Untold History of the United States

It is useful for Americans to have alternative views of history, even if biased. Stone actually doesn't veer off the mainstream that much, but periodically when he does, his views are weak and self-contradictory. For example, when Stone claims that the Atomic Bomb wasn't needed since Japan was intent on surrender in the summer of 1945...he then provides a detailed account of how repeated aerial bombardments didn't break the will of the Japanese people (what Stone suggests broke their will was actually the threat of Soviet invasion). So either the Japanese wanted to surrender or not. Stone wants it both ways when it suits his argument. Stone is also ridiculously sympathetic to Stalin. He is correct that the Soviets bore the brunt of the effort to destroy Nazi Germany, but Stalin's own bungling prolonged and worsened this struggle. In the end, Stone's work is a commendable effort but never rises above being a middlebrow dismissal of the mainstream that lacks real depth. All that said, I still believe Stone is a truly great American who is legitimately interested in a genuine history of this country.

Some of this will be familiar if you read Noam Chomsky's books from the early 1990s. World War II was definitely *not* the good war, and the real heroes of that war are the Soviets--who Nazi Germany wanted to eradicate entirely. And Truman's inclusion on the 1944 ballot was entirely the product of Democratic party machinations. Everything from Oppenheimer's plea to Truman to *not* use the atom bomb to Iran-Contra to W's hyperfocus on Iraq after the September 11, 2001, attacks, to Cheney's classified energy briefings , it's all here.

Some of the discussion and even the "facts" presented in this excellent documentary may have some room for debate (ie the Atomic Bombing of Japan for instance), but the vast majority is absolutely true and should be seen by every American. The truth is that many of our "leaders" have allowed terrible things to happen or held back the progress of the American people simply for the gain of the few.