Our Presidents in American History

Gr 5 Up—The key events, successes, failures, and scandals of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama are traced. At about five minutes, the overview of Clinton's presidency is much too brief. His successes are covered briefly, but the background to our current problems with Al-Qaeda is not presented and the scandals he faced are not explained. The coverage of George W. Bush's presidency is better. The controversy surrounding Iraq and the strength he showed after 9/11 are discussed. Information about President Barack Obama's background and his quick rise in the political arena is presented in the video's last few minutes. His platform is merely mentioned as a call for change but never really explained. While the DVD box indicates that he won the Nobel Peace Prize, this information is not mentioned. The images and clips of speeches well represent the time period covered and provide information about foreign and domestic problems. The focus on terrorism is a good introduction to the subject, and the teacher's guide provides helpful questions for class discussion. This film could be used in high school classes as a jumping off point for more in-depth discussions.—Sarah Flood, Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, KY