Customer Reviews

The History Channel Presents Engineering an Empire

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a great set and includes the following titles on 4 discs: (Unfortunately it doesn't include the episode on Egypt. You will have to buy that one separately if you want all of them.)

ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE: THE SERIES, VOLUME I:


GREECE: The cradle of Western civilization sustained remarkable technological advancement for over 1,000 years, including such masterpieces as the Tunnel of Samos and the Parthenon.
GREECE: AGE OF ALEXANDER: After a century of tremendous accomplishment, Greece's territorial ambitions were stymied by constant warfare - until Alexander ventured abroad and initiated the Hellenistic era.
THE AZTECS: The Aztecs became one of the greatest civilizations in history through brilliant military campaigns and technological mastery of their harsh environment.

ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE: THE SERIES, VOLUME II:


CARTHAGE: Find out how Carthaginian engineers harnessed their extensive resources and manpower to develop some of the ancient world's most groundbreaking technology.
CHINA: Century after century, China's regal emperors mobilized immense peasant armies to accomplish unfathomable feats - including the most ambitious construction project ever accomplished.
RUSSIA: From the Moscow Kremlin to St. Petersburg to the Trans-Siberian railroad, examine the architecture and infrastructure that led to the rise and fall of the Russian Empire.

ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE: THE SERIES, VOLUME III:


GREAT BRITAIN: Through the centuries, the British Empire used extraordinary engineering technology to become an industrial and military titan, giving rise to such inventions as the first locomotive.
THE PERSIANS: The engineering feats of the mysterious Persian Empire include a water management system, a paved cross-continent roadway, and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
THE MAYA: By 900 AD, the once-glorious Mayan cities disappeared. Unravel the mystery surrounding this mythic civilization through its spectacular infrastructure and architecture.

ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE: THE SERIES, VOLUME IV:


NAPOLEON AND BEYOND: When France stood on the precipice of disaster, one of the most legendary military strategists in history arose from its ashes: Napoleon.
THE BYZANTINES: As much of the world descended into the Dark Ages, the Byzantine Empire emerged with ruthless might and supreme ingenuity, ruling over vast swaths of Europe and Asia.
AGE OF ARCHITECTS: After the deep sleep of the Dark Ages, it wasn't until the 11th-century that autonomous city-states emerged in Italy, revitalizing metropolises and paving the way for the Renaissance.

I purchased this set because I am a fan of the series on the History Channel and wanted to own it on DVD. Sadly, I just realized that for only a few bucks more I could have gotten the Collector's Edition. THIS SET DOES NOT CONTAIN THE ENTIRE SERIES. It is missing the two original specials that spawned the series in the first place: Rome and Egypt. The Collector's Edition has 2 extra discs and featurs both of these award winning episodes--a total of 156 extra minutes of content (they each aired at 2 hours long with commercials compared to the 1 hour long season episodes). The Rome and Egypt episodes were also arguably the best of the series, in that they contained the most depth and the highest quality productions.

I highly recommend this series, but don't miss out by purchasing this set by accident. GO GET THE COLLECTOR'S EDITION for the most value and to experience ALL the content of the series.

This is great stuff, but the one thing is to realize it doesn't include Rome, Engineering An Empire. That's a separate purchase at this moment only available from the network's online store.

So here's the contrary review, from a disgruntled viewer. Everything the other reviewers said about the series and what it covers is correct - my complaint is that this is not about engineering, architecture or building. It is about war and the quest for power. I should have known, as this is what all History Channel shows are about. As a builder, I had hoped to see in depth coverage of the actual building / construction. Instead the focus is on empire, and the 'building' and consolidation of power in order to dominate. The music, the tension, the conflict - if you watch tv at all, this is nothing new to you. And if this is your thing, then by all means buy the set and enjoy. If you liked 'Troy' or the new 'Robin Hood' then you will love this series. But if you are, like I was, hoping to see all the good engineering behind the great civilizations and their incredible feats, this series will be a disappointment, as the coverage of such is very thin.

We purchased this set as a supplement to our World History homeschool curriculum, in an effort to help tie in the lessons with audio and visual. We are now half-way through the set, and I can safely say they are a hit!

Not only have the videos made history relevent to a high school student that didn't care a whit about history before, it has sparked an interest in Engineering. The combination of technolgy, culture and history has made a huge difference and resulted in my son's educational goals being set higher long term.

I would highly recommend this set to any Lego-maniac who doesn't find history interesting, and recommend it even more for those students who find reading dry and boring. You will be surprised to find history is cooler than you thought, and you might even feel the need to grab a book and learn more!

This set does something very unusual for documentaries, particularly Hitler Channel productions, these days: It goes out and shows you the constructions that it's talking about (and a striking number of these ancient engineering feats remain in show-and-tell-able condition). Oh, there are computer-graphic explanations of details -- for example, the Aztec aqueduct system or the process by which boats were moved along Darius's canal. And some fairly restrained re-enactments provide a bit of action, as well as historical context. Otherwise, though, lovely images of the actual objects at issue form the centerpiece(s) of each segment.

Peter Weller's purposefully conversational narration lapses only occasionally into dude-speak, and anyway, he can be forgiven a snarky comment or two while he gamely climbs up, down, in, over, under and through the assembled relics of the human past (in their varied states of disrepair). He certainly generates an infectious enthusiasm for his subject, and he communicates quite a bit of information in an accessible manner.

I might have liked to see more technological nitty-gritty on some of the innovations, but in general, this series has rather more heft than one might expect from the mainstream infotainment production houses. I, too, am slightly irritated that the Rome volume will be a separate purchase -- but I'll be picking it up, just the same.

I found most of the episodes to be at least interesting, but those were also the subjects I knew the least about. I have a PhD in Italian Renaissance art and architecture, with a minor in Medieval art. I found many usually quite elementary mistakes in the Medieval and Renaissance episodes. First, the story about the "cult of the carts" is a post-Medieval fiction. The background and motivation for the origin of Gothic cathedrals is so garbled that it sounds like a sloppy edit. The term "Gothic" as applied to the art is also of post-Medieval origin.
As for the Italian Renaissance, I must say that I knew Weller's Prof. Hatfield in graduate school, and I know he must be rather taken aback by some of the retold history here. First, Florence was important artistically long before the Medici arose (ever hear of Giotto?). The big mistake is on the dome of the Cathedral of Florence: Brunelleschi certainly knew the Pantheon, but he did not copy it in Florence. Neither he nor anyone else could figure out how the Pantheon's dome was built--no one knew about concrete and the building techniques used there--and so he re-used and adapted traditional Medieval dome architecture, but on a much larger scale. The explanation here of the design and the invention of the use of herringbone brickwork is well done. I've heard that Peter Weller is studying for a PhD in Italian Renaissance art and architecture at UCLA. Review your archie history notes, sir!

This is an excellent historical collection to keep in your library. For details, check the product description. It is very informative. It contains:

VOLUME I:
- GREECE: The cradle of Western civilization
- GREECE: Age of Alexander
- THE AZTECS

VOLUME II:
- CARTHAGE
- CHINA: Century after century, China's regal emperors mobilized immense peasant armies to accomplish unfathomable feats.
- RUSSIA: From Moscow Kremlin to St. Petersburg to the Trans-Siberian railroad.

VOLUME III:
- GREAT BRITAIN
- THE PERSIANS: The engineering feats of the mysterious Persian Empire.
- THE MAYA: By 900 AD, the once-glorious Mayan cities disappeared.

VOLUME IV:
- NAPOLEON AND BEYOND
- THE BYZANTINES
- AGE OF ARCHITECTS: After the Dark Ages, it wasn't until the 11th-century that autonomous city-states emerged in Italy, revitalizing metropolises and paving the way for the Renaissance.

This edition I was very lucky to catch on a sale for only 20 dollars so I couldn't pass this up. As some other of the reviewers have mentioned this does not cover the entire series but has everything you would want from this series for an academic purpose or for your own personal collection.

Peter Weller is a great host for this series and really uses great footage to bring out the reality of these empires which at one time existed. To bring out a basic understand of the civilizations of past can really help everyone, both for people in the study of history, and those not, understand our where our current civilization came from.

I would recommend this series to everyone, although for the fullest berth of this series one might consider picking up the collectors edition for the missing segments, with amazon actually currently pricing the collectors edition lower than this edition ($49.95 vs. $47.99).

Some of the best educational DVDs produced. They really give you a feel for what the cultures were like. My 10 and 11 year old boys really enjoyed watching them with me.