Henry Carter Hull

"It is blatant, it is cheap, it is the apotheosis of the ridiculous. But it is something more; it is like Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone Park; it is a national playground, and not to have seen it is not to have seen your own country," said Reginald Wright Kauffman in 1909 of Coney Island, the tiny spit of land at the foot of Brooklyn that, at the turn of the century, became the most extravagant playground in the country and one of...

Chronicles the life and military of a neglected hero of the American Revolution-General Richard Montgomery "Brave, humane, and generous . . . still he was only a brave, humane, and generous rebel; curse on his virtues, they've undone this country."-Member of British Parliament Lord North, upon hearing of General Richard Montgomery's death in battle against the British At 3 a.m. on December 31, 1775, a band of desperate men stumbled through a raging...

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.

Episode two looks at New York's rise as a burgeoning cultural center and multi-ethnic port, concluding with the Civil War Draft Riots, America's bloodiest civil disturbance.

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.

Episode four follows New York into a new century, examining the interplay of capitalism, democracy and transformation in the wake of an extraordinary wave of immigration and the birth of the skyscraper.

"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

William “Buffalo Bill” Cody's legendary exploits helped create the myth of the American West that still endures today. Born in an Iowa log cabin in 1846, he fought Indians, worked as a Pony Express rider, and earned his nickname while hunting buffalo to feed the construction crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. After the Civil War he scouted for the U.S. Army along America's vast western frontier. In 1883, just as that frontier was disappearing,...

A highlight of the nationwide Lincoln Bicentennial celebration is this unprecedented two-hour documentary on the life and legacy of the man widely considered one of our best – and most enigmatic – presidents. It addresses many of the controversies surrounding Lincoln about race, equality, religion, politics, and depression by carefully interpreting evidence from those who knew him and those who study him today.

Tecumseh's Vision - In the course of his brief and meteoric career, Tecumseh would become one of the greatest Native American leaders of all time, orchestrating the most ambitious pan-Indian resistance movement ever mounted on the North American continent. After his death he would live on as a potent symbol of Native pride and pan Indian identity.