Liberty

Unlike A&E's The American Revolution (VL-3/95), which focused more on battles and re-enactments, PBS's Liberty is more interested in ideas. Yet far from being a strung-together collection of windy pronouncements from the usual academic suspects, this 6-hour examination of the birth of the American experiment is a fascinating reminder that the most important, indeed most revolutionary, battles did not take place at Lexington, Trenton or Charleston, but in the hearts and minds of the mostly loyal British subjects living in the far from united colonies. Combining interviews with scholars, dramatic re-enactments, actors reading letters (the correspondence between John and Abigail Adams offers a touching and personal view of the "times that tried men's souls," including the important point--raised by Abigail--that America has better looking babes than England) and solid narration by Edward Hermann, Liberty proves how difficult it was to "cut the cord" with the Mother Country. Of course, America did not just break free; the country fashioned an entirely new form of government unseen in history which was founded on the ideas presented in three documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights--ideas, lofty and noble, which we struggle to uphold to this day. And, of course, we're still not terribly fond of (non-herbal) tea. Highly recommended. Aud: J, H, C, P. (R. Pitman)