i never cared about history in school nor after school It wasn’t till my love of Netflix programming have I seen the errors of my ways. Netflix Ultimate Guide to Presidents taught me things I never knew and how the three branches have been at odds with each other, coludide against the one and more.
However “The Men Who Built America” is better than a UFC fight, a twilight movie or “Hells on Wheels.” Basically 80% of action films. Why? For many reasons.
Citizens United and Koch brothers today? Mere copycats compared to 1896 with Rockefeller, Carnegie and J.P. Morgan spending $20 million to get McKinney elected as president of the United States in order to push aside the candidate that if he won would crush their monopolies
Environmental issues? Nothing compared to years of toxic waste in the form of gasoline pouring into the water and land 24 hours a day before they found a purpose for gasoline.
So many things that beats anything fabricated in movies these days.
Then there are great stories like Vanderbuilt who started from nothing and creating a shipping empire then when on top he sold it all to then get on the path to be the railroad king.
Then hiw how he got hoodwinked because a company he was trying to buy created extra stick because back then it was legal if your company bylaws said you could. There are so many twists and clever ways these men outmaneuver each other.
The lasting thing is that what politicians and ultra rich doing outrageous things are still in the dna of those today. I get why they want to change the history books in Texas. Why kids are getting of murder charges because of “affluenza” and why politicians don’t want you to know about history and all the shady things done to feed the rich and screw the poor.
Also to watch these men come from nothing and during their darkest hour pull out and become incredibly wealthy. The way they hate each other but then ally with anothe to thwart the third? Better stories than one can make up and that it is all true makes it even better.
Then there are the narrators. Famous business people of our day that match up to some of the people and deeds done back then.
Awesome, entertaining and most definitely educational.
