American Experience
TV-PG
8.6
1988
Documentary
TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
-
- Cast:
Episode 11 : Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst
May. 23,2005
Watch Now
Stream in HD
Episode 10 : The Carter Family: Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
May. 09,2005
Recalls "the first family of country music" in interviews with Carter relatives, music writers, and singers Gillian Welch, Joan Baez, Marty Stuart and Rodney Crowell. The tough early lives of A.P. Carter, his sister Maybelle and wife Sara were lightened by music, and their 1927 RCA audition proved to be "the big bang of commercial country music." But A.P. and Sara's marriage couldn't survive the turmoil that followed.
Watch Now
Stream in HD
Episode 9 : Victory in the Pacific
May. 02,2005
Watch Now
Stream in HD
Episode 7 : The Great Transatlantic Cable
April. 11,2005
Cyrus Field's struggle to lay telegraph cables across the Atlantic in the 1850s and '60s is chronicled. When Field finally succeeded, in 1866, it marked "the annihilation of space and time," says historian David Czitrom. But the 13-year effort -- recalled here in re-creations and comments from historians and engineers -- included many false starts and one spectacular failure. Still, says Czitrom, "he never let up."
Watch Now
Stream in HD
Episode 4 : Building the Alaska Highway
February. 07,2005
Recalls the construction of the 1500-mile "shortcut to Tokyo" through Canada in 1942 by 11,000 U.S. troops (4,000 of them black). It wasn't the Army's greatest World War II triumph, but it was one of the first, and it gave Americans, who feared a Japanese buildup in the Aleutians, a needed morale boost. This hour is light on military and engineering detail, and packed with proud GIs recalling mud, cold and toil.
Watch Now
Stream in HD
Episode 3 : Fidel Castro
January. 31,2005
Fidel Castro's march through Cuba and the second half of the 20th century is chronicled by filmmaker Adriana Bosch. Here, Cuban exiles and former Castro confreres, foreign-policy experts, a former Castro brother-in-law and his daughter Alina Fernandez paint a portrait of a dictator, a social reformer -- and a survivor.
Watch Now
Stream in HD
Episode 1 : RFK (Part 1 & 2)
October. 04,2004
A shy, if driven man, Robert Kennedy "wasn't built for the spotlight, he was built for the wings," says journalist Jack Newfield. While John Kennedy was alive, that's where Bobby stayed -- making certain that JFK remained in the spotlight.
Watch Now
Stream in HD
Seasons
Similar titles
The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling
The story of legendary comedian Garry Shandling, featuring interviews from nearly four dozen friends, family and colleagues; four decades’ worth of television appearances; and a lifetime of personal journals, private letters and home audio and video footage.
Sinatra: All or Nothing at All
An up-close and personal examination of the life, music and career of the legendary entertainer. Told in his own words from hours of archived interviews, along with commentary from those closest to him, the documentary weaves the music and images from Sinatra’s life together with rarely seen footage of his famous 1971 “Retirement Concert” in Los Angeles. The film’s narrative is shaped by Sinatra’s song choices for that concert, which Gibney interprets as the singer’s personal guide through his own life.