2022 - Top 10 Documentaries

Good morning!  Today I will do my Top 10 Documentary List for 2022.  This list will feature documentaries that I featured in 2022 only. 
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This list is my opinion only.

2022 Top 10 Documentaries
1. 100 Years on the Lincoln Highway - YouTube
The Lincoln Highway started in Times Square New York and crossed the country in San Francisco.  IT was the first cross-country road in America.  The country did not have many roads before the automobiles.  Every road was a bike path or a dirt road farmers used to get in and out of town.  These roads did not link together and go somewhere.  *Highly recommended for an American History classroom and for a substitute teacher to show in the classroom.*

2. Pearl Harbor: The Hunt for the USS Arizona - YouTube
On December 7th, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  This attack caught America off guard.  During this attack the USS Arizona torpedoed and sunk, killing 1,100 sailors on board.  Seventy-five years later a group put together by the National Parks Service is looking to scan the outside and the inside of wreck of the USS Arizona.  This documentary talks about the efforts to document the ship as well as talks with the survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack. *Highly recommended for American History Classes.*

3. The Secret Diary of the Holocaust - YouTube
In 2005, a school notebook was discovered.  It was written by a 14-year-old girl named Rutka Laskier.  The diary was discovered in the floorboards of her home.  She was dubbed the “Polish Anne Frank.”  In here she recorded the last few months of her life in the ghetto of Bedzin.  She wrote about the atrocities that she saw, the hunger, and the physical hardships she endured.  This documentary tells Rutka’s through the eyes of her half-sister, Zahava Scherz.  *HIGHLY recommended for a world history class, no matter what age group.*

4. Beatrix Potter - YouTube
You know her as the Bucket Woman from Keeping Up Appearances, however, this woman has quite a few additional acting credits to her name.  Dame Patricia Routledge presents a delightful documentary on one of England’s most beloved authors: Beatrix Potter.  Dame Patricia is a patron of the Beatrix Potter Society and explores how Potter became a sensation in the Edwardian Period.  What was it about Beatrix Potter that made her the author she was?  *Highly recommended for an English Literature or General Literature classroom.  Highly recommended for biography projects.*

5. Birthplace of the Confessor - YouTube
Islip has a claim to fame.  It is said that it was the birthplace of Edward the Confessor.  The Time Team needs to find the chapel that was built in his honor as well as the palace where he grew up.  The problem is that the town has never been dug before.  It will be a tall order for the Time Team and they have three days to solve this mystery.  Is Islip the birthplace of Edward the Confessor?  *Recommended for an English history class and for independent study students.*

6. The Legendary First Emperor of China - YouTube
Qin Shi Huangdi was the first Emperor of China.  He unified the Chinese people.  He built an empire that lasted thousands of years.  He left behind a legendary tomb.  This documentary explores the man and the legend.  It will be a challenge to separate fact from fiction but Professor Jeffrey Reigel takes on that challenge.  How did Qin create an empire?  How could such a person exist?  Why is he such a legendary man?  *Recommend for high school classrooms.  Highly recommend for independent study students or use for clips.*

7. Diva Mummy - YouTube
While ordinary people fought in battles, the aristocrats celebrated and grew wealthy.  There was a Han aristocrat named Lady Dai.  Lady Dai would not ordinarily make history.  However, when her tomb was opened the discovery sent shockwaves through the archeological community.  Her mummy was the best-preserved mummy in the world.  She was known as the perfect mummy.  Her lifelike mummy leaves the Egyptian efforts in the dust.  *Recommend for teacher and student research purposes.  Highly recommended for a history and science classroom.*

8. Hunting for Mammoth - YouTube
Time Team is a landfill and underneath all the rubbish there is a village where Stone Age Britons lived.  There have been remains of Mammoths in the ground.  Will the Time Team find the remains of mammoths?  What will the remains of the mammoths tell the Time Team about Stone Age Britain?  The Time Team is in a gravel pit and will try to find out more about the history of Oxford.  *Highly recommended for a geology class.  Recommended for a history class.*

9. *Clive Staples Lewis: The Lost Poet Of Narnia - YouTube
AN Wilson narrates the story of C.S. Lewis in Clive Staples Lewis: The Lost Poet of Narnia.  He was a teacher and writer.  Lewis grew up in Northern Ireland.  Wilson wrote a biography about Lewis and now revisits his subject.  Although he wrote other prose, Lewis is best known for the Chronicles of Narnia Series.  *Highly recommended for an English class as well as history classes.  Highly recommended for research purposes for both independent study students, History and English students.*

10. Wreck of the Spanish Armada - YouTube
Tony Robinson tells the story of a teenage boy who discovered a cannon in the water.  Since then, the teen has grown up and organized a dig of the ship.  Time Team has been brought in to assist with the dig.  What was the mystery wreck?  Was it part of the Spanish Armada?  Will there be enough of the ship remaining for the Time Team to explore?  *Recommended for a history class.*

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