Oliver Stone's History of the US

[vlyons]

I'm slowly working my way through Oliver's Stone's History of the US. It's a 12-epoisode TV series currently available on Netflix. I'm learning a lot, and I thought that I was fairly knowledgeable since I minored in college in history. Our country has been run by some real slime balls. Moreover it is one of the greatest perpetrators of 20th Century colonialism. I highly recommend that all DUers watch the entire series. I'm sure that it's available from several sources. Just google it.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

1. One learns of this in history classes ... in other countries. Not here. eom

[Moostache]

5. Hell, we have the Texas school board deciding things like the role of Jefferson in US history...

They write out that which they don't like or that which is antithetical to their professed world views and because of the printing market, as goes Texas, so goes much of the nation in text books...

It's why despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, we still have "controversies" over things like anthropomorphic climate change and young-Earth creationism too.

I really wish these fucking people could be sent to the Dakotas and Montana to dilute their influence on the rest of us...

[disillusioned73]

2. Fantastic series..

I highly recommend as well.. Henry Wallace's story as FDR's VP is.... enlightening, to say the least.

[vlyons]

3. I was surprised to learn

that Krushshev played a big role in refusing to launch nuclear weapons during the Cuban crisis, for which he was not acknowledged

[11cents]

4. Oliver Stone is a Putin fanboy.

He did a notoriously grovelling "interview" with Putin, and his son works for RT. He mixes his long-time conspiracism -- remember that "JFK" makes a hero of Jim Garrison, the homophobic prosecutor who tried to convict an innocent gay man of the assassination -- with the usual antisemitic secret sauce. Haven't we learned yet that blanket anti-Americanism isn't a signal of sound ideology?

[pretzel4gore]

9. The gay guy was guilty

His liking for young kids was incidental to efforts to hild him to rights for murderng President Kennedy...meanwhile Officer Oswald, who dedicated himself totally to serving USA from age 17, gets framed and convicted for a treasonous act (though he remained on payroll until 2005. his estate ' retired' - LHO's tax records classified for 1000 yrs!)
How anyone care about enemy agent clayshaw is hard to see!

[hlthe2b]

6. I found his hit job on Truman hard to take (as did historian Douglas Brinkley)

That turned me off the series.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

7. I don't trust Stone since his open embrace of Putin a few years back.

Not sure I ever really trusted him in terms of disseminating facts, although he's made some interesting and entertaining movies over the years.

But I worry about the agenda here.

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. Can't stand Oliver Stone so I won't be watching. Give me Ken Burns anyday. n/t