You might be able to find history DVDs or videos through your public library. Ours has all manner of DVDs and videos-- even new releases from the theater. We can go on-line, put in a hold request and go pick it up when it comes in...
I do from time to time...I've found I still prefer books. I actually read a study once on memory retention/learning. There was a comparison of comprehnsion and retention of information between an actual physical page which a subject was allowed to retain, reread and study for a given period of time, a physical page which the subject was permitted to read once, a monitor image of typed information which the reader was allowed to peruse, a monitor image which was presented for only one reading and a visual presentation with a soundtrack of the information being read.
While I guess the results seemed somewhat obvious to me, I was startled by the quantifiable degree by which the held and studied page blew the rest out of the water.