Critic's corner

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2008 | by Robert Bianco

It's not the Fourth of July yet, but PBS is setting off fireworks.

Based on the book by historian Niall Ferguson, who serves as omnipresent host, PBS' three-part The War of the World (10 ET/PT, times may vary) is as challenging as it is controversial. The spark for the fight: the section on World War II, which Ferguson portrays as a battle "between evil and lesser evil" that led to "a tainted victory, if indeed it was a victory."

Most of what Ferguson says is more thoughtful and less objectionable than that blast would lead you to believe. He's no doubt right that the war was brutal, or that it forced us to support a dictator, Stalin, who was nearly Hitler's equal.

Unfortunately, the insights are often obscured by purposely incendiary charges....