History Professor Donald Miller Involved with Emmy-Winning Miniseries The Pacific and New PBS Documentary

Donald Miller, John Henry MacCracken Professor of History, teaches a class in Ramer History House.

Professor Donald Miller served as a historical consultant and on-camera expert for the documentary Make No Little Plans, premiering Monday, Sept. 6, on PBS, and as consultant and writer for accompanying historical material for the HBO miniseries The Pacific, which has won eight Emmy Awards.

Miller, John Henry MacCracken Professor of History, is chief historical consultant and writer for The Pacific’s ambitious web site and is historical consultant and on-camera expert on the DVD and Blu-Ray components of the series.

The 10-hour World War II miniseries, which debuted March 14 on HBO, was nominated for 24 Emmy awards and received eight, including outstanding miniseries, during the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards Aug. 29. The show’s executive producers are Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman, the creative team behind the Emmy-winning 2001 HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.

• HBO World War II Miniseries The Pacific Nominated for 24 Emmy Awards

The one-hour film Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City explores the life and legacy of architect and city planner, Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912). Burnham helped develop city plans for Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Manila and Baguio City in the Philippines.

Burnham was featured in Miller’s 1996 book City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America. The book received the Great Lakes Book Award for non-fiction and was made into a seven-hour documentary film series for PBS’ The American Experience.

Miller is an award-winning author and expert on WWII. Three of his eight books are on the war: Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany (2006); D-Days in the Pacific (2005); and The Story of World War II (2001), all published by Simon & Schuster.

Miller was writer and chief historical consultant for WWII in HD, a 10-hour series that aired on the History Channel in November 2009, and was the network’s most watched program of the fall season. Narrated by Emmy Award-winner Gary Sinise, the series was inspired by The Story of World War II.

Miller also appeared as an on-camera expert on The American Experience program The Bombing of Germany. The one-hour documentary premiered in February and was based in part on Masters of the Air. Miller served as the production’s principal consultant.

Miller has won six awards for excellence in teaching, five fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a number of prestigious book awards. As in many of his projects, students played a key role in the production of his books, including fact checking, proofreading, and critiquing Masters of the Air and The Story of World War II.