Trapped in the Sierra Nevadas during the bitter winter of 1846, nearly 90 members of the Donner and Reed families longed for California's "Promised Land." But an untried shortcut became a death warrant for half of them victims of madness, death, and cannibalism. The program re-creates the Donner Party's journey from family journals, newspaper accounts, and interviews with historians and descendants.

A unique and revealing analysis of the diverse body that made up the American revolutionary army One of the images Americans hold most dear is that of the drum-beating, fire-eating Yankee Doodle Dandy rebel, overpowering his British adversaries through sheer grit and determination. The myth of the classless, independence-minded farmer or hard-working artisan-turned-soldier is deeply ingrained in the national psyche. Charles Neimeyer here separates...

A landmark contribution to women's history that sheds new light on the Salem witch trials and one of its most crucial participants, Tituba of The Crucible In this important book, Elaine Breslaw claims to have rediscovered Tituba, the elusive, mysterious, and often mythologized Indian woman accused of witchcraft in Salem in 1692 and immortalized in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Reconstructing the life of the slave woman at the center of the notorious...

One of the most hotly debated issues in the historical study of race relations is the question of how the Civil War and Reconstruction affected social relations in the South. Did the War leave class and race hierarchies intact? Or did it mark the profound disruption of a long-standing social order? Yankee Town, Southern City examines how the members of the southern community of Lynchburg, Virginia experienced four distinct but overlapping events--Secession,...

High on a granite cliff in South Dakota's Black Hills tower four huge carved faces of American presidents. But is Mount Rushmore a monstrosity, or a masterpiece? A temperamental artist, Gutzon Borglum, propelled the project by sheer talent and guts, even as his ego and obsession threatened to tear it apart. Relive the hucksterism and hyperbole of his massive public works project during the Great Depression. Narrated by Michael Murphy.

The eighth episode of the award-winning series "New York: A Documentary Film," directed by Ric Burns, examines the rise and fall of the World Trade Center - from its conception in the post-World War II economic boom, through its controversial construction in the 1960s and 1970s, to its tragic demise in the fall of 2001 and the extraordinary response of the city in its aftermath.

Episode one begins in 1609 and chronicles the arrival of the Dutch, the impact of the English, the horrors of colonial slavery and New York's critical role in the American Revolution.

In episode five, the African-American experience, the birth of the new media industries and the incredible array of human and cultural energies converge, ending with construction of the world's tallest building.

"The City and the World" (1945 to present)--The final episode chronicles the history of New York from the end of the Second World War to the present, exploring the complexities of the modern city and the turbulent years of physical, social and cultural change in the decades following the war

During the Depression-era of the 1930s, tens of thousands of teenagers hopped freight trains in search of a better life elsewhere. What they discovered was a mixture of adventure, camaraderie, hardship and loneliness. They saw a country in turmoil and found experiences that impacted them for the rest of their lives -- their ultimate freedom traded for despair, lack of jobs, and even death. Through first-hand accounts, "The American Experience" recalls...