Gigantes da Indústria

Although I am not a history major or a self-proclaimed history buff, I loved this show. I normally NEVER watch TV and I simply couldn't stop until I was done with the series. I thought the producers did an excellent job of making these stories interesting and I also enjoyed the commentary. The men portrayed, (Vanderbuilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Ford) were business geniuses regardless of their often unscrupulous tactics amongst each other, smaller business and the working man. It's still a part of American history that everyone should learn about, including kids in school. Also, it's much better than most shows you find on TV these days.

An appealingly watchable and well done documentary on the men who emerged from post-Civil War America to become the titans of their respective enterprises and helped shape a nation into one of the greatest and most influential nations in history. The stories of Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford are shown featuring their rise from varied backgrounds to being among the most powerful men in the United States. Their interactions with each other and society around them, their triumphs, challenges, crimes and eventual declines are well presented. Decent actors portray the historical figures well and well done reenactments give a good glimpse into a time and place when these giants of industry dominated their respective domains. Interviews with authors and prominent business figures like Donald Trump and Jack Welch add a contemporary outlook and sense of perspective. Whether it be in shipping, railroads, oil, electricity, or automobiles the documentary shows that these moguls all had the vision, the confidence and the drive to succeed and saw opportunity in situations both good and bad and never allowed adversity or setbacks to get in their way. Informative and inspiring, "The Men Who Built America" highlights what man can achieve.

Pretty entertaining series, with an odd mix of commentators. Sort of a pot-boiler as historical documentaries go. We know it's more Hollywood than history when Donald Trump, Mark Cuban, Donny Deutsch, Steve Wynn, Russell Simmons, Jim Cramer, and Jerry Weintraub are consulted to comment on the history of American business. Alan Greenspan, good. Jack Welch, Carly Fiorina, Steve Case -- okay. Can't go wrong with Campbell Scott narrating.

Great historic documentary with actors dramatising the events. However, one thing really annoyed me is how every 10 minutes or so there is a recap! It's probably made for the US where they have commercial breaks every ten minutes (!) but why the constant recap??

I home-school my daughter and used this series to expand on this era of time in American History.

Traditional schools just touch on these men. I wanted her to get the idea of who they really were, how driven they were and how visionary they had to be to achieve such greatness.

Now that we are done with the series, we both feel more informed, and we will miss The Men Who Built America in both spirit and history.

Side note: Great acting by all in the series, they brought their roles to life and gave them personality and depth.