Technology transforms America, just as the telegraph and railroad once did. America‘s confidence is rocked by 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina - but it is still the world's superpower.

Partly inspired by a decade-old U.K. effort, “ America: The Story of Us ” is an odd construct. On the one hand, there’s a 12-hour history of the United States, which relies heavily on ...

But “America: The Story of Us” does not seem terribly concerned about scholarship. At its best, it is history as streamlined storytelling; at its worst, it’s all about packaging.