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The American Civil War: A Union Divided 
Actors : Donald Sutherland
Director : Buddy Bregman
Studio : Eagle Rock Ent
by Eagle Rock Ent
Release Date : 2003-09-30
Publisher : Eagle Rock Ent
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 2
EAN : 0801213500291
UPC : 801213500291
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 4 reviews)
List Price : $9.99
Our Price : $6.50
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Americancivilwar.com |
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An excellent bargain in its price range, the two-disc set The American Civil War offers a concise and thorough overview of the Civil War and all of its pivotal battles. While it's certainly no substitute for Ken Burns's epic documentary series on the subject, this lower-budget production makes the most of its modest resources, drawing on the historical record, academic expertise, and authentic reenactments to convey the triumphs and tragedies of America's bloodiest home-soil conflict. Presented in four chronological sections of nearly one hour each, these discs are especially informative about the period preceding the war itself, providing a thorough understanding of the issues that drew Union and Confederate armies into heated battle. The reenactments are convincingly detailed in terms of casting and costuming, but there's one area where these discs promise more than they deliver: the computer-graphic recreations of specific battles and incidents are too sparse and rather unimpressive. That caveat aside, these DVDs and their informative bonus features lend themselves well to home and classroom use, aimed primarily at a young, non-expert audience. --Jeff Shannon |
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Yankee drivel |
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Well, this just goes to show you, Yankee revisionists are still trying to make the South out to be the greatest evil the world has ever seen. I'm surprised to not hear the comparison between the CSA and Nazi Germany. To get a much more clear history of the War for Southern Independence, try "The Civil War: a History" by Harry Hansen or "The South was Right" by the Kennedy brothers. |
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The American Civil War: A Union Divided |
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Very disapointed at first. Very biased against the south. The first half hour talked how slavery was the cause of the civil war not states rights. Also it never mentions that the north also had slavery until the early 1800's and that the slave traders that brought the slaves in, in the first place where from the north. Some information is good but don't belive everthing that is said. |
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Good Considering the Production Budget |
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Generally, this DVD set accomplishes much for the civil war novice. It is full of information concerning battles and effectively alternates between current historians' perspectives (which are surprisingly balanced and relatively unbiased), historical photos and live re-enactments. The documentary is thoughtful in its presentation but unfortunately suffers from a modest production budget which - at times - hurts the quality of the re-enactments of key battles in the civil war, i.e. Picketts Charge, which used a woefully inadequate number of soldiers/actors to recreate this epic piece of the Battle of Gettysburg. The DVD set also does the Southern perspective justice by explaining the views of the south and that the reasons for going to war (or defending their homeland - take your pick) meant much more to the confederate states than simply the preservation of slavery. While the re-enactments are generally weak, the producers do try hard with what they have to work with and this would be an excellent source of information for someone wanting to know more about the war without spending the exorbitant cost that other studios charge for people who want to learn more about american history. |
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Short Overview of Conflict, but the 'bonus' is better! |
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Released by A&E/The History Channel, "The American Civil War" is one of the shortest distillations of this conflict that I have ever seen! Really. It's only about 20 minutes. What is worth the purchase price is the so-called 'bonus': "The Killing Power of Civil War Artillery". This actually takes up the most space on the tape and is excellent. It details the developments of artillery in the Civil War, and some of the men behind these developments...some as young as 21 years of age. I learned quite a bit that I can take to my students when I teach this section of American History again. I would rate the 'bonus' documentary with a '4' out of five, and the actual title documentary with a '2'... |
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