Ken Burns’s New National Parks TV Series Begins This Weekend

“If you love the outdoors and American history, you simply have to watch it,” to quote a review by editor in chief John Rasmus after the premiere of The National Parks at Mountainfilm in Telluride last summer. Award-winning director Ken Burns spent a decade in the parks, capturing 800 hours of jaw-dropping footage and interviewing scores of people, famous and unknown. The new twelve-hour, six-part series will begin airing this Sunday, September 27, on PBS. 

Burns wrote about the making of his new documenary, which looks at American history through our unique natural heritage, for our national parks cover story. He notes, “I prefer to think of…all national parks, a bit differently—not only as something this nation has preserved, but also something we’ve accomplished: one of America’s best ideas.” Read his essay here.

Photograph courtesy of Paul Barnes / Florentine Films