logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2017
30m 11s

Lynn Novick on Making The Vietnam War

Peach Fish Productions
About this episode

How do you attempt to document an event as complex and inexplicable as the Vietnam War? Filmmaker Lynn Novick says it helped to prioritize Vietnamese voices as well as people with a flair for speaking. "There's a poetry in just how people express themselves that we look for," said Novick. She and Ken Burns co-directed The Vietnam War, airing now on PBS. 

In the Spiel, Mike tsk-tsks Donna Brazile's tell-all. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Jan 24
Michelle Tafoya on the "Complete and Utter Ambush"
First, Mike argues that Stephen Miller's promise of "federal immunity" to ICE agents is just as reckless as Donald Trump telling Iranian protesters the U.S. is "locked and loaded"—two instances of leaders writing checks their followers' safety can't cash. Then, from the vault (20 ... Show More
30m 25s
Jan 23
Kenneth Vogel on the "Sh*tbag Business"
Today on The Gist, Mike explains why he won't be watching Netflix's Skyscraper Live, arguing that Alex Honnold's latest stunt is an "attractive nuisance" that plays on our darkest voyeuristic instincts rather than the Olympic ideal. Then, New York Times reporter Kenneth Vogel joi ... Show More
47m 29s
Jan 22
Jason Guriel: Why Culture Got Nicer—and Much Less Useful
Critic and essayist Jason Guriel joins to talk about Fan Mail and how cultural criticism curdled once gatekeepers vanished and celebration replaced judgment. He makes the case that abundance without curation doesn't democratize culture so much as drown it, leaving readers unsure ... Show More
36m 9s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2024
178. The Vietnam War: Nixon, Vietnamisation, and the Fall of Saigon
With Richard Nixon now in the White House and not wanting to have his presidency consumed by Vietnam like his predecessor’s was, he begins to search for ways to disentangle America from the war. It begins with Vietnamisation and an attempt to reduce South Vietnamese reliance on t ... Show More
55m 13s
Oct 13
The escape from Vietnam that tore my family apart
In the chaos of the helicopter evacuation from Saigon in April 1975, Doan Hoàng Curtis' sister was somehow left behind. It would haunt her family for years. Doan was just three years old when her family made it onto one of the last helicopters to leave Saigon as troops from the c ... Show More
42m 27s
Oct 2024
The Vietnam War
The battle for Vietnam waged between the communist-ruled North of the country, and the US-backed south, lasted almost 20 years, from 1955. It spilled over into neighbouring countries, and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 3.8 million people - half of them civilians. It was a ... Show More
59m 37s
Oct 2018
E14: The Vietnam war with Noam Chomsky
Podcast episode about the Vietnam war with Noam Chomsky, and Mrs Van, a member of the Vietnamese Women's Union. We look at the geopolitics of the conflict and its human cost. Support this podcast and get early access to episodes and other benefits here on patreon: https://patreon ... Show More
41m 21s
Aug 2024
177. The Vietnam War: Lyndon Johnson, Americanisation, and Operation Rolling Thunder
With the death of JFK, Lyndon B. Johnson took over the Presidency and immediately had to wrestle with America’s relationship with Vietnam after the killing of Diem. Right from the start he prophesised that it would be his downfall and so it was. He consistently resented it and th ... Show More
56m 57s
Aug 2024
176. The Vietnam War: The Rise of Ho Chi Minh
Vietnam, or Indochina as it was known, had been under French colonial rule since the nineteenth century. This was until the Vietnamese nationalist group, the Viet Minh, took on the French in 1946. Ho Chi Minh, son of a Confucian scholar, former chef in Boston, and lover of French ... Show More
1h 2m
Jun 2025
#2336 - Ken Burns
Ken Burns is an award-winning documentary filmmaker known for “The Civil War,” “The Vietnam War,” "Jazz,” "Country Music," among many others. His next project, “The American Revolution,” a six-part series, will premiere November 16, 2025 on PBS.www.kenburns.com https://www.pbs.or ... Show More
2h 49m
Nov 2024
Introducing: Valor
From the cockpit to the halls of command, women in the military have fought, served, and led with courage—pushing the limits, breaking boundaries, and making history.Join us as we dive deep into stories of trailblazing women—like pilot Heather “Lucky” Penney who volunteered to sa ... Show More
3m 36s
Mar 2021
The Vietnam Paris connection
Viet Thanh Nguyen's novel The Sympathizer won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Its follow-up takes the lead character to Parisian salons and an underworld of drug dealing so Free Thinking tracks the French connection through film, history and philosophy as Matthew Sweet is joined ... Show More
44m 48s
Apr 2025
The Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ... Show More
9m 43s