Hello, my friends. This is Professor Greg Jackson, and welcome to a special episode of

Histia that doesn't suck. We're going to return to our narrative episodes,

slogging through the trenches of World War One in a couple of weeks in time for the 105th

anniversary of the Armistice and Treaty of Versailles. But today, I'm thrilled to share with you my

conversation with legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns about his latest film, The American Buffalo,

which has a two-part premiere in the US on PBS, beginning Monday, October 16, 2023.

Some refer to Ken Burns as a historian, but he would be quick to tell you that he considers

himself a storyteller. The late historian Stephen Ambrose once said of Ken Burns films that,

quote, more Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source. Close quote,

I'm not exactly sure how to quantify a statement like that, but it's certainly fair to say that

Ken's films are an indelible part of American history telling. We do know that his 1990,

the Civil War, was the highest rated series in the history of American public television and

attracted an audience of 40 million during its premiere. I was only seven years old when that

nine-part series premiered in September of 1990. And now, today, I count this in many of Ken's later

films as important influences on my own journey to becoming a history scholar and storyteller.

His latest documentary, The American Buffalo, is a sort of biography of The American Bison,

or The Buffalo, is they are more commonly known. The fact is, we would only know of

Buffalo's from history books if it weren't for a collective effort to save the species from

the brink of extinction around the turn of the 20th century. It's a remarkable story of how

conservationists, industrialists, and hunters alike pulled together to repair some of what had

been pulled apart by unchecked slaughter and displacement of wildlife and indigenous peoples.

As you listen to Ken and I chat, I'm sure you'll recognize some of the historical context

...