"The Gilded Age" is another excellent documentary from "The American Experience". The predominant theme throughout is big business' interests versus the public interest. This is because during this era in the United States, the economy went nuts and industrial productivity greatly increased...making the nation and its economy stronger but also creating a new class of the super-wealthy. At the same time, working conditions and poverty got worse in some ways. Balancing this was the theme of the show and efforts by industrialists (particularly J.P. Morgan) and Progressives are chronicled on the show.
The program is similar to other documentaries "The American Experience" has produced. It uses photos, videos, music and a variety of experts as well as the narrator to expertly tell the story of the era. I enjoyed it, though because I used to teach American History, I saw a few things I would have done differently. First, much of the early part of the show talked about unions and strikes and then, inexplicably, seemed to just drop this. Second, when it talked about Progressives, it really only talked about the likes of William Jennings Bryant...completely ignoring the Republican Progressives led by Teddy Roosevelt...who, unlike Bryant, actually was able to make changes. Of course, perhaps this was too much for the show to encompass though not mentioning it all seemed odd. Still, well done and worth seeing.