A University of Colorado at Boulder history professor's award-winning book about the French and Indian War is the foundation of a new series airing nationally on the Public Broadcasting Service starting Jan. 18.
CU-Boulder Professor Fred Anderson also served as an adviser to the PBS program and wrote a "companion book" for the production titled "The War That Made America."
The four-hour series documenting the French and Indian War will be broken into two parts and will air on consecutive Wednesdays, Jan. 18 and Jan. 25. In Denver, it will air on KRMA, Channel 6, at 9 p.m. MST both nights.
"It all began when I published my book 'Crucible of War' in 2000," said Anderson. "The book attracted considerable attention in Pittsburgh, a primary setting for the French and Indian War, and the center of a multistate effort to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the event. Several funding organizations, especially the Mellon, Heinz, McCune and Grable foundations expressed an interest in making a movie about the war. One thing led to another, and the result was 'The War That Made America,' " he said.
At more than 50,000 copies, Anderson's original book "Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766" sold well for an academic book. It won several national awards, including the Francis Parkman Prize, given annually by the Society of American Historians to the "best book on American history." It was 900 pages long, however, and too complex to be turned into a film, according to Anderson.
Working together with the production's writer-directors Eric Strange and Ben Loeterman, Anderson and a team of historians devised a film that isn't a conventional documentary, according to Anderson. It is made without "talking head" historians appearing on screen, and instead has a single narrator, Graham Greene.
Greene, an Oneida Indian, has appeared in dozens of films and is best recognized for his role as Kicking Bird in "Dances With Wolves." This is in keeping with the goal of showing the central role that American Indians played in shaping the war and determining its outcome, Anderson said.
"We wanted to keep the film flowing without interruption, and allow viewers to remain imaginatively in the past, without having some academic in a bow tie tell them what to think," Anderson said. "It turned out not to be easy to do that. Prior to this project, I had no experience with films, so it was eye-opening to see what it takes to make them, and more than a little humbling to realize how hard it is to turn scholarship into watchable television drama."
When he agreed to advise the series, Anderson also agreed to write the "companion volume" -- also titled "The War That Made America" -- to accompany it. The book provides greater analytical depth, suggestions for further reading and scores of illustrations to complement the production. Anderson hopes the companion volume, which is less than a quarter of the length of his earlier book, can be used in classrooms.
"I tried to crystallize the argument of the much longer 'Crucible of War,' and I hope it can be used as a textbook, perhaps in conjunction with the film, in high school and Advanced Placement classes," Anderson said. "In fact, I may use it myself."
Anderson will give a talk and sign copies of his book "The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War" on Thursday, Jan. 26, at 7:30 p.m. at the Boulder Bookstore at 1107 Pearl St. in Boulder.