10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America: Einstein's Letter (DVD)

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I am a fan of the History Channel, but I am often irritated by the stylistic uniformity of its programs. There is a definite History Channel "look" which you know when you see it: numerous close-up shots of people or body parts and the liberal use of slow-motion, all to simulate a big-screen epic feel on a small-screen budget. "10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America," by contrast, represents a welcome departure from the History Channel routine.

Executive producer Susan Werbe brought in ten independent documentary filmmakers (including Joe Berlinger who is also co-executive producer of "10 Days") and gave them substantial creative license to film each 45 minute long installment of the program. As a result, the ten-part series features a refreshing array of styles and perspectives that maintains a sense of originality and interest throughout. The series focuses on ten days that proved pivotal in shaping America´s future. This isn´t a "Top Ten" countdown of The Most Important Days Ever, but simply a spotlight on ten significant events that many viewers either don´t know about, or don´t know enough about.

I don´t have the time or space to review all ten episodes, so I will focus on the two that I enjoyed best. Most of us probably have a vague recollection of the words "Shay´s Rebellion" from our high school history classes, but director RJ Cutler proves that this crucial event is more than an extra credit question on a mid-term exam. In 1786, Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary War veteran, united a group of disgruntled farmers and other workers who were angry about their crushing tax burden in the fledgling country they had helped to form. Hadn´t they fought the revolution in the first place because of unfair taxation? Shays and his followers nearly managed to capture enough munitions to outgun the relatively ineffective Massachusetts militia. Shays was eventually defeated (in February 1787), but his near-victory revealed the inadequacy of the Articles of Confederation; the federal government had no power to intervene, leaving the state to deal with Shays on its own. Shays´ rebellion led directly to the creation of the Constitution, and convinced General George Washington to come out of retirement to lead the new country. Cutler brings the story to life with the aid of renowned animator Bill Plympton who vividly illustrates the characters and battles of the story.

"Einstein´s Letter" is a genuinely thrilling examination of the events that led to the creation, and eventual deployment, of the atomic bomb. The title refers to the influential letter Einstein wrote to FDR in August 1939, urging him to develop the atomic bomb before the Germans could do the same. However, this episode, directed by Barak Goodman ("Scottsboro: An American Tragedy"), focuses not on the iconic Albert Einstein, but rather on the lesser-known Leó Szilárd, an eccentric Hungarian-born physicist who fled from the Nazis, first to London, then later to New York. Szilárd formulated the concept of the nuclear chain reaction, an idea which he patented but never published, in order to keep the information from falling into the wrong hands (i.e. the Nazis). Szilárd couldn´t get the American government to take him seriously, and he knew his only hope was to secure the imprimatur of the world´s most famous scientist, and it was only through Szilárd´s dogged insistence that Einstein finally wrote the letter, a decision that would come to trouble both men in the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Every episode in the series is interesting, and the broad range of topics assures a large potential target audience. Though the series purports to be about ten days, no event (not even Antietam) is limited to a single 24-hour period. Each episode focuses on the context leading up to the "big day" as well its subsequent ramifications.