THE VIETNAM WAR is a 10-part, 18-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. An immersive, 360-degree narrative, the series tells the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never before been told on film.

The River Styx
With South Vietnam in chaos, Hanoi accelerates the insurgency, sending combat troops to the South. Fearing Saigon’s collapse, President Lyndon B. Johnson escalates, authorizing sustained bombing of the North and deploying ground troops in the South.

THE VIETNAM WAR features testimony from nearly 80 witnesses, including many Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both the winning and losing sides.

Ten years in the making, the series brings the war and the chaotic epoch it encompassed viscerally to life. It includes rarely seen, digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and revelatory audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations. The series features more than 100 iconic musical recordings from many of the greatest artists of the era, and original music from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross as well as the Silk Road Ensemble featuring Yo-Yo Ma.