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The American War
How America lost its way in Vietnam, and how Ken Burns and Lynn Novick are trying to help us find our way back. A podcast guide to the new PBS documentary, "The Vietnam War."

The Vietnam War ushered in one of the most divisive periods in American history, one that raised questions we still haven’t resolved today. For filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, making their landmark documentary about the Vietnam War meant confronting these issues – and their own experiences of the war.

In “The American War,” Washington Post Opinion columnist Alyssa Rosenberg breaks down the series with Burns and Novick, getting the story behind the stories, and grappling with the lessons the United States learned – and failed to learn – in Vietnam and at home.

Listen after each episode of "The Vietnam War" for a new perspective on how the film was made and what it all means.

Read more from Alyssa about the documentary:

PART I: Ken Burns wants 'The Vietnam War' to unite America. Can anyone do that under Trump?

PART II: It took Ken Burns and Lynn Novick 10 years to unbury the secrets of the Vietnam War

PART III: Meet Lynn Novick, the most important documentarian you've never heard of 

Episodes:
Updated: September 22, 2017
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Episode 5: “I only killed one human being in Vietnam.”
As African-Americans fought for their rights at home, anti-Asian racism shaped American policy in Vietnam and became a coping tool for soldiers. Alyssa talks to Ken Burns about his career-long focus on race as a key part of the American story.