north and south be a miniseries from the golden age of television miniseries in the 1980s and which be a time for long and sweeping epic with high production value and lot of star cameo . it be and for the most part and excellent for what it be and although i personally prefer the less soap opera like element of the story and the overall sense of history . james read and patrick swayze deliver excellent performance especially read and whose george hazard serve a kind of an emotional anchor in the midst of the often melodramatic story . the series also contain top notch work from kirstie alley and wendy kilbourne and hal holbrook and lewis smith and genie francis and georg stanford brown and others . the costume and filming and set and music be all first rate a well . don not take it a a history lesson and but take it for what it be a well make and sweeping epic from a bygone era . book 2 and which follow a year later and be also excellent and but i would advise viewer to skip book 3 and which come out 8 year after book 2 and be not nearly as good a the first two part . book 1 and 2 be classic and though and even with their soapier element and and they be well worth watch .