New Ken Burns' 'Vietnam War' documentary tackles divisive era

Ken Burns, who has produced definitive documentaries on subjects ranging from the Civil War to baseball to jazz, is tackling the Vietnam War, one of the most divisive periods in modern American history.

The 10-part series, directed by Burns and Lynn Novick, will air next September on PBS, the network announced.

The series attempts to look at all sides of the war, examining its impact on Vietnamese as well as Americans on both sides of the war. The conflict spawned massive protests against U.S. involvement in Vietnam and prompted President Lyndon Johnson to reject a re-election bid in 1968.

“The Vietnam War was a decade of agony that took the lives of more than 58,000 Americans,” Burns said in a statement announcing the film. “Not since the Civil War have we as a country been so torn apart.”

The series, called The Vietnam War, features testimony from nearly 100 witnesses. It took six years to complete and includes archival footage and home movies as well as audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations. ...