of knowledge.

@jdt2003 Ай бұрын

The best documentary maker and one of the best historical novelists of our time have both been relegated by their wives to "Go upstairs to play your fun and games!"

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

Novels are not history. That applies to Shelby Foote as well.

@lisalivingston6473 Ай бұрын

@@ThomasCranmer1959 Some of the best novels have included historical references that stir a curiosity in me to learn more about history. I believe Erik Larson is a master of that craft!

@4pauledouglas Ай бұрын

Beyond BRILLIANT, Thank you KEN BURNS.👍👍👍👍

@1953jazzman Ай бұрын

Excellent, insightful conversation!

@georgeabraham5672 Ай бұрын

The real problem is that the Ruffins are alive and active today.. Really well done vedio.. Thank you Ken

@kevinleecaster2698 Ай бұрын

It seems like we have quite a few Fire Eaters loudly calling for the dissolution of the Union nowadays

@ThomasCranmer1959 22 күн бұрын

Most of the Ruffins today are BLM, ANTIFA, and radical Hamas supporters who are antisemitic.

@kennedyland1 19 күн бұрын

An amazing book about hubris, pride, illusions and warped glory.

@haroldcheeseburger Ай бұрын

Thank you for being proper Historians.

@gordonhuskin7337 24 күн бұрын

**partisan hacks Fixed that for you

@haroldcheeseburger 24 күн бұрын

@@gordonhuskin7337 to each their own . Have a good day.

@timsika7655 Ай бұрын

I just ordered a copy of THE DEMON OF UNREST. Thanks for this great interview.

@JamesDziezynski 24 күн бұрын

I love n Erik Larson interview as much as Larson loves dinner menus :) Great interview. Demon of Unrest was a fascinating look into just how bizarre, yet normal, slavery was in the mid-1800s. Even Lincoln was pretty wishy-washy about abolition until his hand was forced. I highly recommend the book or audiobook.

@kathrynludrick4821 18 күн бұрын

My sister and I were talking about this the other day, ie some contemporaries promoting civil war. She and I concluded that they had no clue of what happened to our country from 1861-1865 and beyond: The absolute carnage, the untold human suffering and misery and destruction experienced by both North and South. My great great grandfather died in the 1880s from a disease he contacted in the civil war. My great great uncle was mortally wounded at Shiloh. Another great great uncle was captured and imprisoned at Elmira. For those who know what happened in the civil war and yet promote it today are deluded if not outright evil.

@brianniegemann4788 23 күн бұрын

There were only about 165,000 major slave-owning planters in the south in 1859, those with thousands of acres and 20+ slaves. These men held powerful political positions; county commissioners, state legislators, governors, congressmen, senators. They controlled the southern newspapers too. They were aristocrats, princes, lords.

@ThomasCranmer1959 22 күн бұрын

Exactly. The Confederates were mostly sharecroppers and tenant farmers.

@Publius_Americanus Ай бұрын

Phenomenal program. Thank you both!

@salsan2946 Ай бұрын

I have loved all of Larsen's books!

@rebeccacamacho-sobczak4282 Ай бұрын

I'm very happy to know you are creating this!!~~!!!

@elainemarra9790 Ай бұрын

Thank you both

@dankelly2147 Ай бұрын

Superbly done. Ordering the book now. Thank you for an insightful dialogue.

@TRIChuckles Ай бұрын

Good interview.

@tomhaggard3352 Ай бұрын

Awesome program

@dwdavis5977 27 күн бұрын

Thank you Gentlemen.

@katydidiy Ай бұрын

I know this is off topic but I can't get it out my head, the commencement speech you gave at Stanford 7 years ago. If I had one wish I would interview everyone there that booed as to their beliefs now.

@richardlindquist5936 18 күн бұрын

It looks like a good read. Another good one is A Disease of the public mind by Thomas Fleming. Adds context to the civil war.

@defyant1 Ай бұрын

Erik's book is captivating and fearfully terrifying at the same it. There is nothing new under the sun. If you want to know why we are the divided states of today, just read The Demon of Unrest. Five Stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

@Eurydice870 Ай бұрын

I think I've read all his books, he has a great way of telling stories.

@kathywolcott5157 26 күн бұрын

I'm just watching this amazing video 2 years since it was posted. I have to say that I first thought the reaction to Khanysia was displeasure and stress. But from the explanations and posts, it seems like I misinterpreted. Was there a point in their attempts to protect & greet her that they could have harmed her?

@johnnolan4312 25 күн бұрын

The civil war will be considered "civil" in comparison to a modern day civil war

@davidford761 Ай бұрын

🌈❤️BEAUTIFUL💥💥💞

@faybyshe 23 күн бұрын

Both of these guys are calling in from their attics?!?

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

23:14 Is the Bill of Rights subject to modern reinterpretation?

@gordonhuskin7337 24 күн бұрын

It no use arguing with a subversive leftist

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

Slavery would have been abolished without a war. 15:07

@gordonhuskin7337 24 күн бұрын

Yep, Corwin ammendment

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

21:54 Is there a God who inspired the Bible?

@richardlindquist5936 18 күн бұрын

Curious to see Erik express his fears about Jan 6. I just don’t see it the same way. There’s just too much out in the past several years about politics and the police response, and the absence of weapons to make it much of a rebellion. My concern is that casting it as such perpetuates the divisions as a self fulfilling prophecy, and delegitimizes the valid concerns of anyone non left.

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

19:56 My ancestors never owned slaves. They fought to defend their homeland from a Federal invasion.

@Juergen732 22 күн бұрын

Have you read the book?

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

21:18 What is a woman?

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

11:09 Secession was never a reason for the invasion of the South. Lincoln violated the Constitution.

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

22:43 Is homosexuality "natural"?

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

What is a baby?

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

The Demon of Northern Aggression would have been a better title.

@pegpage8618 29 күн бұрын

Can you explain what that means?

@ThomasCranmer1959 29 күн бұрын

@pegpage8618 Let me spell it out. Lincoln started the war by invading South Carolina with Federal troops. He was warned not to send reinforcements to Fort Moultrie, and he did it anyway. It was an act of aggression that sparked the war. The South was invaded by Northern troops. We did not invade the North until 1864 or so.

@Juergen732 22 күн бұрын

@@ThomasCranmer1959..read the book and stop embarrassing yourself..

@ThomasCranmer1959 22 күн бұрын

@@Juergen732 Read the history from the southern point of view and stop reinterpreting history.

@Juergen732 22 күн бұрын

@@ThomasCranmer1959 reading history from " a southern point of view" is itself a "reinterpretation". I think the author (Erik Larson) gives a fair interpretation from both sides. If you haven't read his book there is no point in discussing this with you as you clearly have an ax to grind. Perhaps you can find a more receptive audience with the Maga crowd because as you know, Trump loves the uneducated.

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

48:24 Beautiful prose can be propaganda.

@ThomasCranmer1959 Ай бұрын

44:05 The victors are still lying.

@MarkDouglass-dt9ky 20 күн бұрын

Ken Burns is a great American documentary maker, the greatest, but some artists as soon as he speaks about modern politics he becomes an embarrassment (cf. De Niro, Baldwin).

@tommcfadden5232 3 күн бұрын

I agree with you. I include Donald Trump in that group. Every time the three of them speak on politics they embarrass themselves.

@MarkDouglass-dt9ky 3 күн бұрын

@@tommcfadden5232 Trump is a god (small g ). America First.

@patticriss2238 22 күн бұрын

When I saw the photo of you with Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito and Leonard Leo on a trip, I gave up on you as well. Painful, this one. Shameful. I don’t care your intention. Don’t care if it was research or some stupid stuff. I’m done with all of you colliders. If you didn’t call it out and turn them in, you are complicit. Period. No matter the other work you do. I’m out.

@boilerbonz 21 күн бұрын

So if Buchanan is only the 2nd worst POTUS ever, the worst is whom, Ken? Joe Biden or Jimmy Carter? That's a close one!

@gregorygarcia7807 Ай бұрын

I know the guy who wrote the preface to "baseball" and I can for sure tell you about his defacement of books at his school loyola over looking the Marina del rey. his backstabsmenship is beyond compare! not to mention the taste he has for pocketing things around the house. he told me we were going to "play a trick like abraham lincoln" on a friend. little did I know what he was doing in the other room. born may day '59 "thanks derek you've always been a real good friend."