American history is a rich and spicy stew--full of oddball characters, bold thinkers, unlikely heroes and amazing acts of courage. And yet in school textbooks, it's often about as thrilling as a bowl of thin soup. In 1987, journalist Joy Hakim set out to change that. She began writing a new kind of history book, full of ideas, voices, personality, artwork and even humor. Today, thousands of schools serve up her book series, A History of Us.
Beginning this week, even kids who don't use her books can get a helping of Hakim-style history. A new television series, Freedom: A History of Us, begins airing Sunday evenings on PBS stations around the country (check local listings). It is introduced by President and Mrs. Bush. Hakim couldn't be more pleased. "It's another way of getting people interested in American history," she says about the new series. "There are things you can do in a film that you can't do in a book."
BIG STARS BRING HISTORY TO LIFE
The series gallops across U.S. history in eight hour-long shows, from the Revolutionary War to the 21st century. Katie Couric, host of NBC's Today show, narrates. A long list of famous actors lend their voices to the series. Tom Hanks breathes life into words that Abraham Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg. Whoopi Goldberg reads a passage from Sojourner Truth, who fought against slavery. Other parts are read by Reese Witherspoon, Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams and many other stars. "No one has ever had this amount of talent to work with," says Nancy Steiner, one of the producers.
Actor Christopher Reeve was in charge of recruiting actors for the project. He found them eager to participate, despite the modest $1,000 fee: "Many of them are parents facing the same problems that parents in our audience face: how to make American history dynamic and relevant to their kids." Reeve, the father of a fifth grader, hopes the series will spark family and classroom discussions and give kids a new appreciation for "what America stands for--the value of freedom."
Freedom: A History of Us explains the real meaning of freedom with a visual array of historic places, photographs and paintings, plus a very well-written narration read by Katie Couric. It boasts an all-star cast reading te words of famous historical people.
The series is very educational, but I would not recommend it to kids looking for entertainment. Watching the show is like having a good history textbook dramatically read to you. In the first tow episodes about early America and the Revolution against Britain, there is almost no action. It would have been more appealing to use the actors to stage the historical events. Fortunately, the episodes dealing with more recent events do show more action footage.
If you are already a history buff, then you will enjoy this series. But to me, it felt like something I would rather watch in a classroom than in my living room.