The Men Who Built America

The Men Who Built America
Region 1 DVD cover
GenreBiography, Docudrama
Written by
  • Randy Counsman
  • Stephen David
  • Patrick Reams
  • David C. White
  • Alec Michod
  • Ed Fields
  • John Fahy
  • Keith Palmer
Directed byPatrick Reams, Ruán Magan
Starring
  • David Donahoe
  • Matt Boliek
  • Adam Jonas Segaller
  • Cary Donaldson
  • John C. Bailey
  • Eric Rolland
  • Justin Morck
Narrated byCampbell Scott
Theme music composer"Save My Soul" by Blues Saraceno
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes8
Production
CinematographyRichard V. Lopez
Brian O'Carroll
Editors
  • Tim W. Kelly
  • Jonathan Soule
  • Beatrice Sisul
  • Tina Pacheco
  • John Kilgour
  • Sheri Bylander
Production companyStephen David Entertainment
Original release
NetworkHistory Channel
ReleaseOctober 16 (2012-10-16) –
November 11, 2012 (2012-11-11)
Related

The Men Who Built America (also known as The Innovators: The Men Who Built America in some international markets) is an eight-part miniseries docudrama by the History Channel. It is the first installment of the That Built franchise.

Overview

The series focuses on the lives of Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, and Henry Ford. It tells how their industrial innovations and business empires revolutionized modern society. The series is directed by Patrick Reams and Ruán Magan and is narrated by Campbell Scott. It averaged 2.6 million total viewers (1.2 million adults 25–54 and 1 million adults 18–49) across four nights.

Cast

Additional narration was provided by H. W. Brands, Mark Cuban, Donny Deutsch, Donald Trump, Jim Cramer, and Steve Case.

Episodes

Eight individual episodes were produced for the series; however, for the program's initial broadcast on History Channel, they were combined into four episodes.[1][2]

No.TitleOmnibus broadcast titleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"A New War Begins"A New War BeginsRuán MaganDavid C. White, Keith PalmerOctober 16, 2012 (2012-10-16)
2"Oil Strike"
Cornelius Vanderbilt grows from a steamboat entrepreneur to the head of a railroad empire, and gets into a heated rivalry with James Fisk and Jay Gould; the up and coming John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil. Many business owners lay their own rail lines which leads to the Panic of 1873. Later, Rockefeller starts to expand his wealth by diverting his business from the railroads to a new innovation, oil pipelines.
3"A Rivalry Is Born"Bloody BattlesPatrick ReamsDavid C. White, Keith PalmerOctober 23, 2012 (2012-10-23)
4"Blood Is Spilled"
Andrew Carnegie builds an empire around steel, but finds himself struggling to save face after the ruthless tactics of his business partner, Henry Clay Frick, result in both the Johnstown Flood as well as the bloody 1892 strike at the Homestead Steel Works.
5"A New Rival Emerges"Changing the GamePatrick ReamsDavid C. White, Patrick Reams, Keith PalmerOctober 30, 2012 (2012-10-30)
6"Owning It All"
J. P. Morgan proceeds to banish the dark with the direct current electric light of Thomas Edison, but the two soon face serious competition from the alternating current of George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla. As the 19th century comes to a close, the titans of industry must try to work together to stop a new threat in budding politician William Jennings Bryan, who threatens to dissolve monopolies in America.
7"Taking The White House"When One Ends, Another BeginsPatrick ReamsDavid C. White, Keith PalmerNovember 11, 2012 (2012-11-11)
8"The New Machine"
Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan team up to help elect William McKinley to the U.S. presidency by paying for his 1896 campaign, to avoid a possible attack on monopolies. However, fate intervenes when McKinley is suddenly assassinated, and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumes the presidency and promptly begins dissolving monopolies and trusts in America. Meanwhile, Morgan buys out Carnegie Steel to make Carnegie the richest man in the world, and Henry Ford designs an affordable automobile with his Model T and starts his own business, Ford Motor Company, which sets a new business model for companies to follow.

Release

It was originally broadcast on the History Channel in autumn 2012, and on the History Channel UK in fall 2013.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 62% of 13 critics' reviews are positive.[3] On Metacritic the series has a score of 60 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4]

Neil Genzlinger from The New York Times observed that the series did not contain startling revelations about its principal subjects, although certainly gave them a modern-day relevance.[5] Linda Holmes writing for NPR ridiculed the series for dull presentation, corny re-enactments and ineffective narration. She criticized the production for feeling "a lot like a tricked-out version of an elementary school filmstrip" and suggested that the series might be popular among those who accepted Donald Trump as one of the experts.[6]

Geoff Berkshire from Variety criticized the series for "overblown recreations backed by bombastic music, combined with tepid performances by the re-enactors and rudimentary writing". Mentioning the series' "ostentatious style [that] begins to grate within the first 30 minutes", he scorned "the talking heads [that] simply feel like filler" and the particular style of padding out the runtime when "the viewers are subjected to the customary recap of the previous segment after every ad break." He concluded that unlike the game-changing icons it intended to celebrate, the series failed to leave its mark.[7] Verne Gay from Newsday gave the series "C" grade for "self-serving, obvious or of the fortune cookie variety" tips dispensed by the guests and for the lack of subtlety and historic context. On another hand, he praised the well-produced, although often static, recreations.[8]

Home media

The miniseries has been released by The History Channel on January 22, 2013, in a three-disc set in both DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Shows A-Z - men who built america, the on history". The Futon Critic. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  2. ^ "The Men Who Built America". Disney+. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  3. ^ "The Innovators: The Men Who Built America: Season 1 | Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  4. ^ "The Men Who Built America". Metacritic. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  5. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (October 15, 2012). "Then as Now, Businessmen Bent on Power". The New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  6. ^ Holmes, Linda (October 15, 2012). "Money Is the Object and the Subject in History's 'The Men Who Built America'". Pop Culture Happy Hour. NPR. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  7. ^ Berkshire, Geoff (October 15, 2012). "The Men Who Built America". Variety. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  8. ^ Gay, Verne (October 15, 2012). "'Men Who Built America' review: History dud". Newsday. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  9. ^ Lambert, David (November 30, 2012). "The Men Who Built America (mini-series) – Blu-rays, DVDs for This October's History Channel Miniseries". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on December 2, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
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