American Experience

From Enrico Caruso to the ordinary San Franciscan, this film presents vivid memories of those trapped in the terrifying event of 1906. Four hundred eighty square blocks were reduced to rubble; thousands were killed, tens of thousands left homeless. Then the heroic struggle to rebuild a city from the ashes began.

The story of atomic bomb research after World War II and how above-ground testing led to the evacuation of a previously-populated atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

The US government attempts to claim lands that have value from Native American dwellers.

Mid 20th century America through the eyes of famous journalist Eric Sevareid.

A treatment of women's contributions to the World War II defense industry including interviews with women who participated.

A visit to working ranches in western Wyoming to examine the lifestyle of modern-day cowboys and compare it to the romantic historical notions.

John Kennedy and George Wallace clash over questions of civil rights in early 1960s Alabama.

Account of the famous Native American leader's battle against the US in the American southwest from the viewpoints of historians and modern Apaches.

Life on Alabama tenant farms in the 1930s with comparisons to the living situation today.

The growth of rhythm and blues music and its eventual acceptance by mainstream audiences in the 1950s.

A Catholic priest (Charles Coughlin) takes to the radio airwaves in the 1930s and broadcasts his views on the condition of the country.

An examination of the women of 19th century America - as suffragists, abolitionists, authors - and the record they and many others left through quilt-making.

A German prince and a Swiss painter interpret the United States in a new light during a visit to the American west during the 1830s.

The work of photographer and author Eudora Welty and her impressions of the south after the turn of the 20th century.

A biography of Robert Moses, single-minded visionary behind many of New York City's largest and most expensive construction projects.

A tale of a woman in the 1800s who risked scorn by marrying a man much younger than herself, and a person later found to be her biological son from long ago.