Word: burnses
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Burns has firmly established himself as the master film chronicler of America's past. "We've forgotten," he says, "that history used to have a popular dimension, that it is in fact made up mostly of the word story. Professional historians have found it convenient to speak only to themselves...
Burns is a celebrator of America, but his work goes deeper than mere patriotism. What fascinates him most is the creative act, those feats of inspiration and perseverance that move civilization forward. In Brooklyn Bridge and The Statue of Liberty, Burns chronicled the building of great structures that came to...
Empire of the Air presents Burns with a tougher subject. The development of radio was a diffuse process that spanned many years and lacks the obvious emotional resonance of Burns' other subjects. Visually, the documentary has neither the grandeur of The Civil War nor the serene grace of The Shakers...
Yet Burns makes his subject come alive by focusing on three crucial people. First is Lee DeForest, who patented the key invention that spawned the radio age -- the three-element vacuum tube -- but emerges as something of a self- promoter and con man. Edwin Howard Armstrong, who made important refinements...
Burns, 38, has been making documentaries since shortly after graduating from Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. The Civil War made him virtually a national hero: he has been invited three times to the White House, received honorary degrees from eight colleges and turned down several offers from Hollywood and the...