The Cold War

Today's high school students have only a vague notion about what the Cold War was--after all, they were only six or seven or eight when the Berlin Wall came down. Lest anyone forget or never learn about the "war" that lasted fifty years, CNN Productions hired Jeremy Isaacs (the British filmmaker of The World at War) to produce this epic documentary: 24 episodes (roughly 19 hours, available on 8 tapes), with over a million feet of film footage shot, 500 witnesses/participants/scholars interviewed, and new information gathered under the American Freedom of Information Act and special access to the former Soviet archives. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh (a.k.a. Emma's ex), the impressive first episode sets the stage for what would become a half-century battle over ideology. Given that The Cold War will air weekly through April 1999, public libraries and school systems will likely get requests. Recommended. Aud: J, H, C, P. (R. Reagan)