I had no idea how much their lives were so intertwined together.  You always hear about these guys, but History is so much better when it's taken out of a dry social studies book and put into context like this.

Biggest news to me the the intermingling and business deals. All the history books make Tesla out to be a crazy guy and Edison to be the greatest man to have ever lived. The electric chair was crazy.

I watched Ford but missed the first episode of the series.

I saw a couple of them last night, very interesting, and in the scheme of things, not really that long ago, how many shows are there in the series anyway?
Edit: Looks like there are four of them at this point.

4

In 1960s England AJP Taylor did a wonderful job for the BBC of a history of England. Simon Schama's version from a few years back is quite good but not as good as Taylor's. James Shenton, who taught at Columbia till his death did a History of the US for PBS that was amazing. I studied with him in graduate school and his were some of the most popular courses taught. He had the actor's gift for mimicry, and no matter what questions pulled his lecture off topic he was the only teacher I ever met that could pull it together and finish his lecture right on time. I'm sure all of these shows exist somewhere.

Josephson's "The Robber Barons" and Tarbell's "A History of Standard Oil" are still the best histories on the era. I had to read "The Gilded Age" for some English class and it was terrific, but focused more on culture. Veblen's "Theory of a Leisure Class" William James "Varieties of Religious Experience" are hardly fun reads but seminal. Anyone who wants to get a taste of life ought to look at any of the novels Edith Wharton wrote.

I haven't had a chance to watch this series yet but I will be downloading it soon. A couple of nights ago I DVR'd The Dust Bowl on PBS. If you want to get an idea of how tough our previous generations were this is a must watch. The resolve of these people is something tough to imagine! It also made me realize how pussified our nation has become! It kind of makes me sick to see how we've raised a nation of winers only 80 years removed from such a trying time. Another great series if you have time to watch it!

I watched that one too.  It's a little slow....but man, that had to be some tough living back then...I think about the same things when I'm watching these shows.  

think about so much dust that it's literally choking cows to death!?!?


We're so soft.

I watched it over the course of the weekend. Very informative and quite interesting. Learned many new things, and more than a few tidbits I thought I knew didn't play out the way I thought they did.

I'd like to see the Dust Bowl documentary, but since funds have been cut, our local PBS has cut their broadcast power so low it is difficult to tune in to.

Back OT: Men who built America. I have not seen the series, and unless it comes on Netflix, I probably won't watch it.

This might be a rare quality outing for The History Channel, as their view of history is usually first grade level watching. Perhaps this is one of those rare exceptions.

I read a wonderful book last year called "American Colossus - The Triumph of American Capitalism 1865-1900" (by H.W. Brands). Not too long, about 600 pages, but long enough to give you all the sordid details, at times fly on the wall-like stuff. Certainly a book like this give more detail than any series can hope to give. It really gets into the minutia of the politics of the day and how that framed things. The book is so detailed that I may read it again someday and undoubtedly get more the 2nd time through.

Rockefeller was ruthless, and wouldn't stand for anything getting in his way. But arguably, all of those Barons were cunning and diabolical. Had to be, to get to their level of power and wealth.

When you look at the wealth the Rockefeller, Carnegie and Vanderbilt amassed, it is quite staggering. JP Morgan had a lot of power and political & financial will, but his wealth, while considerable, was a blip compared to the big 3.

iTunes has both for sale. I bought The Dust Bowl because it was only $11. I can't say it's worth purchasing but I really enjoyed it.

The dust bowl is right on the PBS website.

FP the JP wealth comment seems contradictory to this show. They show JP cutting carnegie his final check.

I'm well aware of the check that JP cut Carnegie for US Steel (and the story that goes along with it). Do you think that was the only asset that Carnegie owned? It may have been the last check that JP (or the only) cut Carnegie but Andrew had his hands in many, many things.

Having said that, time revealed that Rockefeller and Vanderbilt may have had the real money (certainly Rockefeller)

And yes, I just remembered that PBS allows web viewing of most their catalog (and thanks for that reminder).

I could start The Dust Bowl on an iPad and airplay it to my Apple TV, I think.

And I'd have to go back and check, but I think HW Brand may have intimated that JP wasn't always dealing with entirely his own money (possibly even with the US Steel transaction...can't remember). Being a banker, he was always making large deals and not always with his own capital, which tended to inflate his wealth image, while not entirely his actual personal monetary wealth. But I'm not insinuating his wealth was a fraud, just that he wasn't as deep as the other 3.