America: The Story of Us

As a teacher, I am using the first two episodes to help fifth grade students understand and appreciate the challenges of the American Revolution. I will admit I have not watched beyond these episodes, but feel that at least the first two give an abbreviated but accurate window about the challenges of the American Revolution. I would have liked to see more about the French and Indian Wars, as well as the Stamp Act and Intolerable Acts, but there are few videos available that open the many topics of interest about the American Revolution without being COMPLETELY boring. This video, in my opinion, will interest students to research beyond what they have seen on screen. Sadly, the youth of today need a video to motivate them to learn more, so I feel this video series does a nice job of making the American Revolution interesting and accessible to young people.

If you happened to fall asleep during any of your grade school history classes, then you might actually learn something from watching The History Channel's America: The Story of US. Otherwise, there's not much new to be gleaned from this series, which plays it pretty close to the script. It's a "pop history" of the United States, from the Jamestown colony all the way through to the new millennium, bolstered by CGI effects that allow viewers to stare straight down the barrel of a revolutionary war musket, witness firsthand the building of the Hoover Dam, or glimpse a time when thirty-million bison roamed the great plains. Through twelve episodes across three discs, most of the familiar areas, objects and people of US history are touched upon: The Revolutionary War, The Civil War, slavery, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Pearl Harbor, Native Americans, pilgrims - it's all here; well, almost. Somehow the series manages to skip over US involvement in an entire war, World War I. It's a glaring oversight in an otherwise thorough if typical series.

Familiar pundits and celebrities are called upon throughout the series to offer their knowledge and opinions on the various subjects pertaining to US history, including Tom Brokaw, Michael Douglas, Colin Powell, Bill Maher, Sheryl Crow, Newt Gingrich and the Reverend Al Sharpton, among others. Actor Liev Schreiber handles the narration duties well, with an engaging and steady voice that draws the viewer into even the most familiar of subjects.

My 14-year-old son, wife, and I watched the entire series. My son, after a less-than-interesting year of American history in school, was not only interested, but excited about watching every new episode. There were a great many details about American history which are often glazed over in textbooks. I would not call this series an overview of American history, nor do I think it really attempts to become that...rather, it does a fine job of pinpointing some rather important, lesser-known events that greatly affected the direction of our country.

The computer animations, at times, were poor...though I've seen blockbuster movies pushing the limits and doing little better. The side conversations and interviews with modern celebrities were interesting...at times very relevant...they were always brief, however, so even when some seemed a bit pointless, they were not really all that intrusive.

If you have the chance to view this series in its entirety, and you are not an American history expert, I am certain you will learn a great deal in every episode. This series cannot be expected to be a standalone summary of American history, but it really is a great supplement to what you might already know and does a good job of actually avoiding hitting those topics which are usually taught in excruciation detail in a class setting (eg. Civil War battles).

Update 1 year later: My son is completely interested in history class, and the topic of history, in general. He is not considering any career in the field, but thoroughly enjoys discussing detailed points of the topic with peers and adults. I fully attribute the spark of his interest in this topic to this mini-series.

One person here doesn't like the show because he/she disagrees with the politics of some of the people narrating.

A few others don't like it because things are left out.

Some don't like the way things were interpreted.

The goal of the show is to keep it exciting and give a brief overview of what what happened. Of course there's going to be a lot left out. Of course there's a lot to be left to interpretation.

It's not a perfect show, but it does give a glimpse of events by adding dramatization. Lots of things have to be left out for a show like this.

Overall, 8/10.

I was sorely disappointed with this highly touted History Channel offering. At first, I was disturbed mainly by reenactments which were too often grossly inaccurate, but as the series began to cover eras and events that I was more familiar with, it became apparent that the narrative was also misleading. (There are too many incidents to relate, but was Lincoln REALLY "best known," prior to his presidential election, for loosing two bids for the Senate? What a misrepresentation of his political life--including two years in Congress--let alone his reputation as a public speaker.) Some "talking heads" had an aura of authority to speak on the events being covered, but too many were simply "celebrities" with apparently no expertise, and sometimes, little relevance to the current topic. One has to wonder why certain events were chosen to depict an era or turning point in the Nation's history for any reason other than their sensationalist value.

This is History for those who can only tolerate short snippets and catchy graphics. Worse than being over simplified, too much is simply misleading in the way it is presented. Alas, this is pretty much what the "New" History Channel produces now. It is sensationalism over substance; entertainment over education. Such a shame...