I really like these shows on the Civil War's hottest confrontations. If you want to understand the war, you have to picture the movements of the armies and their meetings in battles; and the picture is unbelievably complex. The strategy of the series is to present the battles in reenactments that are discreetly supported by commentary. The emphasis is on the filmed image, while the historical background --carefully prepared and present at all times-- makes sense of what you are seeing in the mini-dramas. It's like being at the cinema, with a kind of guarantee that the image on screen is as close as possible to the way it happened. So it's more vivid and persuasive than the typical Hollywood concoction. This show and others in the series give a visceral understanding of the war that's also accurate--and that's something to be treasured. With pleasure, I give this show and the whole series a maximum rating.
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