documentaries

• 
• SOURCE: WGBH
  3/29/2021
  

  ‘Atomic Cover-Up’ Reveals A Previously Unseen Story Of Human Devastation

  The new documentary "Atomic Cover-Up"  reminds that "people of goodwill can differ over whether we did the right thing in order to bring a terrible war to its conclusion or if, instead, we committed unforgivable crimes against humanity. What none of us can do is look away."

• 
• SOURCE: Greg Mitchell
  3/22/2021
  

  “Atomic Cover-Up” Premieres

  by Greg Mitchell

  Documentarian Greg Mitchell's new movie about the two film crews – one Japanese, one American – who recorded the human toll of the Hiroshima bombing and had their footage suppressed has premiered. Find out how to view it. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/12/2021
  

  Ken Burns Still Has Faith in a Shared American Story

  "The most important thing about me talking about race now is to say that I am in a position where I have to be quiet. You have to be quiet. There are other voices that need to speak. The dismantling of white supremacy is not just white people continually talking about the dismantling of white supremacy. You have to shut up and listen."

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• SOURCE: Austin American-Statesman
  3/2/2021
  

  It's not Tex-Mex: New Documentary Digs Deep into Texas Mexican Food, History

  Adán Medrano's new streaming documentary focuses on the influence of indigenous culture and the labor of women and immigrants in the food culture of Texas. 

• 
• SOURCE: Civil War Memory
  3/8/2021
  

  The Problem With CNN’s Lincoln Documentary

  by Kevin M. Levin

  In a brief review, history educator and civil war scholar Kevin M. Levin says CNN's latest Lincoln documentary doesn't use the knowledge of a great roster of historians to full advantage. 

• 
• SOURCE: History.com
  2/11/2021
  

  New Documentary: Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage

  TV journalist Robin Roberts produces a documentary on the famed Tuskegee Airmen – including her father – whose service in World War II supported the long movement for civil rights. 

• 
• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  1/15/2021
  

  A New Film Details the FBI’s Relentless Pursuit of Martin Luther King Jr.

  The new film "MLK/FBI" addresses Americans' failure to remember that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was unpopular, labeled as divisive and subversive, and subject to harassment by federal law enforcement agencies during his life. 

• 
• SOURCE: Paste
  12/15/2020
  

  Paste Magazine's Best Documentaries of 2020

  Documentaries on the memory of the Civil War and the beginnings of the disability movement are among Paste's best of the year. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/6/2020
  

  A Polarizing Documentary Spurs Debate Over a Violent Time in Quebec

  Canadians are debating whether a documentary released at the fiftieth anniversary of a campaign of political violence by Quebecois separatists valorizes terrorism and ignores peaceful progress toward a bicultural Canada; the filmmaker is the son of one of the convicted conspirators.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/3/2020
  

  ‘Billie’ Review: A Legend, in a Different Light

  A new documentary examines the lives of both the great singer and the filmmaker who died suddenly while working on a documentary of Billie Holliday's life. 

• 
• SOURCE: LA Progressive
  12/2/2020
  

  "A Life on Our Planet" Provides Environmental Hope

  by Walter G. Moss

  Although the recent Netflix documentary on the global environment describes a grim present, it explains a path forward that is simple (if the political will can be found). 

• 
• SOURCE: Irish Times
  11/30/2020
  

  ‘Bodies Left for Weeks. People Eaten by Dogs’: A New Documentary on the Irish Famine

  “The British abandoned people to starvation,” says Prof Kevin Whelan of the University of Notre Dame. “At the highest level of government there was a sense that this ultimately wasn’t their problem”. A new Irish television documentary is narrated by Liam Neeson.

• 
• SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
  11/12/2020
  

  ‘The Reagans’ Review: Challenging a Leader’s Legacy

  If the new Showtime documentary wishes to undermine the legacy of Ronald Reagan, one reviewer suggests it ultimately makes the 40th President more sympathetic and appealing. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/11/2020
  

  Was Reagan a Precursor to Trump? A New Documentary Says Yes

  Reagan biographer Lou Cannon and historian Rick Perlstein contend the series misconstrues Reagan's politics by portraying him as a dog-whistling race baiter (Cannon says it's flat wrong, Perlstein says it's more complicated than that). 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/12/2020
  

  ‘The Reagans’ Review: Making America Great Again, Round 1

  "The series provides a steady succession of parallels between Reagan and Donald J. Trump, none labeled as such but all difficult to miss."

• 
• SOURCE: CBS News
  11/8/2020
  

  Ken Burns on America, Selling His First Film, PBS's Long Deadlines and More

  "I have had the privilege of spending my entire life making films about the U.S., capital U, capital S. But I've also had the privilege of making films about 'us,' the two-letter, lowercase, plural pronoun, that has a kind of intimacy and warmth to it."

• 
• SOURCE: PBS
  10/20/2020
  

  Frontline: Whose Vote Counts?

  Jelani Cobb investigates the Wisconsin primary election as a lens onto the ongoing struggle to protect voting rights. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  9/26/2020
  

  Re-Watching ‘The Civil War’ During the Breonna Taylor and George Floyd Protests

  by Gillian Brockell

  Ken Burns's Civil War documentary series sparked tremendous interest in history, but the series has a big Shelby Foote problem. 

• 
• SOURCE: Hyperallergic
  9/16/2020
  

  From MLK to Whistleblowers, the FBI’s Trouble with Dissidents

  The films MLK/FBI and Enemies of the State offer contrasting looks at government oppression.

• 
• SOURCE: The Metropole (Urban History Association)
  9/10/2020
  

  A Neoliberal Love Story, From Public Housing To Golf: A Review Of East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story

  by Courtney Rawlings

  Courtney Rawlings argues that a recent documentary on public housing has a blind spot for the politics that make decent housing precarious or even unavailable to millions.