The War, a seven-part series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, tells the story of World War II through the personal accounts of people from four American towns.

It reveals the deeply human scale of a global conflict that touched every family, in every community—showing that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.

Through veterans’ testimonies, the series brings the reality of combat into stark focus—from Monte Cassino, Omaha Beach, and the Ardennes, to Guadalcanal, Saipan, and Okinawa—capturing what it meant to fight, to endure, and to lose.

Using restored archival footage, photographs, and immersive sound design, it recreates the intensity and immediacy of battle while grounding it in individual experience.