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.

Why have commentary from actors, mayors and former mayors? Why not use actual historians even if they have conflicting views? There are no sources cited, only opinion and the constant referring to the Continental Army as a 'band of rebels' reduces the importance of the Continentals to being just blithering rabble-rousers. Paul Revere was a political extremist?... as were John Adam, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. Really? Far too much Progressive propaganda in this waste of film for my tastes, especially when the claims made by this series are so easily refuted by reputable sources that go well beyond the dubious opinions presented as fact.This series is a vast waste of time. Try John Adams (the series) or even the fantastic and epic The Patriot (Mel Gibson) as they deal with more fact than the ridiculous show reviewed here in.

When I first saw the ads for this program, I was highly interested in it and made plans to watch. After viewing the first few episodes, I couldn't stand to see any more. It would have been a really great series if they had taken it seriously and done a much better job on incorporating as much important US history as possible, even if it meant making the series longer. What they ended up doing is focusing and repeating a few events and completely leaving out others. They spent a lot of time on the Civil War and entrepeneurs such as Carnegie. It's not that those weren't important events,indeed they were, but by being so repetitive in their coverage they left out other events that deserved screen time. I never saw much mention of the War of 1812, good coverage of our forefathers and I could be wrong, but I don't think they even covered women's suffrage! If they were going to set out to create a program that truly encompassed the United States' history and its people then they should have understood what all in entailed and planned accordingly. What truly disappointed me was the face that they felt the need to use celebrity testimony instead of credible historical experts, educated people that are the backbone of this country. What do P Diddy or Sheryl Crow have to do with the study of history (other than their part in the *entertainment* aspect)? This is being shown in classrooms, I understand: is that what we should teach our children? If you want to learn history, look to our celebrities and movie stars? Completely ridiculous. I was wanting this to be an awesome series, which it could have been. Instead I ended up having my intelligence insulted and my time wasted.

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...