"America: The Story of Us" DVD: Any reviews here about it?

[Janie]

Pros? Cons? Worth it? Historically accurate?

 

Thanks!

[Joy at Home]

We just watched part of it last night to correlate with our history studies, which is WWI era. We loved the segment on Henry Ford, but were surprised it skipped right over WWI. Not a word:confused:

 

Haven't watched the entire series so don't know the flow of it yet, but liked what we saw, except for some glaring omissions.

 

Lisa

[dirty ethel rackham]

We saw it when it originally aired. My kids couldn't wait for the DVD. We loved it. It was an overarching view of American history. While it didn't cover everything, it did highlight some things that are often glossed over in most history books (like the building of the Erie Canal and how it reshaped the landscape) and building the railroads west. To cover everything as beautifully as it did, the series would have to have been 5 times as long.

[Ray]

Ack! America was founded on tobacco with seeds purloined from illegitimate means, grown in dirt usurped via violence.. haha ludicrous, ooze the guilt... Luckily it was free however my time is not and will be throwing it in the goodwill donation box.

 

Eh, anyway cool cgi:D

[DarcyB]

We only watched the early American settlement and felt like they spent a lot of time on minor things and skipped right over others that were huge. I wasn't fond of the 'celebrity' commentators. We had to send our 7yo out of the room for much of it. It'll be good for our 10yo in the next cycle of history, so I'm glad we have it to view and discuss, but I don't feel it was good for the elementary set.

[JustGin]

We've watched through the Civil War. Pros? We like the computer graphics stuff, especially when they do the US as if from far above and fill in, for example, the Confederacy a different color. We like the way they use actors to bring you inside the moment. For the most part I'm satisfied with the overview.

 

Cons? Far, far too much emphasis on the gruesome and especially I don't like the constant visual depiction of the gore of war. Yes, ok we get it that war is deadly, but I think they spend too much time on that and it does get pretty graphic. There is a long segment where we are treated to learning just exactly how a Minnie ball works, including being shown via computer graphics what one would do to the human body, blood spurting and all.

 

They spend so much time on stuff like the above, that other things do get light or no treatment. The whole Lewis and Clark expedition is reduced to the one incident of near failure, starvation the first winter they went out. Nothing of what they accomplished, nothing of the help the Indian's were, and nothing at all about Sacajawea. The whole pioneer movement is pretty much a long piece on the Donner Party which is also very gruesome.

 

I guess for a light overview of US History it's a neat resource, but so far I'm less than pleased with the focus on the gruesome and the leaving out of a lot of what I consider the best parts of the story. It is after all supposed to be a story and told correctly our nations history is really an amazing one.

 

My oldest is enjoying it, and we are having some good discussions but I'm glad I didn't pay for this. :)

[Caitilin]

We watched the first 2 episodes; I agree with the reviewer of the K-8 board who called it propaganda. That seems about right to me. Not partisan propaganda, but rather patriotic propaganda. We all enjoyed it, from dd6 to my dds12. I didn't think it was "too much" for my youngers--they loved it. :)

[RegGuheert]

I wasn't fond of the 'celebrity' commentators.

:iagree:

 

Yeah! What's up with that? We're so used to the excellent commentators that Ken Burns uses in his documentaries that we were totally floored by the poor choice to use celebrities. It hurts the credibility of the piece, IMO.

[Rebecca VA]

Hated it. I threw it in the trash.

[littlebug42]

I really did not like it and will not be using it in my homeschool at any time. I was really turned off by the celebrity commentators and I didn't even find it terribly patriotic. I thought it oversimplified too many aspects our history. I watched it and was able to pick out the omissions and problems but my children would have a harder time doing that and I think it would be too exhausting for me to fill in the blanks.

[Nicole M]

We've watched just the first episode, and it is pretty standard fare for History Channel. "Jingoistic" is the word someone on the K-8 board used, and I agree. Though, I also agree that sometimes the graphics are pretty interesting. I don't care for the reenactment business, but I do enjoy seeing the places, the lay of the land, so I was hoping for more of that in this series. This was more impressive in some of the other HC videos featuring countries that I have not visited.

 

Like someone else also mentioned, I feel a little bit of motion sickness when I watch, so I end up closing my eyes.

 

A part of me feels like it's too bad this stuff sells, and I wish there were a market for better documentaries, ones that feature more education and less edutainment. But then, I never met a Teaching Company video that I didn't like. ;)

[Tree House Academy]

I have not watched it all the way through, however, my dh who is a history buff really liked it and my 11 year old has taken it to his room now and spent HOURS watching it over and over. We did American history last year.

[sparrow]

We watched most of the episodes when they aired and we're looking forward to watching the episodes that we missed on the DVD. Some of the cgi stuff was a bit gory for my kids, but my daughter typically watches *everything* with a blanket nearby to cover her head :001_smile:. The "celebrity commentators" were meh and unnecessary, imo.

[jujsky]

We loved it! My son spent an entire day watching the series. Edutainment? Yes, I agree, but if it sparks that love of history and helps it come alive for the kids then I think it's a good thing.

[stripe]

Yikes! I haven't watched it yet! With these (wildly divergent) reviews, I can't wait! I haven't seen a good bit of jingoistic propaganda in years....

[Mrs. Frankweiler]

I thought it was ok. I liked that it talked about the more obscure parts of history that we don't hear a lot about, and I liked that it focused on regular people instead of the big names that we all already know. However, I wouldn't base my American History studies on this. I'd say it was 1/4 educational, 3/4 entertainment.

[amyrjoy]

My DH likes it a lot. Lol! We haven't watched it though,the kids and myself, i mean.

[Sarah in FL]

My kids have watched a couple of the episodes and still haven't gotten over the graphic depiction of the cannibalism at Donner Pass. It does seem to dwell on some of the goriest aspects of our history. But my 12 yo son especially seems to like the series and I think it does bring history alive.

[I talk to the trees]

We thought it was pretty much worthless. Ah, well! At least they were free! Recycled art project, anyone?

[NanceXToo]

I am still in the process of watching it (I've watched 3 or 4 episodes) and I'm really enjoying it. My mom's watched the first couple with me and really enjoyed it. My 9 (almost 10) y/o is watching it with me and it's holding her interest pretty well.

 

They'd never be able to make a series that covers EVERY SINGLE THING or covers every single thing of historical importance with enough depth to satisfy everybody, but I think they did a very good job overall.

[homeschoolally]

My kids have watched a couple of the episodes and still haven't gotten over the graphic depiction of the cannibalism at Donner Pass. It does seem to dwell on some of the goriest aspects of our history. But my 12 yo son especially seems to like the series and I think it does bring history alive.

:iagree: We felt the same way about it. My littlest heard the part showing a man being burned at the stake for planning to 'kill and eat his pregnant wife' withing minutes of turning it on. I still cringe thinking that he heard that---really wish we'd pre-screened. We're very cautious about that kind of thing, but this snuck right up on us.

 

The CGI is incredible--but they obviously focus on the gore to keep people entertained which bugs me. FWIW, I even felt this way about one of The Teaching Company history videos--because we often have small kids in the room while doing history.

 

I wouldn't say throw it in the trash, but I'd definitely recommend pre-screening it.

[Mallorie]

We watched a partial of it last night and, other than the above mentioned burning at stake incident, liked it. Mainly because it kicked off an interest in these things for my kids and I to dig into at the library.

 

We're just going to take it fwiw.