Writer, director, producer and cinematographer Ken Burns long ago established himself as the uncontested champion of his trade. He is the Frank Lloyd Wright of documentary, the Mark Twain of historical storytelling, the Jack Johnson of cinematography, the Susan B. Anthony of research and interview.

Yes, Burns has produced or co-produced acclaimed documentaries on all the aforementioned icons, as well as many others. With his latest work, a seven-part documentary about World War II, the accolades keep pouring in. “The War” aired in seven two-hour installments on PBS, beginning on Sept. 23. Its creator will be at The Music Hall in Portsmouth on Monday, Oct. 22, as part of the Writers on a New England Stage series.

Burns’ mastery of the documentary genre has become such a standard that his style has even been spoofed in “mockumentaries,” including a popular YouTube film about the Three Stooges. A Burns documentary is recognizable by its fluid zooms of old black and white photographs, its austere narration and its emotionally charged interviews. But, he is also known for digging beneath the surface to further illuminate the people and events that have defined our nation over the last two centuries. 

Burns is hardly the first person to undertake a close examination of the Second World War. The Nazis’ rise to power, the unfathomable horrors of the Holocaust, the shocking impact of the attack on Pearl Harbor and U.S. involvement in the war have been taught and studied with growing scrutiny for well over half a century. But, by focusing on a cast of firsthand witnesses to the war and its devastating impacts at home, Burns manages to offer fresh insight, along with vivid imagery that brings the war to life more than 60 years after it ended.

Burns has strong ties to the Granite State. Born in New York, he went to high school in Michigan and graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. In his early 20s, Burns co-founded Florentine Films in his hometown of Walpole, N.H. His first major documentary was The Brooklyn Bridge, which aired on public television in 1981.

Burns was involved in a number of other films in the 1980s, but his career reached a new level with the 1990 documentary “The Civil War,” which received two Emmys, two Grammys and about 40 other film and television awards. At the time, “The Civil War” was the highest rated series in the history of American public television, attracting some 40 million viewers during its premiere.

Firmly established as the most accomplished documentary filmmaker of his generation, Burns spent the next four years putting together his highly anticipated follow-up, “Baseball.” Premiering in 1994, the 18-hour series traced America’s pastime back to its roots in the 1840s and followed its development—and the parallel development of industry, civil rights and numerous wars—to modern times.

Burns served as director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer and music director for both “The Civil War” and “Baseball.” He later co-produced the third installment of his “epic documentaries,” premiering “Jazz” in 2001. Like “Baseball,” “Jazz” used a quintessentially American invention to flesh out issues of racism, inequality and other shameful blemishes on American history. Featuring extensive interviews with jazz legends like Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, Artie Shaw and Jackie McLean, the series magnified both the glory and passion of jazz music, and its potholed history.

Other works by Burns have included documentaries on Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, Frank Lloyd Wright, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, Mark Twain and, most recently, boxer Jack Johnson—the first black heavyweight champion of the world. Representing yet another “epic” series, “The War” comes more than two and a half years after the two-part Jack Johnson film.

“The War” examines the effects of World War II on soldiers and the families they left in cities and towns back home, specifically Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; and Luverne, Minnesota. The nearly 15-hour series includes interviews with more than 40 men and women, along with a seemingly inexhaustible cache of vintage photos, delving into overseas battle scenes and struggles in the States.

Burns will discuss “The War” and its accompanying book at The Music Hall on Monday night. An interview with NPR newscaster Laura Knoy, host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “The Exchange,” will follow the presentation. As with all Writers on a New England Stage events, house band Dreadnaught will perform live music.

Produced by The Music Hall, New Hampshire Public Radio and RiverRun Bookstore, Writers on a New England Stage has previously featured such renowned authors as John Updike, Dan Brown, Anita Diamant and Mitch Albom. Burns’ appearance is sold out.