Product Details

• Actors: People's Century
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Wgbh Boston
• VHS Release Date: March 28, 2000
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000F0PF
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,669 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Video > Documentary > Military & War > Civil War
  #11 in	Video > Television > WGBH Boston
  #36 in	Video > Special Interests > History

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When U.S. and Soviet troops met at the Elbe River in 1945, there were smiles and hugs and even dancing to celebrate the imminent defeat of Nazi Germany. But the camaraderie between the Allies was short lived as suspicion grew and tension arose over the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. This video shows the jubilation at the Elbe as well as the speech, delivered less than a year later by Winston Churchill, in which the term "Iron Curtain" first rang out. The cold war had begun, and campaigns of propaganda took both the U.S. and the Soviet Union by storm. The major events of the Cold War are covered well in this video, and interviews with participants and well-chosen archival footage show the real dangers--and some of the absurdity of the times. The open warfare in Korea is seen in propaganda films produced by both sides, and participants in other major events, such as the 1956 Hungarian uprising and the 1961 building of the Berlin Wall, are interviewed. Among the gems of footage shown are snippets of the famous "Kitchen Debate" between Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and a bizarre U.S. newsreel in which residents of a small Wisconsin town dramatize what would occur in a Communist takeover. Brave New World is a lively depiction of the Cold War, as both a solid history of and an engaging view of it. --Robert McNamara

Product Description

"We knew our society was just and that capitalism was terrible and people were exploited. That's what we were taught. It didn't matter how badly I lived now, I hoped it would get better. I believed Stalin and knew that life would improve." - Tamara Banketik, Russia. Just over fifty years ago, Soviet and American troops met on the banks of the river Elbe and rejoiced at the defeat of Nazi Germany. The mood was one of camaraderie between Allies, and their optimism was shared by the liberated populations of Europe. Brave New World tracks the building tension between these two superpowers, from the post-war world of the late 1940s through the early 1960s, as the hope for peace swiftly disintegrates into a "cold" war of competing ideologies between East and West. The people remember: meeting on the Elbe, refugees in Europe, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill at Fulton, Nikita Khrushchev, propaganda wars, NATO, Berlin blockade, Korea, Hungarian uprising, Berlin Wall.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best 20th Century Documentary Series EVER!, March 15, 2000

By	L. Martin (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This outstanding BBC series, People's Century, is documentary tv at its best. As a world history teacher working outside the US, I appreciate the balance this series provides. This episode is a particularly popular one with students. Fantastic use of propaganda (on all sides), interviews (not just British or American). If it can keep a class of 15 year olds interested, that's got to say something!

5.0 out of 5 stars The Epitome of 20th Century Retrospectives, March 4, 2007

By	C. Graubart - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This film, and the others in the series, was produced by PBS along with the glut of specials and documentaries looking back at 1900 to 1999 that came along at the turn of the 21st century. The difference between this one and those others is that this is excellent. Actually there was one other documentary series about the 20th Century that does hold a candle to this one. That being "The Century: America's Time" which was produced by ABC News and hosted by the late great Peter Jennings. But as PBS is capable of doing, they were able to cover the century in exquisite detail over some 26 or so hours whereas ABC could only spare about 10. Both series are, in my opinion, a must for every home video library.