Ken Burns on the Complications of History

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2022

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When it comes to history—particularly American history—nothing is ever definitive, says documentarian Ken Burns. Much of his work has focused on capturing that history in film, but in his new book, Our America: A Photographic History, his goal is to share the complexity of his country as well as honor those roots in still images. From the very first photograph, a self-portrait, to our modern inundation with selfies, he tells “the story of us” – a story of darkness and light, just as in the photographic process itself.

Ken joined Tyler to discuss how facial expressions in photos have changed over time, where in the American past he’d like to visit most, the courage of staying in place, how he feels about intellectual property law, the ethical considerations of displaying violent imagery, why women were so prominent in the early history of American photography, the mysteries in his quilt collection, the most underrated American painter, why crossword puzzles are akin to a cup of coffee, why baseball won’t die out, the future of documentary-making, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded November 1st, 2022

Check out our new Conversations with Tyler merch here at mercatusmerch.com, and use the promo code UNDERRATED for 10% off!

Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Follow Ken on Twitter
Email us: [email protected]
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi everyone, this is Tyler letting you know that podcast merch is finally available.
0:09.5	We have t-shirts, sweatshirts, beanies, mugs, tote bags, and even water bottles just in
0:15.7	time for the holidays.
0:17.2	To buy some merch and support the podcast, please visit www.mercadesmerc.com and if you
0:24.7	use the code underrated at checkout, you'll get 10% off.
0:38.0	For more information, visit www.conversationswithtiler.com
1:07.5	Hello everyone and welcome back to Conversations with Tyler.
1:11.3	Today I'm here with Ken Burns who needs no introduction.
1:14.2	He is America's best known documentarian but most notably we are recording today, November
1:20.6	1st, the publication date for Ken's new book called Our America a Photographic History
1:26.7	and it is written with also Susanna Stysel, Brian Lee and David Blistine.
1:32.1	Ken, welcome.
1:33.1	Thank you Tyler, great to be with you.
1:34.8	I have so many questions, let's start with photography.
1:37.8	As a nation, what is it that we have failed to photograph adequately?
1:42.2	I'm totally taken aback by that wonderful question because I sort of feel that we have over
1:47.7	photographed.
1:48.7	I say in my introduction that the cliche that a picture is worth a thousand words has
1:53.6	now probably been devalued or diminished to 500 or 250 or maybe 100 and the attempt of
1:59.8	this book was trying to return full value to an individual image and its ability to convey
2:06.1	complex information without undue manipulation meaning captions or explanations.
2:12.1	What you have here is a photography book that I've worked on in nights and weekends for
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Conversations with Tyler, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Conversations with Tyler and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.