The Shakers: Hands to Work, Heart to God

Format: DVD Runtime: 58 Minutes Series: Ken Burns America

Hands To Work. Hearts To God.

They call themselves the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, but because of their ecstatic dancing, the world called them Shakers. Though they were celibate, they are the most enduring religious experiment in American history. They believed in pacifism and feminism, freedom from prejudice, natural health and hygiene, and for more than 200 years insisted that their follows should strive for simplicity and perfection in everything that they did. The Shakers put their 'hands to work and their hearts to God," creating an exquisite legacy of fine furniture, glorious architecture, and beautiful music which will remain and inspire long after the last Shaker is gone.

Through diaries, archival photographs, music and stunning cinematography, Ken Burns creates a moving portrait of this particularly American movement, and in the process, offers us a new and unusually moving way to understand the Shakers.