The National Parks: America's Best Idea

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea continues Ken Burns’ track record of impeccable documentaries about the pillars of American history. As with his previous explorations into baseball, jazz, and the Civil War, with The National Parks Burns is once again able to tap into the zeitgeist of the American people, choosing to highlight personal stories over broad overviews. Broken down into six hour-long episodes, The National Parks covers a over 100 years of history, from 1851 to 1980. Burns digs through books, journals, memoirs, contracts, legal documents, and congressional bills in order to tell the full story of the creation of the national park project. The documentary also digs through journals of some of the nation’s biggest environmentalists and nature appreciators in order to present the beauty, majesty, and impact that the stunning national parks have over man. Filmed over the course of a six-year period and containing images of some of nature’s most spectacular locations, The National Parks is a documentary not to be missed. MORE