They've All Gone to Look for America

It is a wonder how it took History so long to get around to making an anthology of the history of the United States of America. If the wait was to make sure they got it done right, the twelve part series America: The Story of Us that premiered back in April shows it was worth the wait and now it is available to own on three disk blu-ray. Sure there are gripes that can be made about what did not make the cut (apparently Americans had no leisure time as there are very few mentions of sports or entertainment), but they did do a good cliff-notes version cramming three hundred years of history into just over nine hours.

One complaint that is warranted is the reliance on commentary throughout the series. Sure newsmen like Tom Brokaw, national heroes like Buzz Aldrin, military men like Collin Powell, academic like Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. (yes the Beer Summit guy) usually add to the subjects being discussed. But vinaigrettes from random celebrities like Donald Trump, Sean Combs, Tim Gunn and Vera Wang just stick out like a sore thumb most of the time and these commentators make the show just too reminiscent of the less serious I Love the… series on VH1.

What America: The Story of Us is good at is find the root of what made America what it is today. The series does not start with Columbus or even the pilgrims but with the guy who brought Tobacco to Jamestown, turning the failing settlement into a prosperous farmland that made the new land a place where someone could successfully live. We get to see the start of such things that seems so innocuous today like the first mug shots to how the first mail order catalogue came to be.

Even in high definition, the visuals are not as eye popping as other television events like Life, but the dark grittiness does set the tone of America’s past from the Revolutionary war to blasting holes in mountains to put in a transcontinental railway. And the attention to detail to each era depicted is impeccable and you can tell History didn’t cut any corners in their reenactments, from the sets to the wardrobe. There is something here for everyone to discover, from grade school students to arm chair historians. The Blu-Ray does have little in the way of extras, just seven bonus scenes, most under four minutes in lenth.

It is also jarring how the series ends. After eleven hours of invention and triumph of the American spirit, the last episode is downright depressing: Nixon resigning, hippies, the Vietnam War, the Challenger explosion, the dot-com bust, 9/11 and the two wars that followed. Gave its blood and sweat into connecting the country with vast railroads and highways, we, as a country really haven’t done much lately. Once a war brought us out of a Great Depression but now war has sunk us into a Great Recession. Hopefully some people watch America: The Story of Us and are inspired to help create the next big American invention, the same American ingenuity that took the initial trip from New York City to Los Angeles six months to transverse to today when that can be done in a six hour flight.



Full Disclosure Notice: This Blu-Ray was given to me on behalf of A&E Home Entertainment for the purpose of reviewing the series.