Review and Giveaway: A&E/History Channel DVD Sets (CLOSED)

Way (way!) back, when I was in college and had to choose a major, I decided to go with a subject that I loved – history. Of course, as a career choice, there aren’t a whole lot of options with a history major (especially if you don’t want to teach), so I ended up changing before graduation, but still love learning about different periods in history. One way that I do so is to read – historical fiction and biographies mostly. Another one of my favorite ways to learn more is by watching shows that air on A&E, the History channel and the Biography channel. Did you know that many of the shows which air on the these channels are also released on DVD? A little while ago, I had the opportunity to take a look at two DVD sets – The Founding of America, and WWII, The Ultimate Collection.

What they are:

The Founding of America Megaset includes 14 DVDs with a total of 1,645 minutes of viewing time that covers the “inspiring early days of America – the personalities, the battles, the bravery, the losses, and even the romance”. The megaset includes the discs for four separate series, each of which looks at a different aspect of the revolution, the times leading up to it, and the early days of the new nation afterward.

FOUNDING FATHERS and FOUNDING BROTHERS examine the relationships of the very human men who risked their fortunes and lives for independence. THE REVOLUTION recounts great battles, devastating losses, and miraculous victories. BEN FRANKLIN and BENEDICT ARNOLD: A QUESTION OF HONOR look at the critical roles played by both men–one a hero, the other a traitor–while WASHINGTON THE WARRIOR and THE CROSSING pay tribute to the soul-stirring leadership of our first president.

With performances by Kelsey Grammar, Aidan Quinn, and Jeff Daniels, rare archival material, and commentary by leading historians, THE FOUNDING OF AMERICA presents historical programming at its comprehensive best.

Contents Include:

• Founding Fathers (mini-series)
• Founding Brothers (mini-series)
• The Conflict Ignites
• 1776
• Washington & Arnold
• The World at War
• England’s Last Chance
• Birth of the Republic
• The Revolution (series)
• Washington the Warrior
• Ben Franklin
• Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor
• The Crossing

Bonus Features:

• “History in the Making: The Revolution”
• Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes; Behind-the-Scenes
• “Declaration of Independence” (Episode of SAVE OUR HISTORY)
• “The Many Faces of Ben Franklin” Making-of Featurette
• Timeline
• Anecdotes
• Quotes
• List of Innovations and Inventions
• “Benedict Arnold: Triumph and Treason” (50-minute Biography episode); Cast Biographies/Filmographies
• Historical Quotes

Ultimate Collections: World War II is a 10-DVD set that includes 892 minutes of documentary footage that provides a comprehensive and intimate survey of this epic war, featuring nearly 30 of [The History Channel’s] greatest World War II documentaries, each packed with original archival footage, interviews with military experts and historians, and gripping reenactments”.

The crucible of the Greatest Generation, the centerpiece of the 20th century, receives the comprehensive scrutiny it deserves in this spectacular 10-DVD collection.

• 28 documentaries from the authoritative source for WW II history.
• The leaders, the equipment, the battles, and the aftermath are all thoroughly explored.
• Unique combat footage and rare archival materials provide unparalleled insight.

For the United States, for the Earth and for all of its citizens, the Second World War was the defining event of the 20th century. In its wake nations were destroyed and formed, the globe was split between superpowers, millions perished or became dispossessed and the truest face of humanity at its most demonic and most heroic was exposed. The World War II experience has never been captured as accurately and thoroughly as it has in this stunning collection of DVDs from THE HISTORY CHANNEL. There will never be another war like it; there will never be another DVD collection like this.

The essential 10-disc anthology on the greatest war of the twentieth century includes:

• WORLD WAR II: THE WAR IN EUROPE (2 discs): Nine documentaries survey the war’s massive scope in Europe.
• WORLD WAR II: THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC (2 discs): Seven documentaries examine the impetus and aftermaths of the battle in the Pacific.
• GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR: RETURN OF A LEGEND: The great MacArthur helped win World War II with a simple promise: “I shall return.”
• OKINAWA: THE FINAL BATTLE: Relive the final engagement of World War II, in which over 250,000 people joined in a desperate fight.
• EMPIRES OF INDUSTRY: WAR PLANES OF WWII: Learn about the birth of America’s aviation industry and some of the greatest fighter planes ever produced.
• NUREMBERG: TYRANNY ON TRIAL: Bear witness to the accusations, hearings, and sentencing of Nazi war criminals.
• GREAT BLUNDERS OF WORLD WAR II (2 discs): Eight documentaries expose the fatal errors and bungled opportunities that changed the course of history.

Courtesy of A&E Home Video and Attention PR, we received copies of both of these DVD sets to view and review.

Here’s my our take on them:

One thing that my husband realized as soon as he looked at these DVD sets was that he had already seen almost all of the ‘Founding Fathers’ episodes from the Founding of America megaset. In fact, he had been devotedly searching the listings for the last few that he hadn’t seen yet, so was thrilled to have the complete set, as well as even more series to watch as well. And I had only seen a few episodes previously myself, but since the American Revolution is one of my favorite historical time periods, I love having so much documentary footage to watch. Neither my husband or I had seen any of the WWII documentaries included in this anthology, so it’s really been a treat to be able to watch and learn so much that I hadn’t known before about such an important time in the world’s history.

One thing that I really enjoy about these types of documentaries is how well they’re put together, with archival footage (when available), re-enactions, interviews and commentary. They aren’t only educational and informative, but truly entertaining and enjoyable to watch. In fact, the only negative thing about these that I can think of to say is that the size of the sets is actually just a little bit intimidating. That’s a lot of hours of footage to find the time to watch. But having the whole sets here at home means that I can watch them whenever I want to and not feel like I have to watch all of it at once.  I’m slowly working my way through them. 

The bottom line:

The History Channel does an incredible job of putting together documentaries that educate while they entertain. By bundling these shows together into megasets, you can purchase entire series at once and get a lot of extras with them as well. Whether you’re a history buff or just want to learn more about these two incredibly important historical events, both of these DVD sets are must-haves so you can watch the episodes whenever (and how often) you want.

Where can you find them?:

You can purchase both sets from the History Channel shop at http://shop.history.com. They are also both available on Amazon as well – the Ultimate Collections: World War II is listed at $44.95 for the 10-disc set and The Founding of America Megaset (14 DVDs) is listed at $99.95.

Would you like to try them?:

I have an extra set of both the Ultimate Collections: World War II and The Founding of America Megaset to give away to one lucky reader! If you would like to own both of these for yourself, here are the rules:

1. Enter by leaving a comment here to let me know what time period in history you would like to learn more about. Please don’t just say ‘choose me’, or your entry will be discarded.
2. The contest will run until Saturday, October 24th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be selected through random drawing, contacted by e-mail, listed on this post and also submitted to PRIZEY. US entries only, please.
3. Please leave a valid e-mail address or other way to contact you! If the winner hasn’t responded within 3 days, an alternate winner will be chosen by random drawing.
4. If you’d like extra entries, you can:

• Subscribe to my RSS feed (click on the orange icon in the upper right sidebar) or subscribe via e-mail – leave me a separate comment to let me know.
• Mention this contest on your blog with a link back to this post, and leave a separate comment with the link to your post so I can find it.
• Either Twitter about, ‘Digg’ or ‘Kirtsy’ this post – leave me a separate comment with your username at whichever site(s) you chose (one extra entry per method).
• Become a ‘fan’ of this site on Facebook – there’s a link in the sidebar or you can click here.

So that’s a total of 7 comments/entries if you do all of the extra entry options.

Good luck! 

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – the random number generator has chosen comment #10 as the winner:

Congratulations to etirv (no blog), whose extra subscription entry has won for her! I will be e-mailing you shortly to work out the details.

UPDATE: I’ve received no response back from the original winner, so am drawing a new winner for this prize. This time the random number generator has chosen comment #16:

Congratulations to IdahoJill, whose extra entry via Twitter has won for her! I will be e-mailing you shortly to work out the details.

This post courtesy of: A&E Home Video and Attention PR. No payment or compensation, other than product samples as described above, was received for this post.