PBS announced it will mark the 50th anniversary of the iconic 1969 Woodstock music festival next year with a two-hour American Experience documentary from Barak Goodman. PBS says Woodstock will examine "the tumultuous decade that led to those three historic days — years that saw the nation deeply divided by Vietnam and racial, generational and sexual politics — through the voices of those who were present for the event that would become the defining moment of the counterculture revolution." PBS also announced that Henry Louis Gates, Jr. will host and executive produce a four-hour examination of Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, which is also set to air in 2019. PBS says the documentary will present the "definitive history of one of the least understood chapters in American history — the transformative years following the American Civil War when the nation struggled to rebuild itself in the face of profound loss, massive destruction and revolutionary social change." Ken Burns Presents The Gene: An Intimate History, a three-hour adaptation of Siddhartha Mukherjee’s book of the same name, will air in spring 2020. It will examine the role that genes play in heredity, disease and behavior.
TOPICS: PBS, American Experience, Ken Burns Presents The Gene: An Intimate History, Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, Barak Goodman, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Ken Burns, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Documentaries, Woodstock