The War by Ken Burns begins on Septermber 23, 2007. To judge by his other efforts, this one also looks promising; as was done in the excellent and definitive British production of "The World at War" (available from Amazon and priceless at any price) Burns will make extensive use of the recollections of veterans, American veterans, in creating his documentary. Good! Perhaps there is also an urgent sense of duty to history governing these productions, as the number of eyewitnesses to past events dwindles with the passage of time.

It was a showing any American can be proud of. Despite the questionable foreign policies, blunders and dirty interventionism of subsequent administrations (particularly the present one) which have almost completely exhausted the moral capital of that long ago war, what they did in helping rid Europe of Nazism amounts to, and remains, their finest hour.