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Ken Burns’ and Lynn Novick’s upcoming seven-part series on World War II, The War, “tells the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of nearly 50 men and women from four quintessentially American towns.”

In this film, everyone on camera was directly affected by the war, either on the battlefield or at home. There are no interviews with armchair historians (nor, apparently, Europeans). There’s already been a lot written about the film, not all of it positive.

David Bianculli conducts a nice 30min interview with Ken Burns on the radio program Fresh Air. Burns talks about the film, how he and Novick selected the people interviewed, why they didn’t have historians on camera, responses to and criticisms of the film, and what he thinks of Apple’s Ken Burns Effect. Burns’ comments caused me to raise my opinion of him and his work.

The War airs on PBS in the United States in September, 2007. There is a little more info an a short teaser on the program’s PBS web page.

On a lighter note, check out the two minute film, The Office: A Documentary Film by Ken Burns (actually by Low Culture).