The Engineering That Built the World

A documentary series on revolutionary engineering projects: the Transcontinental Railroad, The Statue of Liberty, the US highway system, the Panama Canal, the Boston subway, the Transatlantic telegraph cable, The Golden Gate and Bay Bridges of San Francisco and the Hoover Dam.

A reasonably interesting documentary series. Covers many well-known man-made features that we just take for granted today. At their time of construction, however, they were the results of amazing feats of engineering, and many still are. Very educational in how the projects are discussed.

Not brilliant though. Many of the experts, historians and engineers, are largely of the cheerleader type, hyping up each project using hyperbole and inane comparisons. This weakens the objectivity of the series and makes it look cheap. Having experts with gravitas would have gone a long way to making this series brilliant.

The other thing is that while the series is called "The Engineering That Built the World" it really should be called "The Engineering That Built the United States". The series is incredibly American-centric. Even the episode on underground railways focuses on the Boston subway: the fact that several other underground railways were built sooner is merely mentioned in passing and used as a "Well, we can do better than them" moment.

I love these shows and the information you get. But who let Pete Buttigieg in on this. This guy can't couldn't manage changing his shoes. He was a complete failure as a Mayor. He hasn't done a thing on Transportation. You actually took away from your show by allowing this guy a minute of time.

These are the type of documentaries the History Channel needs to make more of it is so interesting.

Can't wait for new episodes. My favorite episode so far was either the one of the Highways or The episode on the Statue of Liberty.