Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery

This Ken Burns documentary, narrated by Hal Holbrook, chronologically traces the well-documented 1804-06 military expedition of Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and Lt. William Clark (1770-1838) to survey newly acquired lands and seek a Northwest Passage. Ordered by Thomas Jefferson (who labeled it the ...more

Characterized by celebrity voice-overs, authentic period music, and fluid camera movement over vintage photographs, Ken Burns's style in such public television documentaries as Baseball (1994) and The Civil War (1990) had connected US audiences with their history and made the writer-director a star of public television. His ensuing biographies, Thomas Jefferson (1997) and Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997), presented him with subjects from before the invention of ...more