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Documentarian Ken Burns will have his latest, The American Revolution, debuted on PBS in two weeks. It’s a long shot, but I am hoping some mention of Freemasonry will fit in the six-chapter, 12-hour series coming November 16.
It’s only fair. Many of his previous works involve historical Freemasons but do not mention the fraternity, such as The Statue of Liberty (1985), Lewis & Clark (1997), Mark Twain (2001), The Roosevelts (2014), and, most recently, Benjamin Franklin (2022). I’ve always believed his style of filmmaking would be ideal for a story about Freemasonry itself. He excels at telling of generational histories (Baseball, 1994; Jazz, 2001; Country Music, 2019) and epochal events (The Civil War, 1990; The War, 2007; The Vietnam War, 2017).
Who better to chronicle the adventures of a folkway that germinated in sixteenth century Scotland and spread around the globe, influencing cultures and societies everywhere while embracing the giants of Western Civilization? Many years ago, I emailed his office pitching that idea, but received no reply.
