Accomplishing the unthinkable by crossing the vast ocean alone in a plane he designed himself, Charles Lindbergh’s flight stands through the century as a peerless act of individual daring. It is the story of a moment, told by the men and women who lived it, which changed our civilization, shrank our world, and expanded our notion of the possible.

Lindbergh’s legacy of adventure, courage and discovery set the stage for the Americans who designed, built and flew the missions that culminated in Neil Armstrong’s most famous first step on the moon. This is the untold story of political infighting, technical near-disasters, and personal dramas that took place behind the scenes.

In a fiercely cautionary tale, a down-and-out drifter turned demagogue worked his way from prison to ultimate power by employing a beguiling combination of lying, luck, clever political maneuvering and murder. We all know what Adolf Hitler did once in power, but few remember or understand the tale of his evil rise.

The story of the atom bomb is one of suspense, intrigue, setbacks, triumphs and morality. It started in 1938 when a German chemist split the atom and scientists around the world realized it was possible to build the ultimate weapon. Whoever did it first could control the world. The Germans got a head start as refugee Jewish scientists in America struggled to convince Roosevelt to get involved. But after Pearl Harbor the race was on, and the outcome would change the world forever.

It was the event that dragged America onto the world stage. And for the soldiers in the trenches it was the bloodiest, most brutal war ever, where the values of honor in battle and decency under fire gave way to lawless terror. This is the story of the first time America fought to “save the world for democracy,” and lost its innocence along the way.

The enduring lessons of the limits of America’s power unfolded during the last months of the Vietnam War. America had begun the century fighting to save democracy; by 1975 it had taken a tragic turn. This film tells the story of those final dramatic days, with stunning tales of heroism, rescue, and escape.

“Before Elvis there was nothing,” or so said John Lennon. When a 19-year-old truck driver walked into Sun Studios on Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 5, 1954, no one knew how quickly everything would change. Elvis Presley harnessed the forces of sex, money, youth, music, technology and race, transforming our culture, the country and much of the world.

Martin Luther King did not want to go to Memphis when first asked in 1968 — the strike by the sanitation workers seemed like a distraction. But old friends insisted and so he went, discovering the cause of the garbage men was as basic as civil rights itself. This is the dramatic and emotional but little-known story of the final days of one of the greatest Americans of the century, and the struggle that led to his death.

On Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s inauguration day in March of 1933, federal troops were on alert to prevent the violence many anticipated. FDR’s calm reassurances saved that day, but most of his efforts over the following four years failed miserably. The real story of those desperate years paints a picture of America rarely seen or told — America on the edge of chaos.

The movies reached the height of their propaganda power just as a new epic struggle began between the East and West. The resulting battle to control the content of the century’s most influential art form is a high-pitched drama which puts both the anxieties of the Cold War and the extraordinary influence of Hollywood into fresh perspective

The story of the Iran hostage crisis is a dramatic saga about a far-away revolution that quickly became as close as the television set when the American Embassy in Tehran was attacked and Americans were taken hostage. For the first time, Americans would see, live in their living rooms, the effects their actions and policies had on the global village.

The great thinkers of our day put the 20th century into perspective and offer their wisdom, philosophy and vision for the future.