Review: Undercover History
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this documentary series presents
evidence and supposition from all sides of some of history's
most intriguing mysteries. Expert testimony combines with
eyewitness accounts, video footage, and dramatic re-enactments
to present various plausible answers to age-old queries.
There's very little content that will raise eyebrows here other
than a little violence (mostly implied) in war scenes, but the
mysterious subject matter and dramatized scenes (though vague)
may upset some kids.
Families can talk about how investigators gather and analyze
evidence years after an event. What clues do they follow to
uncover information? What kind of evidence do they find? How
have recent technological advances helped these investigative
efforts? What evidence would it take to put the mysteries to
rest once and for all? Which historical mysteries would you
like to know more about?
UNDERCOVER HISTORY presents an overview of the theories and supporting evidence that surround some of the most famous unsolved mysteries in history, from the death of Julius Caesar to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Each episode meshes expert and eyewitness opinions, dramatic re-enactments, and archival photos and video clips to build compelling cases from all sides of the mystery in question, encouraging viewers to weigh all the facts and decide for themselves which ones are the most believable. In the Amelia Earhart episode, for example, longtime researchers lay out the cases for their varied theories, which range from her running out of fuel and crashing into the ocean to a secretive plot by the U.S. government to use her landing on a Japanese-controlled island to monitor the happenings there during pre-WWII years. Experts discuss the physical and testimonial evidence that lead them to their separate theories, including eyewitness accounts of Earhart's arrival on an island in the Pacific Ocean to the recovery of metal some believe is wreckage from her plane.
In general, impartial experts are brought in to support or refute selected clues to the given mystery; for the most part, there are no hard-and-fast answers to be found here. But compelling storytelling and fascinating puzzle work make Undercover History an intriguing choice for families with older tweens and teens.
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