The Men Who Built America

2012 "America wasn't discovered. It was built."
8.5| 6h0m| PG| en
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John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford and J.P. Morgan rose from obscurity and in the process built modern America. Their names hang on street signs, are etched into buildings and are a part of the fabric of history. These men created the American Dream and were the engine of capitalism as they transformed everything they touched in building the oil, rail, steel, shipping, automobile and finance industries. Their paths crossed repeatedly as they elected presidents, set economic policies and influenced major events of the 50 most formative years this country has ever known. From the Civil War to the Great Depression and World War I, they led the way.

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Reviews

CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!
Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
genevievesfire Although I am not a history major or a self-proclaimed history buff, I loved this show. I normally NEVER watch TV and I simply couldn't stop until I was done with the series. I thought the producers did an excellent job of making these stories interesting and I also enjoyed the commentary. The men portrayed, (Vanderbuilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Ford) were business geniuses regardless of their often unscrupulous tactics amongst each other, smaller business and the working man. It's still a part of American history that everyone should learn about, including kids in school. Also, it's much better than most shows you find on TV these days.
Donal Cullen A bio of the 5 men who built America would have been more interesting had they concentrated on the men themselves instead of the vast sums of money they made. And the interviews with modern money makers simply made it a greed is good promotion. To hear time after time that these men were not about the money is simply stupefying as that is what it was all about. And in order to show how powerful these men were they were given a monetary figure to show it and then another to show how much they would be worth now. It seems to me that the modern "captains of industry" (Jesus what a self promoting piece of shite that term is) hanker back to a time of these moguls could trample over every right and every law just to make money. It seems like they are still trying to get back to those time with the export of industry to countries like Pakistan and others who little or no workers rights and pay their workers the same wages Rockerfeller and their ilk did in their time. One of the most disgusting things about these modern moneymakers is the way they admire the underhand things of the past. Take the time when these moguls threatened to shut down their factories and put their workers on the breadline if they did not vote for McKinley.Seem to remember Thrump and others saying the same thing if Obama got elected. They refer to the scramble to make money as a game. A game played with workers rights, votes and indeed their very lives. And they want to get back to this time. A time when the Wall Street gurriers can wreck what they want and watch from mansions on high as the rest of us drown in the floods that follow. History does repeat itself unless we learn from the mistakes and praising these men for greed is simply playing into the hands of those who want to go back to the time of JP Morgan, Carnaghie and the rest.
Joseph Mohammed Historically accurate, astute and shows the entrepreneurial spirit! By mixing it with drama, history and interviews this mini-series brought this exciting time to life! Reading about the exploits of these greats does not have the same effect as seeing them come to life! The only problem is the series should have been longer. There are many facets of the lives of these great men that could have been shown. Not only their successes, but also their failures. I know that it covers a certain time in history, but some more of Ford and the changing of the guard, as it was, would have been nice. One request to History Chanel: Bring more historic events/ times to life as this! Superb!
Bob H Hitlan History that in no way challenges any of the accepted conceits of 2012. Which really is a shame. Decent popular history should show us that those ideas we always took for granted as to how and why thing happened in the past are very likely quite wrong. And what if the conventional wisdom is correct? Well, it really never is- conventional wisdom is the result of popular misconceptions and other filters, real history is always more nuanced and complicated than even well written history, let alone popular convention.Good popular history challenges our preconceptions. Instead, in the case of "The Men who Built America" we get a one dimensional reality; The story of the men who, while helping to build the country, created a series of evil empires that were finally brought down once and for all, and for the good of the common man, by the efforts of certain politicians. Fair enough. A good start. But when you are given a couple hours for each of five American icons, it would be better if the producers could have shown us how much of the reality went against the narrative presented here.Instead of presenting the public opprobrium against Standard Oil as springing solely from Rockefeller's sins against the working people, it would have been more accurate to show that the victims were seen as the small, independent businessman, not the worker who was treated as badly under them as under Rockefeller. In fact, I may have missed it, but how can one show the story of Rockefeller without a mention of Ida Tarbell? The story of Morgan seemed to be more than a bit off in the attempt by the writers to neatly shoehorn JP Morgan into the rest of the narrative. I am sure that his life was intertwined with the industrialists in many ways, but I think that Morgan and his ilk stood somewhat apart from the industrialists, keeping his people on their boards only to safeguard the investments that were made. Morgan and how he made money, was nearly entirely separate from the industrialists and is interesting in its own right.All in all, its a pretty fair show, given the typical History channel fare. At least its not Ancient Aliens. And accurate enough, I guess, except for the section on Morgan which I think badly distorted how he really was important to our history. But in giving us the most bland, vanilla version of the events it was another wasted opportunity by the History Channel.

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