Documentary series which has an exceptional cinematography and contains nuances of great visionary entrepreneurs John D. Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford who literally built the america from the ashes of Civil war, to the great nation that it is now.Though there are few historic inaccuracies which aren't acceptable as it is presented by the "History" channel itself.Regardless of their ruthlessness, cut-throat competition and monopoly, they offered something greater for their nation. I'm sure this series is worth every second, undoubtedly there are lots of information for us to learn from this mini-series.Apart from the series, the only confusion I had while viewing the series was that IMDB mentions there is only four episodes with run-length of 45 min on avg for each episode. While in reality there are eight episodes with 45 min on average.

I was expecting the usual type series you get for series' like this which is the usual 'they are good, but it's kind of boring and hammy'. Not at all the case on this one. First of all, very interesting. I learned so much that I had no clue about before. The acting is actually pretty good, but what really drives this series home is the terrific narration, the fantastic editing, and the magnificent sound and music that ties along with it.This series is proof that if you have some patience, talent and money to put into the production, the possibilities are then limitless. And this production understands the great importance and power of a well thought out sound and music to play in the background. At times you feel like you're watching different mafia families go at it with each other. That you're watching the high powered cartels dish it out and it absorbs you in to where you don't want to stop watching. This is a brilliant series to watch and I was very pleasantly surprised by it.

The names we have come to take for granted, directly and indirectly still present in our lives. Their legacies which have actually influenced the way how we look at the world, the way we live, and how we look at money and influence. There is a reason why the 20th century is also called the 'American Century'. But how did the United States become the superpower as we know it? The documentary miniseries is divided into the five men who would come to form the backbone of the miniseries spanning from the end of the American Civil War to the First World War: Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford. Men of varying backgrounds, but all being driven to make a mark for themselves, even when there are times the odds want to stack against them. But there are also the people who had shaped their lives, believed in them and in direct competition and conflict with them.The lives the five men featured are being told through the medium of dramatisation, narration, and told from the viewpoints of historians, biographers, prominent figures from politics and the world of business and even a Rockefeller descendant as well. The combination of all these along with the news clippings and footages of its time help to ensure that the documentary miniseries come alive on its own, like as if we are also bearing eyewitness to the pivotal moments of the lives the five men had led whether in good times or bad as how the men saw it themselves. The viewpoints of those who spoke about the men who did the things they did which coincide with the social and political attitudes of the day, complementing with its current relevance and the lessons one can take away from, ensure that the legacies the five men had left behind long after they were gone, are actually still with us even till this day. Each time we want to think that it is only happening in recent times, it challenges the very notion of it and making us wonder if we had seen it all before. The wealth gap, the ruthlessness of business people and the lengths they go to achieve what they want…it has always been with us.The stunning imagery and the outfits which represent the eras the five men live in help to reinforce of the viewer living in their moment, making us either want to root for them or not, depending on whether whatever they had done correspond or contradict with what we thought we have always know about the world we live in and what we have come to believe. The marvels of science and engineering, complementing with what the five men had done to make it happen. Then there is also the political aspects of their actions, which goes into the ethical realm.Whether we want to agree or disagree with the way they did things which are directly and indirectly of their own making and how it has affected us ever since, one cannot dispute that they have all done it in the manner they have felt able to make them one step ahead of everyone else. Like the final words in the documentary miniseries from one of those invited to talk about what the men had done, 'How big do you want to dream, and how hard do you want to work?'. Love them or hate them for what they did when they were alive and the legacies they left behind in the form of charities, educational institutions, companies in current existence in the world today which were once in their control or still in their name…it actually forms part of the many strands in the history of American capitalism in itself.Whether the interest is in American history in the realms of economics, with both of politics and science to an extent or just wanting to know and/or understand why some things happening the way they do economically while trying to make sense of the current economic times we are currently living in at the same time, this documentary miniseries is one to get the viewer interested. It may or may not help to answer everything the viewer want to know, but it will try to make sense in some aspects of it. It can get gripping to the extent that one can forget counting out the people who are playing especially the five men, the five major players featured in the miniseries are all actually real people after all.

Overall I found this to be an entertaining look at the history of the robber barons and how the US economy (and in the long run the world economy) evolved during the last half of the 19th century.The mix of interviews and commentary with actors portraying the historical figures was effective.I did have a minor problem with some of the historical errors. For example in one scene they show the magnates viewing a film of William Jennings Bryan and the commentary is to the effect that he is "certain to be the Democratic nominee.In fact there was no real front runner in 1896 and Bryan emerged as something of a surprise nominee following his famous Cross of Gold Speech But overall an entertaining series