Untold History of United States 
Compiled by Walter Sorochan

Posted October 15, 2013.  Disclaimer  The information presented here is for informative and educational purposes only and is not intended as curative or prescriptive advice.

Film-maker Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick present different viewpoints of United States history than that you may have had in high school.  Although you can disagree with their versions, it may be prudent to keep an open mind about past events and how history may have projected us into a different world compared to where we are today!  You need to put your political beliefs aside and step outside your political box into a neutral zone in order to view the videos .... with an open mind!  You don't have to believe what you are viewing, just become aware that there may be two sides to interpreting history. 

"History is a pack of lies agreed upon." By Napoleon

Both the book and movie "Untold History of United States" re-examine events of the past 100 years in United States and the world and project history taking a different path had events played out differently. Oliver Stone and his team of writers base their work much like writing an alternative fiction story: good fiction needs to be authentic, fill in missing details, is believable, unfolds dramatically, and has been thoroughly researched.  Crook: rules writing fiction

"Untold History" is controversial and has its critics! Stanley: Critic of Untold History 2012  Wilentz: Response to Stone-Kuznick 2013   Much of the “Untold History” is full of such tantalizing what-ifs: An alternative narrative of the Cold War.  What if Kennedy had lived? Would there have been a Vietnam War? What if George W. Bush had taken the advice of U.S. intelligence operatives more seriously before the 9/11 attacks? Could the disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq have been avoided? Most USA historians fail to mention the "what-if" details. Instead, they tend to avoid this “counterfactual” or “what if” history.  These alternative scenarios make us more aware of the missed opportunities and the alternative decisions not taken. They challenge the prevailing orthodoxy and narrow consensus of today's political debates.  We cannot relive the past but we can learn from it.

"The Untold History of the United States," is a 10-part TV Showtime Original Series. The series is co-written by Stone with Peter Kuznick and Matt Graham and is directed and narrated by Stone. 

You can preview some of the untold history by viewing several videos below.

A video shortcut  to Untold History of USA:  The Untold History Of The United States Episode 01:  [ Introduction by Oliver Stone length 4 mns; development of the atomic bomb; Roosevelt-Wallace and US politics 1939-1941; US entry into WWII; the Soviet Russia defeat of Germany. ] Video approx 1 hour long:   WATCH FREE FULL EPISODE NOW

Four episode video:  Free videos

The videos below are commentary segments of Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick's 12 series video documentary & book "The Untold History of the United States." 

Discussion Atomic Bombing of Japan: video length = 35 mns. 

Foreign. Correspondent's club Hajan 2012

Oliver Stone teas up Obama empire Video length = 14.33 mns.

Oliver Stone &Tariq Ali discuss untold history of USA video length = 1:26:38 mns.

Peter Kuznick's view about Soviet Union and WWII video length = 16.07 mns.

La historia nunca contada de Estados Unidos en Espanol  [ The untold history of United States ], 12 capítulos que desvelan la cara oculta —o al menos oscura— de su país. El primero, el dedicado a la Segunda Guerra Mundial, arranca su montaña rusa con un montaje vibrante, sin entrevistas cara a cara, pero sí con toneladas de documentos visuales y sonoros y la voz efervescente como narrador de Stone.   Belinchón otra historia (de EE UU) 2013 

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References: 

Belinchón Gregorio, "Oliver Stone, otra historia (de EE UU)," Festival San Sebastián, September 13, 2013.   Belinchón otra historia (de EE UU) 2013

Crook Elizabeth, "Seven Rules for Writing Historical Fiction."   Crook: rules writing fiction

1. The authenticity of historical fiction depends on your knowledge and use of historical detail
2. In order to write authentic historical fiction you must know a period of time well enough to disappear daily through a wormhole to the past and arrive at the location of your story.
3. You are probably going to have to fill in a lot of gaps in the historical record: you may know from the record what a person did and when he did it, but not why. It’s the “why” that defines his character.
4. You have to be able to see the story from their perspective, even if it offends you.
5. Make sure any first-person character has a good reason to be telling his story.
6. Let your story unfold dramatically. Clarity will emerge eventually. The trick is to delay telling back-story for as long as possible. You will find that most of it is never needed. It percolates up through the real story when the real story gets going.
7. Historical novels usually take several years to write, as they require research at every turn.

Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan, August 12, 2013. Article no longer active

Oliver Stone & Peter Kuznick comment about Atomic bombing of Japan

Historian Peter Kuznick Untold USA-World history 2012 

Norimatsu Satoko Oka and Narusawa Muneo, " Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick: The United States "is the Roman Empire," History News Network, October 7, 2013.   Norimatsu: Atomic bomb on Japan 2013

Stanley Alessandra, "Not the Standard Textbook Tales Oliver Stone’s ‘Untold’ American History, on Showtime," New York Times, November 11, 2012.   Stanley: Critic of Untold History 2012

Wilentz Sean, " ‘Untold History’: An Exchange Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, reply by Sean Wilentz, The New York Review of Books, March 31, 2013.   Wilentz: Response to Stone-Kuznick 2013    Wilentz: original review Cherry-Picking Our History 2013

Wikipedia, "Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States."   Wiki: Stone: Untold USA history