The Men Who Built America

Proposing that—after Lincoln—industrialists and entrepreneurs were more responsible than the White House for shaping the United States, this eight-part History Channel-aired docudrama miniseries employs epic re-enactments, CGI effects, and elaborate sets to chronicle the saga of the lions of capitalism: Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Jay Gould, John D. Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford, who are here positioned as foes in perpetual challenges, maneuvers, shaky alliances, and smackdowns. Most of the re-enactment dialogue is banal and utilitarian, leaving a narrator with the task of explaining how ocean shipping (Vanderbilt) yielded to railroads (also Team Vanderbilt), which yielded to oil pipelines (Team Rockefeller), which yielded to the motorcar (Team Ford). Not all of this is laissez-faire cheerleading: Morgan and Carnegie are particularly cited for heartlessly exploiting workers and fostering inequity on a monstrous scale, while later chapters depict these “heroes” as virtual oligarchs, buying the presidency. Partisans of cult-hero inventor Nikola Tesla will appreciate that he gets the credit here for the ascendancy of alternating current electricity. Lesser-known tidbits that help humanize the protagonists include a train tragedy that convinced the devout Rockefeller that he fulfilled God's will, and Morgan's failed attempts to earn his father's approval. From time to time, an eclectic set of contemporary capitalists (Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, Steve Wozniak, T. Boone Pickens, Russell Simmons, Steve Wynn, Sumner Redstone, Jack Welch) put in their two cents, figuratively speaking. Extras include bonus footage. A solid overview of the titanic tycoons who shaped the Industrial Age in America, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (C. Cassady)