Ken Burns’ latest work takes us back to a moment of great dissension and division, a moment in which Americans raged against the monarch leading them and in which any outcome seemed possible. By sheer happenstance, it’s eerily resonant.

Co-directed by Sarah Botstein and David P. Schmidt, “ The American Revolution ,” premiering Nov. 16 on PBS , is a six-part, 12-hour excavation of the war that led to the creation of the United States. In the form Burns has made famous in documentaries from “The Civil War” to “The Central Park Five” to “Jazz,” the series takes an expansive, prismatic view of its subject, exploring the motivations and decisions of early Americans including George Washington and rank-and-file soldiers.

The production of “The American Revolution” unfolded over 10 years, d

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