Baseball

The story of Baseball is the story of America. It is an epic overflowing with heroes and hopefuls, scoundrels and screwballs. It is a saga spanning the quest for racial justice, the clash of labor and management, the transformation of popular culture, and the unfolding of the national pastime.

Country Music

Explore the history of country music – from its roots in ballads, hymns and the blues to its mainstream popularity – and meet the unforgettable characters and storytellers who made it “America’s Music.”

The Civil War

Between 1861 and 1865, Americans made war on each other and killed each other in great numbers if only to become the kind of country that could no longer conceive of how that was possible. What began as a bitter dispute over Union and States' Rights, ended as a struggle over the meaning of freedom in America.

The Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the Great Plow-Up, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation.

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History

Chronicles the lives of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of the most prominent and influential family in American politics.

The National Parks

The story of people from every conceivable background—rich and poor, soldiers and scientists, natives and newcomers—who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

Prohibition

The story of the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed. Prohibition was intended to protect all Americans from the devastating effects of alcohol abuse. But, paradoxically, the enshrining of a faith-driven moral code in the Constitution caused millions of Americans to rethink their definition of morality.

Jazz

Jazz has been called the purest expression of American democracy; a music built on individualism and compromise, independence and cooperation. Ken Burns follows the growth and development of jazz music from the gritty streets of New Orleans to Chicago's South Side, the speakeasies of Kansas City and to Times Square.

The War

The story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four American towns. The war touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America and demonstrated that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.

The Vietnam War

In an immersive 360-degree narrative, Burns and Novick tell the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never before been told on film. The Vietnam War features testimony from nearly 100 witnesses.

Jackie Robinson

Jack Roosevelt Robinson rose from humble origins to cross baseball's color line and become one of the most beloved men in America. A fierce integrationist, Robinson used his immense fame to speak out against the discrimination he saw on and off the field, angering fans, the press, and even teammates who had once celebrated him for turning the other cheek.

Frank Lloyd Wright

One of America's greatest architects -- hated by some, worshipped by others and ignored by many. Using archival photographs, live cinematography, interviews, newsreel footage and home movies, the film tells the story of Wright's turbulent life and his extraordinary professional career.

The Ken Burns collection anytime, on any screen.

NPT Passport is available on most popular streaming devices in the PBS Video app.

NPT Passport is an added benefit available to donors in the United States that contribute an annual tax-deductible gift of $60 or more, or an ongoing gift of $5 per month as sustaining members.

Extended access to 1,500+ episodes with NPT Passport

Not just Ken Burns - get even more of your favorite NPT and PBS shows including Tennessee Crossroads, Volunteer Gardener, Masterpiece, NOVA, Nature, and many more — online and in the PBS Video app.