As a prolific documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns (born 1953) explored topics large and small in American history. In such miniseries as The Civil War (1990) and Baseball (1994), he did not seek to answer a specific historical question, but instead explored the times through personal stories.

Gary Edgerton, in the Journal of Popular Film and Television wrote, "More than anyone before him, Ken Burns has made the historical documentary a popular and gripping form for large segments of the American viewing public. He has successfully seized the attention of the mass audience through the topics he chooses, as well as created a stylistic approach that is well suited to his subjects and his ideological outlook."

Burns was born July 29, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, the older of two sons born to Robert Kyle and Lyla Smith (nee Tupper) Burns. At the time of his son's birth, Robert Burns was a graduate student...