Duo of holiday treats
These multimedia items for DVD-enabled home entertainment centers and computers will help keep patriotism high:
• “The Presidents,” from New Video, $49.99. Students get an education on the most important job in the United States through a three-disc DVD set that provides a snapshot of the 43 commanders in chief.
Based on the book “To the Best of My Ability,” the eight-part History Channel series uses photographs, footage and insight from a wide range of experts for more than six hours of learning about the executive branch of American government.
Each DVD covers a select group of presidents and offers snippets covering major accomplishments as well as problems they encountered, a basic biography and a glimpse into their often-complicated personalities.
Extras include a text-based timeline of the presidents and a 90-minute documentary on their wives.
m “The American Revolution,” from New Video, $79.99. One of my favorite parts of the July Fourth holiday is watching the History Channel’s re-airing of its excellent series on the birth of America. Now I can enjoy it anytime, thanks to a five-disc DVD set that not only compiles all of the programs, but also throws in a quartet of retrospectives on some of the Revolution’s significant figures.
Students can immerse themselves in eight hours of battle re-enactments, original documents, words from the Founding Fathers and a mix of interviews with historians as the programs cover everything from the Declaration of Independence to the Boston Tea Party to the surrender of the British at Yorktown.
The nonstop history lesson continues on the last pair of DVDs. Viewers get 50-minute presentations on George Washington, Benedict Arnold, Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere culled from the popular A&E Biography series.
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