The acclaimed documentary maker Ken Burns’ new series (with Sarah Botstein and Lynn Novick), The US and the Holocaust, attempts to address a troubling question in the history of American anti-semitism: what exactly was the American response to the rise of anti-Jewish hatred and violence in Nazi Germany before and during World War II? We learn, with empathy and with critical frustration, about the challenges that President Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor faced even when they wanted to help, and about divisions and dilemmas within the US Jewish community as they faced up to the grim reality before them. We...