Ken Burns and Erik Larson on America's history from crisis to Civil War

Ken Burns talks with bestselling author Erik Larson about his new book, The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War (2024), which explores the choices of one of our greatest presidents in American history.
UNUM: One nation, many stories.
UNUM is a new way to explore American history through scenes selected from over 40 films by Ken Burns. We're constantly curating new topics, providing historical context for the conversations we are having today.

[@leeschillinger4020]

It is a thrill to see an interview with Eric Larson and conducted by Ken Burns! I am totally in completely engrossed in demon of unrest! it is a wonderful book as are all of Eric Larson’s books. And as for the host, his wonderful documentaries are peerless❤ thank you both for adding so much to this world❤❤❤

[@lisalivingston6473]

I got a chill up my spine when Erik Larson warned us to pay attention to people who speak of a modern-day Civil War. After watching the events of Jan. 6, 2021 unfold, I think it is wise to take his warning to heart. I pray that our country can find its footing and start to heal the deep divisions that separate us. I thank God every day that I was born an American, and I have always tried not to take my freedom for granted.

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

What happened on Jan. 6th was a riot. It was deliberately encouraged by the CIA and FBI to prevent the electors being sent back to the state legislatures. The election was clearly stolen and everyone knows it. Votes were counted for days and even weeks after the election was over!

[@geekmeee]

Freedom to dominate others? And the freedom to violently take land from the Native Americans??

[@ericbrumley9026]

What’s more frightening is the aftermath. Government officials using their power to create false narratives, to spread lies and fear monger in order to suppress the people’s will.

[@Reg44T]

People are taking advantage of our freedom. Using it against us. All other countries nip it in the bud when you disrespect them.

[@andrewpereira9271]

Thanks for bringing up the beauty of Larson's prose. As a history buff, it's always struck me.

[@kennydyas3606]

Two of the Best folks. Sit back, relax, and LEARN. You are in for a treat.

[@jamieryman]

Excellent piece! Could listen to these two speak for hours 👏👏

[@ELL289]

Just ordered a copy. Thank you for a really interesting interview. You both have such a deep store of knowledge.

[@4pauledouglas]

Beyond BRILLIANT, Thank you KEN BURNS.👍👍👍👍

[@1953jazzman]

Excellent, insightful conversation!

[@johngoldenbritt5112]

The Demon of Unrest is hard to put down. A great piece of history.

[@daleodberg6714]

Thank you. I have read The Devil in the White City and The Garden of Beasts and look forward to The Demon of Unrest.

[@kathrynludrick4821]

My sister and I were talking about this the other day, ie some contemporaries promoting civil war. She and I concluded that they had no clue of what happened to our country from 1861-1865 and beyond: The absolute carnage, the untold human suffering and misery and destruction experienced by both North and South. My great great grandfather died in the 1880s from a disease he contacted in the civil war. My great great uncle was mortally wounded at Shiloh. Another great great uncle was captured and imprisoned at Elmira. For those who know what happened in the civil war and yet promote it today are deluded if not outright evil.

[@haroldcheeseburger]

Thank you for being proper Historians.

[@gordonhuskin7337]

**partisan hacks Fixed that for you

[@haroldcheeseburger]

@@gordonhuskin7337 to each their own . Have a good day.

[@JamesDziezynski]

I love n Erik Larson interview as much as Larson loves dinner menus :) Great interview. Demon of Unrest was a fascinating look into just how bizarre, yet normal, slavery was in the mid-1800s. Even Lincoln was pretty wishy-washy about abolition until his hand was forced. I highly recommend the book or audiobook.

[@lawharrington]

Sadly, it is likely that few Southerners outside of the communities with old line Whig newspapers ever learned of the conciliatory lines in Lincoln’s first inaugural address. The media at that time were about a fragmented as today.

[@georgeabraham5672]

The real problem is that the Ruffins are alive and active today.. Really well done vedio.. Thank you Ken

[@kevinleecaster2698]

It seems like we have quite a few Fire Eaters loudly calling for the dissolution of the Union nowadays

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

Most of the Ruffins today are BLM, ANTIFA, and radical Hamas supporters who are antisemitic.

[@kennedyland1]

An amazing book about hubris, pride, illusions and warped glory.

[@paulashcraft799]

Fantastic conversation; thanks

[@timsika7655]

I just ordered a copy of THE DEMON OF UNREST. Thanks for this great interview.

[@jdt2003]

The best documentary maker and one of the best historical novelists of our time have both been relegated by their wives to "Go upstairs to play your fun and games!"

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

Novels are not history. That applies to Shelby Foote as well.

[@lisalivingston6473]

@@ThomasCranmer1959 Some of the best novels have included historical references that stir a curiosity in me to learn more about history. I believe Erik Larson is a master of that craft!

[@mariellouise1]

Hope Ken will make a PBS documentary of these topics. Or this interview should be shown on PBS. Every member of Congress should have a copy of The Demon of Unrest.

[@salsan2946]

I have loved all of Larsen's books!

[@rebeccacamacho-sobczak4282]

I'm very happy to know you are creating this!!~~!!!

[@elainemarra9790]

Thank you both

[@TRIChuckles]

Good interview.

[@Publius_Americanus]

Phenomenal program. Thank you both!

[@dankelly2147]

Superbly done. Ordering the book now. Thank you for an insightful dialogue.

[@tomhaggard3352]

Awesome program

[@brianniegemann4788]

There were only about 165,000 major slave-owning planters in the south in 1859, those with thousands of acres and 20+ slaves. These men held powerful political positions; county commissioners, state legislators, governors, congressmen, senators. They controlled the southern newspapers too. They were aristocrats, princes, lords.

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

Exactly. The Confederates were mostly sharecroppers and tenant farmers.

[@Vevay1961]

And all of them Democrats. The slave owner party.

[@Christophe_derBerge-op9zh]

They were the techno Oligarchs of their day!

[@dwdavis5977]

Thank you Gentlemen.

[@richardlindquist5936]

It looks like a good read. Another good one is A Disease of the public mind by Thomas Fleming. Adds context to the civil war.

[@katydidiy]

I know this is off topic but I can't get it out my head, the commencement speech you gave at Stanford 7 years ago. If I had one wish I would interview everyone there that booed as to their beliefs now.

[@defyant1]

Erik's book is captivating and fearfully terrifying at the same it. There is nothing new under the sun. If you want to know why we are the divided states of today, just read The Demon of Unrest. Five Stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@Eurydice870]

I think I've read all his books, he has a great way of telling stories.

[@dr.wittern8911]

Isn't it actually J. David Hacker who we should thank for the accurate count of Civil War deaths (750,000+)? Drew Gilpin Faust has done incredible work on Civil War deaths and their effects, but it was Hacker who has corrected the previously estimated (and often cited) undercount of 620,000.

[@thomasd2444]

23:04 - The Better Angels of Our Nature

[@johnnolan4312]

The civil war will be considered "civil" in comparison to a modern day civil war

[@kathywolcott5157]

I'm just watching this amazing video 2 years since it was posted. I have to say that I first thought the reaction to Khanysia was displeasure and stress. But from the explanations and posts, it seems like I misinterpreted. Was there a point in their attempts to protect & greet her that they could have harmed her?

[@thomasd2444]

41:51 - 04:30 hrs , 12 APR 1861 , Fort Sumtner

[@thomasd2444]

44:08 - Note to readers: Dark Magic

[@faybyshe]

Both of these guys are calling in from their attics?!?

[@thomasd2444]

33:26 - Abe's cabinet Politics

[@davidford761]

🌈❤️BEAUTIFUL💥💥💞

[@thomasd2444]

07:41 - We will become a country in which all HAVE-NOTS become _________ HAVE-ENOUGHS or HAVE-MORES

[@MaxExpatr]

I fear that the consequences of our impacting the climate will overwhelm any endeavors such as these and to fix the what we have done. Embrace what you have now. Vaya con Dios.

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

21:54 Is there a God who inspired the Bible?

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

19:56 My ancestors never owned slaves. They fought to defend their homeland from a Federal invasion.

[@Juergen732]

Have you read the book?

[@Matthew-rr4de]

Burns has skill and talent. His motivation is what's in question. His disarming nature is a disguise that masks his poisoning of the well. He is a storyteller. He is not a historian. He is far more crusader than scholar. He is as slick as they come.

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

Slavery would have been abolished without a war. 15:07

[@gordonhuskin7337]

Yep, Corwin ammendment

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

23:14 Is the Bill of Rights subject to modern reinterpretation?

[@gordonhuskin7337]

It no use arguing with a subversive leftist

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

11:09 Secession was never a reason for the invasion of the South. Lincoln violated the Constitution.

[@patticriss2238]

When I saw the photo of you with Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito and Leonard Leo on a trip, I gave up on you as well. Painful, this one. Shameful. I don’t care your intention. Don’t care if it was research or some stupid stuff. I’m done with all of you colliders. If you didn’t call it out and turn them in, you are complicit. Period. No matter the other work you do. I’m out.

[@richardlindquist5936]

Curious to see Erik express his fears about Jan 6. I just don’t see it the same way. There’s just too much out in the past several years about politics and the police response, and the absence of weapons to make it much of a rebellion. My concern is that casting it as such perpetuates the divisions as a self fulfilling prophecy, and delegitimizes the valid concerns of anyone non left.

[@Jm-Gonz]

January 6th was a political protest that turned into a minor riot, no weapons, no actual goal, One un armed female protester killed by a capitol guard . Calling it an insurrection was really something promoted by the DNC and liberal mainstream media. democratic politicians used it to try and destroy the Republican Party and gain political power. I do believe that all those that entered the capitol broke various laws and should be charged and tried, but calling it an insurrection or attempted coup is simply incorrect and history will eventually bear this out

[@thomasd2444]

Now try to put yourself in the mind of a deluded, power-hungry, life-long thief. See yourself sitting there, watching for 3 hours as your hope to just prevent the certification for one day & then for another & then another is achieved by the fools who fell for your lie you told over & over & over & over & over & over & over & over. See yourself never reaching for the phone & calling for police to restore the building to order & continue the certification.

[@MarkDouglass-dt9ky]

Ken Burns is a great American documentary maker, the greatest, but some artists as soon as he speaks about modern politics he becomes an embarrassment (cf. De Niro, Baldwin).

[@tommcfadden5232]

I agree with you. I include Donald Trump in that group. Every time the three of them speak on politics they embarrass themselves.

[@MarkDouglass-dt9ky]

@@tommcfadden5232 Trump is a god (small g ). America First.

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

22:43 Is homosexuality "natural"?

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

21:18 What is a woman?

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

48:24 Beautiful prose can be propaganda.

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

The Demon of Northern Aggression would have been a better title.

[@pegpage8618]

Can you explain what that means?

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

@pegpage8618 Let me spell it out. Lincoln started the war by invading South Carolina with Federal troops. He was warned not to send reinforcements to Fort Moultrie, and he did it anyway. It was an act of aggression that sparked the war. The South was invaded by Northern troops. We did not invade the North until 1864 or so.

[@Juergen732]

​@@ThomasCranmer1959..read the book and stop embarrassing yourself..

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

@@Juergen732 Read the history from the southern point of view and stop reinterpreting history.

[@Juergen732]

@@ThomasCranmer1959 reading history from " a southern point of view" is itself a "reinterpretation". I think the author (Erik Larson) gives a fair interpretation from both sides. If you haven't read his book there is no point in discussing this with you as you clearly have an ax to grind. Perhaps you can find a more receptive audience with the Maga crowd because as you know, Trump loves the uneducated.

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

44:05 The victors are still lying.

[@ThomasCranmer1959]

What is a baby?

[@boilerbonz]

So if Buchanan is only the 2nd worst POTUS ever, the worst is whom, Ken? Joe Biden or Jimmy Carter? That's a close one!

[@gregorygarcia7807]

I know the guy who wrote the preface to "baseball" and I can for sure tell you about his defacement of books at his school loyola over looking the Marina del rey. his backstabsmenship is beyond compare! not to mention the taste he has for pocketing things around the house. he told me we were going to "play a trick like abraham lincoln" on a friend. little did I know what he was doing in the other room. born may day '59 "thanks derek you've always been a real good friend."

[@jimmyclay9316]

The 2 great myths of the Civil War: 1) Abraham Lincoln was a great president. 2) Robert E. Lee was a great general.

[@gregorygarcia7807]

ken burns keeps the oldest prejudices alive in america. I'd say he is very slanted to the white-right!

[@richardlindquist5936]

@gregorygarcia7807 The dude is intensely anti Trump, considers him dictator material.