American Experience : Season 1

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.

Journalist Eric Sevareid recounts his experiences growing up during the Great Depression and World War II.

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.

Writer James Agee and photographer Walker Evans revisit the Alabama tenant system depicted in their 1936 book "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men".

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

The story of Father Charles Coughlin who, during the Depression, used the radio to protest against what he saw as society's ills.

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

An exploration of the Native Americans of 1830s western America, as seen through the eyes of European travelers Prince Maximilian of Bavaria and Swiss artist Karl Bodmer.

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.

The story of Emeline Bachelder, an early 19th-century New Englander who married a younger man - only to discover that he was the son she had give up when she was fourteen.