THE CENTURY: America's Time.

• Author: ROTHENBERG, ROBERT S.
• Position: Review

THE CENTURY: America's Time ABC VIDEO/BUENA VISTA HOME ENTERTAINMENT SIX CASSETTES, 700 MINUTES, $99.99

This sweeping panorama of the 20th century--excerpted from longer presentations on the ABC Television Network and the History Channel--focuses on the "defining events in each of 15 different periods." Narrated by news anchor Peter Jennings, it utilizes a panoply of archival newsreel and still footage to depict the people and historical milestones that shaped the nation and--by extension--the world as we approach the millennium.

Beginning with lifestyle changes brought about by inventions such as the electric light, automobile, airplane, and moving pictures and concluding with a look at what lies ahead in the 21st century, the video set devotes roughly 45 minutes a segment to highlights and low-lights of the past 100 years: World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Depression, World War II, the postwar boom and the rebuilding of Europe, McCarthyism...