See
The Alamo (yes, Billy Bob Thornton AND John Wayne versions), The Godfather I and II, films by Wes Anderson and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, etc. I also like music documentary/biopics
Hear
Watch
Lost, Arrested Development, Antiques Roadshow (yawn), BSG, any A&E Biography on Colonialists, any history channel special on the American Revolution, Civil War, WW I, and WWII (European front). nerd alert.
Read
by: Nick Hornby, David Sedaris, Hemingway. Stories: anything in Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson, "Bleed Blue in Indonesia" by Adam Desnoyers, "Town Smokes" by Pinckney Benedict, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" by Hemingway, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor, "Ranch Girl" by Maile Meloy, "Maggie Fever" by Davy Rothbart, and so on.