Last night the premiere episode of the History Channel’s 12 hour, six part series called “America: The Story of Us,” was broadcast. If the rest of the series is anywhere as balanced and well produced as this chapter called “The Rebels,” it is an absolute must for family viewing.
“The Rebels” starts with the landing of John Rolfe at Jamestown and takes the viewer through the Revolution and The Battle of Yorktown. Featuring a mixture of reenactments, CGI and commentary by Americans from politics, media, business and academia the series is compelling and informative. Even the introduction by President Obama was palatable and free from references to himself.
There were several historical facts that took me by surprise and I always thought of myself as a bit of an expert on “Us.” I learned that the first African-Americans came to the future United States as contract workers in Jamestown, not as slaves. I was also unaware of the heroic experiment by George Washington at Valley Forge to inoculate his army against smallpox.
I could not find any information on the writers and producers of this excellent series on the History Channel’s website and the credits whizzed by pretty quick at the end of the show, but they are to be congratulated. In a brilliant marketing move, The History Channel’s also offering the series free on DVD to any school who would like one. The details for this offer are available here.
If nothing I have said convinces you that this is a great series, the fact that The Christian Scientist Monitor praised it and famed liberal TV reviewer Tom Shales panned it should have you setting your DVR.
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