The Men Who Built America [DVD]

“The Men Who Built America” is generally a very good set of miniseries videos. Essentially, it tells an integrated story of how, after the ruins of the Civil War, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Henry Ford (with a little help from Henry Frick, Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, Nikola Tesla, the original Charles Schwab, William Jennings Bryan, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, and Teddy Roosevelt, et al.) built modern America into the world’s greatest economic and technological superpower. Added to the story reenactments are comments from historians H. W. Brands, David Nasaw, Maury Klein., Steven Watts, and Jill Jonnes. In addition, historical “color” frosting comes from such celebrity business people as Mark Cuban, Alan Greenspan, Steve Case, T. Boone Pickens, Carly Fiorina, Jerry Weintraub, Steve Wynn, Richard Parsons, Jack Welch, Donny Deutsch, Ron Perelman, Jim Cramer, and Donald Trump. The ability with 20/20 hindsight to mull over the 2012 strategic insight comments of this second group as to where their reputations have since gone is almost worth the watch, in and of itself! The series segments are as follows: Disc 1 (A New War Beings. Oil Strike. A Rivalry is Born.) Disc 2 (Blood is Spilled. A New Rival Emerges. Owning It All.) Disc 3 (Taking the White House. The New Machine.) Bonus Footage (not seen on TV): From Rich to Richer. The American Dream. Monopoly. Competitive Nature. The Every Man. The Rise of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Traits of a Titan. Carnegie. If “The Men Who Build America” has a problem, it is that it is essentially the collection of programs within the TV miniseries. This means about 20% of the material is back-grounding, stage-setting reintroduction of a previous program’s happenings. All of this makes sense when a program is presented on TV maybe a week after the previous program. However, even lightly retreading old ground soon becomes a bit annoying when watching the programs back to back on a DVD. Bottom-line, I really enjoyed learning about these historical figures in a way that showed their interplay and how each one affected, reacted to, and built upon the success of others, with illuminating sketches of individual character and business strategy. From my own experience in reading about these business titans, this integrated approach is relatively unique and helps put into better perspective how America was built. Highly recommended! Of possible interest: George Washington’s Liberty Key: Mount Vernon’s Bastille Key – the Mystery and Magic of Its Body, Mind, and Soul , a best-seller at Mount Vernon. “Character is Key for Liberty!” and Strategy Pure and Simple: Essential Moves for Winning in Competition and Cooperation

This series of videos was very entertaining and fun to watch. I and my family learned a lot about early american history that we did not know, especially concerning the men involved with this story. It was fun to see how the destiny of these men was intertwined. My only complaint about the DVD series is that it would have been better if they had taken a little extra time to blend together each section without the commercial recap of what had already occurred. Every 8-10 minutes, there is a 2 minute recap of what had previously occurred, presumably after coming back from the commercial break for the TV series. This is not necessary when you have been watching the DVD series from the beginning. I would assume this could have fairly easily been edited out for the DVD, but wasn't. They also filmed some time period scenes from the late 1800's that were shown repeatedly throughout the series. After watching the first 5-6 episodes, some of these scenes can "get old", but this does not detract from the enjoyment of the series. I would have also liked to seen more on Henry Ford. The focus of this series was basically how his life and early start to Ford was affected by the things that Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and Morgan did, but not much focus on how Ford revolutionized the production line. The segment on Ford seemed a little rushed to end the series on time. Definitely worth the purchase. Also, the main title theme "Save My Soul" is very addictive!

Fantastic! I am not one to watch TV, but I sat through all 3 DVD's in this set in two nights. If you think everything was better in the good ol' days of America, this would be a reality check! Biographies include Andrew Carnegie (U.S. Steel), J.P. Morgan (Morgan Chase), Vanderbilt (Railroads), John D. Rockefeller (Standard Oil, now Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, etc) and Henry Ford. Carnegie's treatment of the steeworkers was absolutely riveting! (please excuse my lame attempt at humor here). Some details may have been watered down, such as the shootings at or by the striking steelworkers, and all the reasons behind Ford's entering his new car into a successful race with the top racer in the nation. The grandiosity of these men in history, and their egotistical competitiveness with each other despite having more money than Bill Gates and Warren Buffet combined in today's dollars, shows the extent to which human nature can covet. How much money is enough? In the words of Rockefeller, "Just a little more!" I always thought he was being witty, but after seeing this fascinating documentary, now I'm not so sure.

Shipped quickly. Arrived three days BEFORE the expected arrival date. THANK YOU! ***MANY DVD retailers on here take longer than ANY other type of merchandise to ship and the parcels are Frequently delivered LATE. That was NOT the case with this transaction. The DVD is a great way to teach kids about how this Country grew rapidly through the Industrial Revolution. It's interesting, presented well, the scenes (sets and costumes) are period correct, and the actors portrayed the Titans extremely well. I'd seen this series on the History Channel several times, but wanted it to share with my Grandchildren. I think it's well worth the price.

A great video on how Rockefeller, Carnage, Chase took over power from the citizens of the United States.

This is a pretty decent, and reasonably accurate story of five of the giants of American history after the Civil War and into the early 20th century. Most history is told from the perspective of presidents, generals, and various wars or couquests. That is very useful, but it doesn't tell why America grew from a nearly broken country at the end of the Civil War to the most powerful country in the world. It's also provides a pretty good history of economics; although there is no mention of supply and demand curves, or the theories of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, or John Maynard Keynes. America wasn't built by the lone cowboy. America is strong because it's economy is strong. Freedoms preserved by our Founders in the Constitution, a country rich in raw but unused materials, and giants such as Vanderbilt, Morgan, Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford, who in their personal quests to build wealth helped create the wealthiest economy the world has ever seen. I especially liked their depictions as young men, although several were poorly cast. Most photos of them were as old men. As callow youths all of them had enormous drives and nearly unique gifts for redefining how to get things done more productively. This documentary, supplemented by appropriate scholarship, could make an excellent undergraduate history course.

Must have historical show

I loved viewing this tape. It was both informative and entertaining. It tells the story of how Mr. Vanderbilt knitted together a railway system for the North east, then Rockefeller manufactured the quality safe kind of kerosene oil used in lamps which ordinary citizens used to light the nation from coast to coast; then adds Mr. Carnegie who's steel girders improved bridges, railroads, and then built skyscrapers in all the big cities across America, to Mr. Morgan who bought out Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, Tesla's patents on electricity, and used Edison's electric light bulbs and power generating equipment to literally light up america from coast to coast replacing the kerosene lamps. Morgan bought out Carnegie steel to merge other smaller steel companies into U.S. Steel and he created General Electric and finally personally intervened to safe the U.S. Banking system twice: 1893 and 1907. Finally, Mr. Ford comes along to re create the business model upon which most factories are based to this day. Ford also modified the negative business practices used by Rockefeller and Carnegie when he paid Ford workers a living wage and provided relatively safe working conditions for them and defeated in court the monopoly which tried to stop him from making his model T car. The nation owes these five men who built modern America ( 1865 to 1911) much. Some liberal historians term them "Robber barons." But that is a false smear on their reputations. Their actions collectively improved the daily living standards of a majority of American citizens and led to the creation of the "middle class." There are cameo appearances by Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina. I urge every member of Congress, state legislator, governor, mayor and voting citizen to view this tape in order to appreciate where we came from.