I believe that this was a great opportunity missed.  That there was no
trained historian in charge was clear from the start.

Let me examine just the first episode. NYC was all about money.  Well,
what about all the church in NYC?  Pat Bonomi's "Under the Cope of
Heaven" begins with a description of NYC from the famed Burgis panorama,
describing churches first and foremost as NYC's most prominent
architecture and also at the heart of its society. Religion was central to
colonial NYC.  So where is it?  Artisans were the main population core of
colonial and early national NYC. Where are they? What about neighborhoods
and street patterns?  Lots of great images exist. Hamilton as a
representative of early national NYC? He was explicitly repudiated in
politics in election after election.  What about the idea of republican
NYC and the importance of the Jeffersonian movement and the firece
partisan politics of the era. There are splendid political cartoons and
broadsides to display. If one were to view the segment on colonial
and early national NYC as their only source, what a warped view he or she
would have. And with all the resources, what a missed opportunity.

With regard to the draft riots, very exciting narration.  But what about
the sophisticated interpretation of Iver Bernstein.  Why isn't he, now
the foremost expert, ever interviewed?  Whay don't they at least try to
capture some of the complexity of this event, the different stages. Only a
few gestures. Can television never become the least bit sophisticated?

What about all the great engraved imagery from Harper's and Leslie's
Illustrated? These were the core illustrations for the mid-century.  Where
are they?

There are so many wonderful images not used that could easily have been
incorporated. The Stokes Collection alone would, if they had used more of
it, greatly expanded the horizons.  And never are these early images or
the artists indentified or explained.  You can't just show an image and
totally ingnore its context. Some images were out of date for the period.

The lesson of this series is that although professional historians may
have difficulty today reaching a wide public, they remain vital.  One
ignores them only at great peril.


Howard B. Rock
Florida International University