Product Details

• Actors: Simon Schama, American Future
• Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: BBC Warner
• DVD Release Date: January 20, 2009
• Run Time: 240 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001L67A7S
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,003 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The election of Barack Obama serves as both touchstone and framework for The American Future: A History, a four-hour, four-part documentary hosted by historian Simon Schama. In fact, title notwithstanding, Schama actually doesn’t say a lot about the our nation’s future, other than the obvious (noting that water shortages will increasingly be an issue, particularly in the western states, is hardly stop-the-presses stuff); his main point here is that Obama represents the country’s best chance to regain its stature in the world and reverse what he calls "the nationwide loss of faith in government" that festered throughout the George W. Bush years. Not a very original thesis, but what Schama, a Brit who has lived half his life in the States, has in spades is a flair for providing information in a manner that’s engaging and entertaining but rarely pedantic or excessively scholarly. Each of the program’s four segments--entitled "American Plenty," which addresses the water issue in the context of the history of Western expansion; "American War"; "American Fervour" (sic), in which Schama discusses on the nature of religious freedom; and "What is an American?", which deals with race and immigration--provides not only a great deal of history but a revealing focus on individuals, both celebrated and otherwise. Thus we learn about the deeds of Montgomery Meigs, an engineer and Union Army officer who was a Civil War hero, or about the opposite stances taken by the pacifist Mark Twain and the gung-ho Theodore Roosevelt at the time of the Spanish-American War. We all know about Martin Luther King, Jr., but who has even heard of Fannie Lou Hamer, a cotton picker and folk singer who became a mid-'60s civil rights leader? And while the black mark of slavery informs so much of our country’s history, how many know about the plight of the Chinese workers who helped build the first transcontinental railroad in the 1800s? Schama’s ability to find the small, personal components of the big picture helps make The American Future both worthwhile and compelling. Bonus material includes an intro recorded by Schama on November 5, 2008, and a photo gallery. --Sam Graham

Product Description

To coincide with the US elections of 2008 comes this refreshing antidote to the whir of sensationalist spin and scandal, measuring up to the seriousness of the moment without diluting the excitement of campaign politics. After 9/11, after Katrina, Enron and Baghdad, the robustness of American optimism is struggling to reassert itself against the sobering reality of military frustration and domestic anxieties. This is an America grappling with an un-American sense of its own limits. Turning to fascinating moments in American history to understand the present, connecting legendary presences such as Thomas Jefferson, Henry Ford, Mark Twain and General Lucius Clay with contemporary soldiers, businessmen, truckers, schoolteachers and (even) politicians, this series offers a timely and gripping vision of the United States - past and present - facing its moment of truth.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant and emotional look at the American past, its troubled present and its hopeful future, January 21, 2009

By	Mike Birman (Brooklyn, New York USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Simon Schama has repeatedly proven himself a profound student of history, offering clear-eyed looks at the past in his books and on television programs such as this one. Citizens, his history of the French Revolution, is one of the finest ever written on the subject. His books on Rembrandt and the 17th Century Dutch golden age wear their analytical depth lightly: Schama is always sensitive to the human story that is often obscured behind the marmoreal nature of most art history. It is the unabashedly emotional aspect Schama often exhibits in his personal views of history that is most attractive. History devoid of humanity lacks dimension and Schama knows this instinctively. He brings that humanity to this video gloss of the American past, present and future, its contradictions and its hopes, its broken promises and its deferred dreams, and reveals the underlying American truths that constitute the marrow of its greatness as a nation.

His view of the American past - especially its treatment of its Asian, African and Latino minorities - is clear-eyed and often heartbreaking with its carefully researched and simply elucidated tales of cruelty, abuse and neglect. But with every new sorrow he balances his sadness with tales of brilliance, courage, honesty and truth from the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Montgomery Meigs (Quartermaster General under Lincoln) and John Wesley Powell, the geologist-explorer of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. It is through these tales of moral courage and intellectual honesty that the true greatness of the unfinished American experiment reveals itself and in which its future hopes reside. Schama examines the difficult immigrant experience and as an immigrant himself he embodies all of its poignant dreams for a better future. But it is a future challenged by our ever-increasing panoply of problems. This unique moment in history, symbolized by the election of Barack Obama as President, is a profound shift in the American landscape. For Schama it is an example of the transformative possibilities that are inherent in the framework of liberty as constructed by Jefferson as early as 1779 in his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. It is in the genius of its construction that all of Schama's hopes for the American future reside. This documentary is brilliant in its presentation of a complex story and Mr. Schama is equally brilliant in its presentation. Strongly recommended.

Mike Birman

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most illuminating, January 24, 2009

By	Ellis Krauss "Expert on politics and student ... (Encinitas, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I don't know what documentary the disappointed reviewer was watching but the Simon Schama "The American Future" I saw was anything but America-hating. It was realistic about America's very ambivalent past concerning racism, immigration and immigrants, depletion of natural resources, war, religion and the American dream but its basic message was almost invariably positive (maybe a tad too much so) in its conclusion. For example, the segment on natural resources ends with him talking about the resourcefulness of the American people when times get tough, and the one on the American dream ends with him talking about why he became an American citizen.Even the segment on America and war is designed to puncture European myths about the U.S. being a militaristic country. His take on the 2008 election which is a theme that runs through all the segments is both even-handed and uplifting. The series, as its title suggests, also has an uncanny knack for taking up contemporary and future American problems and issues and taking us on an interesting tour how the issue has been dealt with (poorly or well) through our past. Schama is one of the most insightful and intelligent of historians whether he turns his attention to art, British, or American history and discusses the latter with a down-to-earth, insightful, and wise eye for the evil as well as the great dimensions of the American character. Highly recommended.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fresh, loving look at America, January 29, 2009

By	Electrohound "electronic music junkie" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I disagree with one of the other reviewers here who seems to take great offense at some of Schama's observations about America. As a non-native born American citizen, and as a European-born Jew, he has some sober assessments of our society. But in the main, I found him to be mostly singing our praises and getting at the real heart of what makes this country great, despite its contradictions and sometimes ugly past. It's that perspective that makes the series so refreshing and good, and most importantly, thought-provoking.