History

An obscure passage in the Book of Isaiah describing the fall of ancient Israel has, since September 11, 2001, been eerily re-enacted in the United States exactly as it originally occurred in the time of the great prophet of Israel leading to the nation’s demise.

Jonathan Cahn, the author of The Harbinger, has been shocking audiences by revealing the astonishing parallels between the fall of ancient Israel and current events unfolding in the US, what he calls "an ancient mystery that holds the secret of America's future and the collapse of the global economy."

In this stunning new documentary The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment, Rabbi Cahn unravels the mystery behind this seemingly innocuous Biblical verse, and shows that ancient harbingers of judgment are now manifesting in America, just as they once did in Israel. This fascinating new DVD asks the question, “Is God sending America a prophetic message of what will soon be?” and RabbiCahn provides the answers through mounting evidence that the answer is ‘yes.’

With incredibly detailed historical reenactments, expert commentary and the stories of slavery told through first-hand accounts, this is an epic struggle 400 years in the making. A journey into the past like none other. This is the story of these men and women who by their hands laid the foundation of what would become the most powerful nation on Earth. Join us as we rise...UP FROM SLAVERY.

Ancient Aliens returns in Season 2 to explore the controversial theory that extraterrestrials have visited Earth for millions of years. From the age of dinosaurs to ancient Egypt, from early cave drawings to continued mass sightings in the United States, each episode in this new series gives historic depth to the questions, speculations, provocative controversies, firsthand accounts and grounded theories surrounding an age-old debate: Did intelligent life forms from outer space visit Earth thousands of years ago? Do they visit us now? History ignites this inquiry.

Ken Burns' Emmyr Award-winning documentary brings to life America's most destructive - and defining - conflict. "The Civil War" is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one. Bonus disc includes interviews with Ken Burns, Shelby Foote, George Will, Stanley Crouch and Jay Ungar & Molly Mason. Bonus 16-page collector's handbook features a selection of photos and battle details. Discs 1-5 have Civil War trivia, maps of major battles and commentary from Ken Burns on select scenes.

The most successful public-television miniseries in American history, the 11-hour Civil War didn't just captivate a nation, reteaching to us our history in narrative terms; it actually also invented a new film language taken from its creator. When people describe documentaries using the "Ken Burns approach," its style is understood: voice-over narrators reading letters and documents dramatically and stating the writer's name at their conclusion, fresh live footage of places juxtaposed with still images (photographs, paintings, maps, prints), anecdotal interviews, and romantic musical scores taken from the era he depicts. The Civil War uses all of these devices to evoke atmosphere and resurrect an event that many knew only from stale history books. While Burns is a historian, a researcher, and a documentarian, he's above all a gifted storyteller, and it's his narrative powers that give this chronicle its beauty, overwhelming emotion, and devastating horror. Using the words of old letters, eloquently read by a variety of celebrities, the stories of historians like Shelby Foote and rare, stained photos, Burns allows us not only to relearn and finally understand our history, but also to feel and experience it. --Dave McCoy

• Native Americans have experienced a history full of oppression and racism. Since the period when Native tribes were found on this continent at the time of its "discovery," the British and American governments disregarded Native Americans as the owners of the territory they occupied and used aggressive force to take their lands and destroy their people.  This harrowing and compelling compilati

This telling" collection of four documentaries focusing on the plight and history of the Native Americans is enhanced with compelling narration by James Earl Jones, James Garner, Crystal Gayle, Wes Studi and more. Includes The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy (2006/120 min.), Native American Healing in the 21st Century (1997/40 min.), Black Indians: An American Story (2001/60 min.) and Our Spirits Don't Speak English: Indian Boarding School (2008/80 min.). 2 DVDs. Color-b&w/NR/fullscreen.

• A riveting adventure of how America was invented, AMERICA THE STORY OF US focuses on the people, ideas and events that built our nation, covering 400 years of American history in the most extensive and in-depth television series ever produced by HISTORY . From the rigors of linking the continent by wagon trails to the transcontinental railway, the engineering of steel-structured buildings, to land

A riveting adventure of how America was invented, America: The Story Of Us focuses on the people, ideas and events that built our nation, covering 400 years of American history in the most extensive and in-depth television series ever produced by History. From the rigors of linking the continent by wagon trails to the transcontinental railway, the engineering of steel-structured buildings through to landing on the moon, this epic 12-part series is a grand cinematic vision of how this country was built. America: The Story Of Us brings this story to life firsthand through patriots, frontiersmen, slaves, abolitionists, Native Americans, pioneers, immigrants, entrepreneurs and inventors. From the revolutionary war that birthed the nation to the civil war that divided it, into the making of the modern world, America: The Story Of Us is an epic, dramatic, heartbreaking and triumphant journey that reminds us that American history truly belongs to we, the people.Sharing their thoughts on the building of America, and what it means to be an American, are a world-class group of individuals including Tom Brokaw, Michael Douglas, Meryl Streep, Buzz Aldrin, Colin Powell, Donald Trump, John Legend, Melissa Etheridge, Brian Williams and more.

With 12 chapters spread out over three discs and a total running time of more than nine hours (not including bonus material), the History Channel's America: The Story of Us is a sprawling primer on the history of the country and its people. Starting about 100 years after Columbus with the arrival of the earliest white settlers from across the Atlantic and finishing in the present day, the series can boast episodes devoted to major conflicts like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War II; the more gradual but still significant developments that helped shape the nation (like western expansion and the mass migration to major cities); and the various elements and forces (the discovery of oil; the growth of industry, engineering, and infrastructure; the development of the automobile and other means of mass transportation, and, of course, the accumulation of vast economic and military might) that combined to make the United States the world's dominant superpower in the 20th century and beyond. To the filmmakers' credit, the darker aspects of this history--slavery and racial strife, the treatment of Native Americans, the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII--are not given short shrift. And while much of the material is dealt with in fairly broad strokes, there are also various enlightening details in each chapter. Who knew that George Washington established a network of spies who wrote notes in invisible ink in order to deceive the British, or that the most valuable currency for those who first explored the West was beaver pelts?

A combination of reenactments, photos, CGI, models, and other elements delivers a great deal of information here, along with frequent references to Americans' pioneer spirit, devotion to hard work, and belief that if you can dream it, you can do it. Yet this isn't an especially scholarly document. The events depicted, from the Boston Tea Party and Paul Revere's midnight ride to the Alamo and the Gettysburg Address, not to mention more lurid tales like the Donner Party and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, should be familiar to those with even a cursory knowledge of US history. The emphasis on star power, be it the comments from a parade of talking heads including actors, musicians, politicians (President Barack Obama among them), athletes, soldiers, and so on, or the focus on charismatic historical figures like John Brown, Daniel Boone, and many others, reflects our celebrity-obsessed culture. And the constant hyperbole (narrator Liev Schreiber intones some variation of "What's about to happen will change things forever!" at least half a dozen times in the first episode alone) becomes tedious. Then again, considering the number of Americans who can't find their own country on a map, presenting the material like a dramatic TV show instead of textbook was a shrewd idea. --Sam Graham

• WHITES (DVD MOVIE)

From executive producer Johnny Knoxville (Jackass) comes a shocking and outlandish year-in-the-life documentary about the White Family of Boone County West Virginia's most notorious and surly family.

It's easy to see why executive producers Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine of the rude and rowdy show Jackass took interest in this ridiculously tragicomic reality drama, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. Riffing off of the original and rare documentary "Dancing Outlaw," about tap dancer Jesco White and his dancing dad, director Julien Nitzberg headed down to the coal-mining heart of West Virginia to further exploit this drug-addled family for some film footage that's fairly unbelievable. Launching right into some current family drama between Sue Bob's son, Brandon, having landed in prison after shooting his uncle, among others, this documentary then goes back to trace hooligan behavior to the originators of the family, dancer and coal miner D. Ray and his tough-cookie wife Bertie Mae. Daughters and cousins Sue Bob, Mousie, and Kirk dominate the film, snorting coke in trashy bar bathroom stalls and getting tanked in cars while driving around with less-than-savory boyfriends and ex-husbands. Occasionally, interviews with the town's district attorney provide some background information on this infamous regional family. One of the main plot thrusts here surrounds Kirk and her confiscated newborn, which prompts her to attend rehab while her other son, Tylor, rooms temporarily with his father. Will she get clean and sober, and will she get her baby back? One waits on tenterhooks to find out. Another subplot entails Grandma Mamie's antics as bad influence on the new generation of kids ushered into this mess. This family's action is so trashy, it's a wonder they all seem so content to be filmed. But then again, they're outlaws; throughout the film they own that title with what little pride they have. By the time the viewer is escorted to the family graveyard by the conflicted son of D. Ray, Jesco, to see D. Ray's defaced tombstone, one can imagine why D. Ray's name was scratched off the rock. For his kids to be this confused, he must have been a maniac. One comes away laughing and cringing simultaneously, and hoping that some Whites in addition to Poney, the cousin who fled with his clan to Minnesota, will escape the family for a wider, more optimistic view of life. While this film sounds like it would be a bad influence on kids, it actually may have a "scared straight" effect. The substance abuse is so raw, it's hard to imagine not taking this as warning. --Trinie Dalton

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
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Here is the story of America's national pastime from master storyteller Ken Burns. It is an epic overflowing with heroes and hopefuls, scoundrels and screwballs. A saga spanning the quest for racial justice, the clash of labor and management, the immigrant experience, the transformation of popular culture, and the enduring appeal of the national pastime.

Nestled in the heart of America's great plains are contrasting tastes of a sacred land that beckons the visitor to enter the nation's mysterious and glorious West. A land of soaring pinnacles, deep canyons, hidden caves, national monuments and countless wildlife sanctuaries. It is also the place of the inglorious death of famed gunslinger, Wild Bill Hickok and the most sacred spot for the Lakota Sioux. These contrasting tastes of the West, one soaring, rich in forests and water and the other barren and deeply eroded, are brought together by a shared geology and history. They are the Gateway to the Great American West. They are the Black Hills and the Badlands.