KEN BURNS, the producer and director of numerous film series,
including The Vietnam War, The Roosevelts: An Intimate
History, and The War, founded his own documentary film company,
Florentine Films, in 1976. His landmark film The Civil War was the
highest-rated series in the history of American public television,
and his work has won numerous prizes, including the Emmy and
Peabody Awards, and two Academy Award nominations. He lives in
Walpole, New Hampshire.
"Chronicling America from 1839 to 2019, these photographs are both
well-known and obscure, faces of celebrities and faces of
laypeople, stunning images of landscapes and national parks
alongside deserted towns and scenes of destruction. Just as
arresting and poignant as his films can be, Burns has gathered a
striking collection that depicts America in all its glory and
grimness."
—Lit Hub
"A stirring collection of photographs, arranged chronologically
from the first daguerreotype in 1839 to a 2019 image of the late
John Lewis, arms crossed, prayer-like, across his chest."
—Oprah Daily
"Those featured here never did [quit]. Sometimes they are
famous people – like Jackie Kennedy, pictured here at her husband’s
burial at Arlington, her widow’s veil not quite hiding her weary
eyes. Sometimes their details are lost to us — like Gordon, the
escaped slave who later joined and fought with the Union Army
before disappearing into history. They all struggled. But they
all persisted. They were all Americans. And this book gives them
their moment, remembering them forever."
—Jacqueline Cutler, New York Daily News
"Our America...isn't just snapshots or black-and-white images of
beautiful parks, baseball, and celebrities. There are also photos
of segregation, violence and adversity — in other words, it
attempts neither to hide nor to shield viewers from the
complexities of history."
—Jane Henderson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has edited hundreds of photographs
depicting the history of our nation—its highs and lows, the beauty
of its national parks and bustling cities, and its struggles and
celebrations. It is a striking photo portrait of almost 200 years
of the American experiment."
—Washingtonian
"Nobody knows how to use photographs to tell a story like
documentarian Ken Burns....Instead of glorifying the country, Our
America takes a warts-and-all approach to the telling. There are
plenty of images that capture the majesty of the land (Devil’s
Tower in Wyoming, the Great Smoky Mountains, the Sierra Madres) and
the dignity of its people (Ernest Hemingway, Lou Gehrig, Rosa
Parks), but there are just as many that reflect the ugly side of
American life (slavery, war, poverty)....Striking."
—Suzanne Van Atten, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Stunning...Steeped in the 'myriad tensions' of American history,
these chronologically ordered photographs show majestic vistas of
American natural beauty alongside closer images of individual
Americans: men at work and at war; women quilting and protesting;
people living and dying. Each image on its own is an invitation to
consider what story an image can tell...The photos in Our America
are a tribute and a revelation, offering a sweeping view of a
nation born of both building and destruction."
—Kerry McHugh, Shelf Awareness
"Burns’s distinctive photographic history, replete with
illuminating backstories for every image, encompasses America's
multitudinous beauty and dynamism as well as its tragic failures to
realize its ideals."
—Donna Seaman, Booklist
"In the filmmaker and author’s latest photo book, the triumphs and
tribulations of the American spirit take the stage...[A] remarkable
collection of images....A moving tribute to America’s rich and
complex history."
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"A powerful and moving collection, ranging from the obscure (a 1903
photo of the first Japanese American baseball team in the mainland
U.S.) to the famous (Robert Frank’s 1955 image of passengers on a
segregated trolley in New Orleans)....Visually arresting and
expertly curated, this is a must-have for fans of Burns’s
documentaries."
—Publishers Weekly, Starred
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