Customer Reviews

The American Experience - John Brown's Holy War [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Despite its fine cinematic qualities, this is more an adventure in imagination and interpretation than it is a responsible historical documentary. For all of its efforts, it does not convey a sense of the man who lived, but rather the man who haunts the imaginations of those who understand him the least.

Unfortunately this documentary--so lauded as an excellent portrayal of Brown in biographical terms--is weighted down too heavily by the opinions of novelists and lacks a respect and balance in portraying Brown's religious orientation. The film omits key themes with respect to his working with blacks, and overall conveys the ivory tower biases that are so hard to challenge due to the politics of media and academia, despite the facts of history. Of course, the producer is a filmmaker, not a biographer, but certainly if people want to learn about John Brown of history, this is not the place to start.

Louis A. DeCaro Jr.
John Brown biographer and researcher

PBS.org has an online store where you can buy this same video for $19 new ($24 with shipping)! This $84 for a used copy is absolutely criminal and this seller should bury his/her greedy head in shame. Don't buy a used copy of something you can get new for sixty dollars cheaper from the place that created this documentary. By the way it's a great documentary and well worth seeing and owing (I do.) I love Amazon and they always have the BEST deals around on videos, DVDs and books, but this seller is taking everyone for a ride.

Have been wanting to own this excellent video since I saw it on PBS several years ago. I was really shocked when I saw the price at this site as $75.00. One of your reviewers mentioned that I could go to PBS and get the video for $25.00. I went to PBS.org and found the video for only $19.95. S&H added another $4.95. Why is the price listed at AMAZON.COM $50 higher than on PBS? Please tell me this was a mistake! There are probably a lot of other customers who would like to purchase this video, but at $75.00, it's more than most are willing to pay.