The Men Who Built America

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.

I enjoyed watching "The Men Who Built America" and do strongly recommend it. The show is engaging and interesting--no doubt about that. However, I did have a few minor objections which seemed to come up more and more when the shows progressed. First, the show would normally only be seen by people who love history and yet, time and again, the show tried to create cliffhanger moments even though nearly every viewer KNOWS that Rockefeller went on to become rich and Carnegie took a few gambles but became mega-rich! No surprises yet the show sure made it seem like it was. Second, sometimes the show was just a bit over-the-top when it came to the drama and music. Tone it down just a bit please. And third, a few times the history just wasn't quite accurate--especially in episode 4.

So what we have is a rare show because it talks about the men who made America the economic power of the world--Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan and Ford. This is important history and generally is quite watchable but just could have scored a 10 had they roughed out a few aspects of the show.

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.

You know the names of the foundations, the musems, the cultural centers; not so much the circumstances of these men who contributed to America as much as any of her Presidents. This series aims to put faces to names, and succeeds in that aspiration memorably. Ideologically, it links innovation, capitalism and the social good as well as anything you're bound to see in the popular media.

The opening titles won me over then and there, demonstrating that this series was something different. it rolled out a sequence of what we thought of as dusty old names and depicted them in 2.5D as rock stars, recalling the opening titles of "Easy Riders Raging Bulls (2003)." High production values are evident all around, from the exceptional CGI recreations to the casting and acting.

At times the production comes across as bit over-the-top, but isn't that appropriate given the outsized subject matter?

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.