The Untold History of the United States poster

The Untold History of the United States

★ 8.6 10K votes 2012–2013 1 season · 13 episodes Ended Showtime
DocuseriesNonfiction storytelling across episodes.This show: 10/10Real historyReal historical events and figures woven into the story.This show: 10/10Social commentaryDeliberate critique of how society works.This show: 9/10War & militaryArmed conflict and the soldier's experience.This show: 8/10CynicalDeeply distrustful of institutions and human motives.This show: 8/10Political intriguePower struggles inside governments and institutions.This show: 8/10Intellectual challengeRewards close attention and theorizing.This show: 7/10
Rate this series
Starring
Oliver StoneAlan ShearmanJim WardAndré SogliuzzoChris CoxChris Edgerly
Starring
Oliver StoneAlan ShearmanJim WardAndré SogliuzzoChris CoxChris Edgerly
Ratings per Episode
246810
Votes per Episode
0125250375500

The Untold History of the United States Episode Ratings Heatmap

AvgE1E2E3E4E5E6E7E8E9E10E11E12E13
S18.38.58.38.68.38.28.48.48.28.28.38.18.27.9

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About

"A provocative rewrite of Cold War mythology"

Directed and narrated by Oliver Stone, this documentary series reexamines American foreign policy from World War II through the Cold War, arguing that the official story of the United States as a reluctant, benevolent superpower leaves out crucial, uglier truths. It moves through archival footage, maps, and Stone's own gravelly narration at a dense, lecture-like pace. There's no drama or reenactment here, just a relentless, fact-heavy argument. What carries it is the sheer ambition of the thesis and the provocation of seeing familiar history reframed from the opposite direction.

Watch it for

the sweeping revisionist argument that challenges decades of standard Cold War textbook history.

Maybe skip if

you want balanced, multi-perspective history rather than one filmmaker's pointed thesis.

Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.

All Seasons

▼
Season 12012
8.33K1311h 17m
EpTitleRatingYoursVotesRuntime
▶1Chapter 1: World War Two8.5
44558 min
▶2Chapter 2: Roosevelt, Truman and Wallace8.3
35058 min
▶3Chapter 3: The Bomb8.6
33558 min
▶4Chapter 4: The Cold War 1945-19508.3
27858 min
▶5Chapter 5: The 50s - Eisenhower, the Bomb & the Third World8.2
27357 min
▶6Chapter 6: JFK - To the Brink8.4
27158 min
▶7Chapter 7: Johnson, Nixon & Vietnam: Reversal of Fortune8.4
24957 min
▶8Chapter 8: Reagan, Gorbachev & Third World - Rise of the Right8.2
24757 min
▶9Chapter 9: Bush & Clinton - Squandered Peace and New World Order8.2
23858 min
▶10Chapter 10: Bush & Obama - Age of Terror8.3
26358 min
▶11Prologue: Chapter A - World War I, the Russian Revolution & Woodrow Wilson8.1
13750 min
▶12Prologue: Chapter B - 1920-1940, Franklin D.Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin8.2
11950 min
▶13On History: Tariq Ali and Oliver Stone in Conversation7.9
26—

Full Cast & Crew

Cast

Oliver Stone Narrator, Self - Narrator
Alan Shearman
Jim Ward
André Sogliuzzo
Chris Cox
Chris Edgerly
Alex Veadov
Daniel Hagen Brzezinski, Zbigniew Brzezinski
Mark Jeffrey Miller Dwight D. Eisenhower
Tim Russell JFK, RFK, Alfred McCoy, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy

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