Sharon McMahon in Conversation with Ken Burns: The Small and the Mighty - The 92nd Street Y, New York
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92NY Center for Culture & Arts
Recanati-Kaplan Talks

Sharon McMahon in Conversation with Ken Burns: The Small and the Mighty

Sharon McMahon and Ken Burns
The Small and the Mighty book cover

Join award-winning host of the hit podcast Here’s Where It Gets Interesting and “America’s Government Teacher” Sharon McMahon with Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns for a conversation on the ordinary Americans who form the backbone of our society — and her new book, The Small and the Mighty.

On her popular podcast, Sharon McMahon draws on her experience as a teacher to inform millions of listeners about the ins and outs of American history, law, and government — an informative, accessible voice of reason pushing back on a culture of misinformation. In her enthralling new book, she uses the same approach to illuminate our national history through the stories of ordinary Americans who led extraordinary lives — a young boy detained at a Japanese incarceration camp, a formerly enslaved woman on a mission to reunite with her daughter, a teacher who learns to work with her enemies. Hear McMahon and Burns discuss the inspiring stories of these remarkable characters, and how central fact-based documentary storytelling is — or should be — to the way that we understand our history.

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This program is part of 92NY Recanati-Kaplan Talks.
This program is part of the Newmark Civic Life Series, known for conversations with leading experts exploring pro-democracy efforts at this critical moment in the US and around the world, supported by Craig Newmark Philanthropies
craig newmark philanthropies
The Official Airline of 92NY Recanati-Kaplan Talks
An initiative of the 92NY Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact.
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Sharon McMahon

After years of serving as a high school government and law teacher, Sharon McMahon took her passion for education to Instagram …

Sharon McMahon

After years of serving as a high school government and law teacher, Sharon McMahon took her passion for education to Instagram, where more than a million people rely on her for non-partisan, fact-based information as “America’s Government Teacher.” In a time where flashy headlines and false information often take the spotlight, Sharon is a reliable source for truth and logic.

Sharon is also the host of the award-winning podcast, Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, where, each week, she provides entertaining yet factual accounts of America’s most fascinating moments and people. In all that she does, Sharon encourages others to be world-changing humans. She has led her community in various philanthropic initiatives that have raised more than $9 million for teachers, domestic violence survivors, terminally ill children, medical debt forgiveness programs, refugees, and more. More information at sharonmcmahon.com

Ken Burns

Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost fifty years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981 …

Ken Burns

Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost fifty years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; The War; The National Parks: America’s Best Idea; Prohibition; The Roosevelts: An Intimate History; The Vietnam War; Country Music; The U.S. and the Holocaust; and, most recently, The American Buffalo.

A December 2002 poll conducted by Real Screen Magazine listed The Civil War as second only to Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North as the “most influential documentary of all time,” and named Ken Burns and Robert Flaherty as the “most influential documentary makers” of all time. In March 2009, David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun said, “… Burns is not only the greatest documentarian of the day, but also the most influential filmmaker period. That includes feature filmmakers like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. I say that because Burns not only turned millions of persons onto history with his films, he showed us a new way of looking at our collective past and ourselves.” The late historian Stephen Ambrose said of his films, “More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source.” And Wynton Marsalis has called Ken “a master of timing, and of knowing the sweet spot of a story, of how to ask questions to get to the basic human feeling and to draw out the true spirit of a given subject.”

Future film projects include Leonardo da Vinci, The American Revolution, Emancipation to Exodus, and LBJ & the Great Society, among others.

Ken’s films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including seventeen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations. In September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Ken was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In November of 2022, Ken was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

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