VIVA/PBS Video Collection

The VIVA PBS Video Collection is available to those affiliated with a VIVA member library. Some insititutions have arranged for off-campus access to the video collection. If you are affiliated with of the institutions listed, you may access the videos from this page. All other institutions have restricted access to on campus use only. In that case, please contact your institution's library for assistance in accessing the videos.

50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs

Begins with the 1947 U.N. decision to partition Palestine and charts the ensuing half-century of enmity, warfare, mediation and negotiations. Includes interviews and news clips of heads of state and other military and intelligence leaders. Episodes cover Israel's struggle for statehood, including the victories against Arab armies in 1948 and 1967, the history of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Camp David peace accord in 1978, the start of the Palestinian "Intifada" uprising in 1987, the Oslo agreement in 1993, and the current attempts to consolidate a shaky reconciliation.

• Land Divided: 1947-1956
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Dai Richards; David Ash; Michael Simkin; Charlie Smith
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 50 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Six Day War: 1967
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Dai Richards; David Ash; Michael Simkin; Charlie Smith
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 50 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Palestinian Exiles: 1970-1982
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Dai Richards; David Ash; Michael Simkin; Charlie Smith
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 50 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Peacemaking: 1970-1979
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Dai Richards; David Ash; Michael Simkin; Charlie Smith
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 50 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Banging Heads: 1987-1991
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Dai Richards; David Ash; Michael Simkin; Charlie Smith
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 50 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Land Divided: 1992-1998
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Dai Richards; David Ash; Michael Simkin; Charlie Smith
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 50 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Africans in America

• Revolution
  • Description: REVOLUTION (1750-1805) - While the American colonies challenge Britain for independence, American slavery is challenged from within, as men and women fight to define what the country will be. In the upheaval of war, 100,000 black people escape their bondage and threaten the institution of slavery as never before. Initially, Colonial Commander George Washington refuses to allow black volunteers into his army. But when Lord Dunmore, the British Governor of Virginia, promises freedom to slaves and indentured servants who will fight against their colonial masters for England, the American high command is forced to reconsider. As the 18th century comes to a close, it is clear that America hopes to walk a dangerous tightrope between property rights and human rights, between slavery and freedom.
  • Year:1998
  • Production Company:WGBH Boston
  • Writer/Director/ProducerW. Noland Walker
  • Program website:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html
  • Runtime:87 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Brotherly Love
  • Description: BROTHERLY LOVE (1791-1831) examines the first forty years of the new nation, primarily thorugh the fortunes of Philadelphia's unique free black community. As free men and fugitive slaves seek full participation in American democracy, a new leadership emerges. Black churches indeed become the fulcrum of the community, providing schools, aiding their poor and agitating for the repeal of slave laws. Elsewhere, the invention of the cotton gin compels slavery into the western frontier, while the success of a slave rebellion in Haiti provides a counterpoint to the efforts of black Philadelphians to establish their own autonomous community. Despite intensified brutality in the South and a new popular culture based on blackface minstrelsy in the North, African Americans resoundingly vote to stay and challenge the democracy.
  • Year:1998
  • Production Company:WGBH Boston
  • Writer/Director/ProducerJacquie Jones
  • Program website:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html
  • Runtime:87 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Judgement Day
  • Description: JUDGMENT DAY (1831-1861) tells of the last years before the Civil War, as America is challenged as never before to end slavery, but won't. Expanding west, the country takes slavery as it goes. Black abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, Rev. Jermain Loguen and Sojourner Truth agitate against southern slavery and northern racism. Seeing their way of life continually under attack, southern states angrily threaten to leave the union. In 1850, a last political compromise, with a "fugitive slave law," trades away black rights to keep the nation united. Even so, fighting breaks out in Kansas, and in 1857, the Supreme Court formally obliterates black rights in Scott v. Sanford. As slaveholders call for reopening the Atlantic slave trade, abolitionists fight back against slavecatchers with fatal violence. The program ends with the emotional voices of black men and women on the South Carolina plantations, who tell of hearing the start of "the war to end slavery."
  • Year: 1998
  • Production Company: WGBH Boston
  • Writer/Director/ProducerLlewellyn Smith
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html
  • Runtime:87 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Terrible Transformation
  • Description:TERRIBLE TRANSFORMATION (1450-1750) This program tells of the largest forced migrations in recorded history and how this mass movement of people was instrumental in the creation of America. After establishing settlements in North America, England joins Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands in the international trade in human beings. Millions of Africans are abducted from the homelands to labor in the North American colonies. So horrific is their "middle passage" across the Atlantic that almost a quarter of them die during the crossing. In the American colonies, Europeans rely on African skills and labor to transform vast lands into agricultural profits. But European masters fear the growing population of Africans upon whom they now depend. Slavery's inhumane codes and punishments foment African resistance and escape, bringing more brutality from the slave holders. Colonists have found profits and permanence in their New World, but at what cost?
  • Year:1998
  • Production Company:WGBH Boston
  • Writer/Director/ProducerOrlando Bagwell; Susan Bellows
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html
  • Runtime:86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

America Beyond the Color Line

• Deep South
  • Description:"South: The Black Belt: (2/3) Gates travels to Memphis, Birmingham and Atlanta - once the battlegrounds on which civil rights were won for black southerners in the 1950s and 60s. How much have these cities really changed since the civil rights era? Interviewees include Morgan Freeman and Maya Angelou.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company:Wall to Wall Television
  • Writer/Director/ProducerHenry Louis Gates; Dan Percival; Mary Crisp
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/previews/colorline_gates/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Chicago
  • Description:"Chicago: Streets of Heaven" (2/3) Gates goes inside the notorious housing projects in Chicago's South Side to find out from the people who live there what life is like for America's "underclass." Caught up in a culture of criminality, poverty and despair, is there any hope for the fifth of black Americans who have been left behind?
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company:Wall to Wall Television
  • Writer/Director/ProducerHenry Louis Gates; Dan Percival; Mary Crisp
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/previews/colorline_gates/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Washington D.C.
  • Description:"East Coast: Ebony Towers" (2/4) The existence of a small group of African Americans at the heart of the political establishment and at the pinnacle of corporate America is something that, just two decades ago, seemed unimaginable. How did they get there and what is the significance of their success? Interviewees include Colin Powell, Russell Simmons, Vernon Jordan, Franklin Raines and the first African-American chess grandmaster in history, Maurice Ashley.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Wall to Wall Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Henry Louis Gates; Dan Percival; Mary Crisp
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/previews/colorline_gates/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Hollywood
  • Description:"Los Angeles: Black Hollywood" (2/4) Despite unprecedented recent Oscar successes of African-American actors, Gates asks whether Hollywood is institutionally racist or whether it is becoming increasingly color-blind in pursuit of the box office dollar. Interviewees include Chris Tucker, Samuel L. Jackson, Alicia Keys, Quincy Jones, Nia Long, Don Cheadle and John Singleton.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company:Wall to Wall Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Henry Louis Gates; Dan Percival; Mary Crisp
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/previews/colorline_gates/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

America Goes To War: The Homefront - WWII

• While the Storm Clouds Gather
  • Description: America emerges from the hard times of the Depression. Radio provides nightly entertainment as well as news from the foreign war zones in Europe and Asia. Most Americans wish to stay out of the war, but they support the efforts of President Roosevelt, lend-lease, the peacetime draft, and the new defense industry.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Patrick Trese; Peter Foges; Anthony Ross Potter; Frank J. De Meo
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 28 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
  • Description: The attack on Pearl Harbor sends a bolt of energy surging through the country. Within a few short months, the nation is mobilized and transformed. Fifteen million civilians become soldiers, sailors and marines. Production of civilian goods ends, and most factories convert to war work.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Patrick Trese; Peter Foges; Anthony Ross Potter; Frank J. De Meo
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 28 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Sacrifices and Shortages
  • Description: Examines how Americans coped with food and gas rationing and shortages of cigarettes and nylons. There are victory gardens, scrap drives, the black market, and the first national income tax. Celebrities such as Jack Benny and Jimmy Durante help boost civilian morale.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Patrick Trese; Peter Foges; Anthony Ross Potter; Frank J. De Meo
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 28 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• String of Pearls
  • Description: Patriotic American women answer the call to duty--in the armed forces and in the factories and shipyards. Despite condescension and prejudice, women win a permanent place in the American military, but they soon discover that the men in charge consider this major change in American life only temporary.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Patrick Trese; Peter Foges; Anthony Ross Potter; Frank J. De Meo
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 28 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Shady Side of the Street
  • Description: In wartime America, large numbers of young people leave their homes for military service or work in war plants, sowing the seeds of a sexual revolution. Documents the trend away from traditional moral concerns. Bobby-soxers become saucy V-girls, and juvenile deliquency and venereal disease spread across the nation.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Patrick Trese; Peter Foges; Anthony Ross Potter; Frank J. De Meo
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 28 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Right in the der Fuhrer's Face
  • Description: The American government enlists the skills of Hollywood, Tin Pan Alley, and Madison Avenue to grind out propaganda for domestic consumption. Hitler and his cohorts are depicted as diabolical villains, while racial attacks by the media against Japanese Americans lead to the internment of hundreds of civilians.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Patrick Trese; Peter Foges; Anthony Ross Potter; Frank J. De Meo
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 28 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Thanks for the Memories
  • Description: American show business solidly supports the war effort. Scenes at the Hollywood Canteen and other service clubs show ordinary American enlisted men honored and revered by stars and the public. The comedy routine "Who's on First?" reflects the big question in major league baseball as most players have gone to war.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Patrick Trese; Peter Foges; Anthony Ross Potter; Frank J. De Meo
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 28 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Accentuating the Positive
  • Description: Hollywood stars go overseas to put on shows for troops in the war zones. Legends like Bob Hope and Marlene Dietrich stage elaborate events for servicemen. In similar fashion, Armed Forces Radio carries American swing music, news and pop culture around the world.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Patrick Trese; Peter Foges; Anthony Ross Potter; Frank J. De Meo
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 28 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Mood Indigo: Black and Whites
  • Description: Wartime newsreels reveal that the World War II American home front is as racially segregated as the U.S. armed forces. Although prejudice, discrimination and race riots plague the home front, black civilians continue to back the war effort, and black servicemen distinguish themselves overseas.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Patrick Trese; Peter Foges; Anthony Ross Potter; Frank J. De Meo
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 28 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• It's Been a Long, Long Time
  • Description: Chronicles the war's end with the dramatic explosion of two atomic bombs. The massive war industry is shut down, and millions in the armed forces are demobilized. The GI Bill, the baby boom, and a new materialism sweep millions into the mass-produced suburbs. Overseas, the seeds of the Cold War, Korea and Vietnam have been planted.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Patrick Trese; Peter Foges; Anthony Ross Potter; Frank J. De Meo
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 28 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

American Experience

• Midwife's Tale
  • Description: The life of frontier midwife, Martha Ballard, in Hallowell, Maine is reconstructed from her diary by historian Laurel Ulrich
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Midwife's Tale Project Inc.; Filmmakers Collaborative
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Laurie Kahn-Leavitt; Richard P. Rogers
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mwt/index.html
  • Runtime: 88 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Abraham & Mary Lincoln: A House Divided: Ambition
  • Description: First episode of a series which looks at the lives of Abraham and Mary Lincoln.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lincolns/tguide/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Abraham & Mary Lincoln: A House Divided: We Are Elected
  • Description: This episode focus on their earlier years ending with his election to the Presidency.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lincolns/tguide/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Abraham & Mary Lincoln: A House Divided: Shattered
  • Description: Part three of a series which looks at the lives of Abraham and Mary Lincoln. This program deals with Lincoln's first term as president, including the death of their son Willie.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lincolns/tguide/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Abraham & Mary Lincoln: A House Divided: Dearest of All Things
  • Description: With the war going badly in the east, Lincoln takes a step that changes the country forever and in doing so changes himself. On January 1, 1863, he issues the Emancipation Proclamation liberating millions of Americans from bondage. The move turns the Civil War from a conflict over union into a struggle for freedom.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lincolns/tguide/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Abraham & Mary Lincoln: A House Divided: This Frightful War
  • Description: Episode five begins with 1863 when it seems the war will never end.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lincolns/tguide/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Abraham & Mary Lincoln: A House Divided: Blind with Weeping
  • Description: Episode 6 deals with the end of the Civil War, Lincoln's assassination and the toll it exacted on the emotionally fragile Mary.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lincolns/tguide/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Ameilia Earhart
  • Description: Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, and the first to cross the North American continent alone. Her exploits as an aviator, along with her beauty, intelligence, and independence, made her a national heroine. But the public didn't know the cost of her courage. The record-breaking flights, aerial exhibitions, and endless promotional commitments, together with health problems and financial worries, combined to push Earhart to the point of exhaustion. In 1937, while attempting to circle the earth along the equator, her plane disappeared without a trace, transforming the "First Lady of the Air" into an American legend. Produced by Nancy Porter, 1993.
  • Year: 1993
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Nancy Porter
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• America 1900 (part 1)
  • Description: In 1900, America was a nation on the move. Its population had doubled over the past 100 years, its people were becoming the most prosperous on Earth. President McKinley had led the nation out of its worst depression. People could travel with ease across the nation in 6 days. Half the nation's original timber had been cut down and people were talking about conservation. Women were striking out on their own and the Women's movement was growing. America goes to war with the Filipinos to keep the Philippines under American control. Anti-war sediments grow. Most of America remained rural, but people were traveled more and began to move to the cities. In New York City, 1/3 of the population were foreign immigrants who lived in poverty. Many began moving to other cities further west.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Judy Crichton
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/1900/index.html
  • Runtime: 74 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• America 1900 (part 2)
  • Description: President McKinley chooses Theodore Roosevelt as his running mate in the upcoming presidential elections. The "Boxers" gain power in China and the rebellion spreads throughout the country. McKinley quickly sends troops to rescue foreign diplomats trapped in Peking. People flock to Paris for the 1900 Paris Exposition, a showcase for American technology. "Jim Crow" laws define race relations and W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington become leaders and role models for their people. A massive hurricane devastates Galveston, Texas. Williams Jenning Brian gains ground in his Presidential campaign against McKinley because of the coal miner's strike in Pennsylvania.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Judy Crichton
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/1900/index.html
  • Runtime: 93 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Ansel Adams
  • Description: A visionary photographer, a pioneer in photographic technique and a crusader for the environment, Adams would take part in an extraordinary revolution: in photography, and ways of seeing what he called "the continuous beauty of the things that are." His greatest photographs would seek to capture "the instant of revelation -- of timelessness" amidst the evanescence of the natural world. Ansel Adams is the intimate portrait of a great artist and ardent environmentalist -- for whom life and art, photography and wilderness, creativity and communication, love and expression, were inextricably connected.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns; Marilyn Ness
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ansel/index.html
  • Runtime: 101 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Bataan Rescue
  • Description: Contrast the rules of war--and the treatment of American POWs--between World War II and today. With chilling testimony from both captive and liberator, Bataan: Death March and Rescue depicts the saga of thousands of Allied soldiers who faced death capture on the Bataan peninsula in 1941. Only 500 prisoners in the Cabanatuan camp lived to be rescued. Their valiant struggle to survive the tortures of a sweltering jungle march, disease, deprivation, and brutality is remembered in this stirring documentary.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Axelrod; Peter Jones
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/index.html
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Chicago: Mudhole to Metropolis
  • Description: Chicago's location at the end of a canal that links the Mississippi to New York makes it attractive to Yankee speculators as well as Irish canal diggers. In just a few decades, the remote fur trading post explodes into the metropolis of the West. Not even the great fire of 1871 can slow the city's development.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Austin Hoyt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/index.html
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Chicago: Revolution Has Begun
  • Description: From the railroads to Marshall Field's department store to Cyrus McCormick's reaper factory to the stockyards, workers struggle for their share of a new industrial capitalism. The Haymarket Affair becomes the most sensational labor incident of the 19th century.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Austin Hoyt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/index.html
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Chicago: Battle for Chicago
  • Description: Chicago develops the world's first skyscraper downtown, with a unique American architectural style. In its shadows are gambling, prostitution, corruption, poverty, and disease. In 1893 Chicago's business elite hosts a World's Fair, proudly showing 27 million visitors a glistening, sanitized, city of the future.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Austin Hoyt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/index.html
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Citizen King
  • Description: Beginning on the steps on the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 when a 34-year-old preacher galvanized millions with his dream for an America free of racism, the story comes to a bloody end almost five years later on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. In the years since those events, the man at the center, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has become a mythic figure, a minister whose oratory is etched into the minds of millions of Americans, a civil rights activist whose words and image are more hotly contested, negotiated and sold than almost anyone else's in American history.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Orlando Bagwell; W. Noland Walker
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mlk/
  • Runtime: 120 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Donner Party
  • Description: Of all the 19th-century pioneer stories, none exerts such a powerful hold on the American imagination as the tale of the Donner Party in the high Sierra Nevadas in the winter of 1846. The excursion became a terrifying tale of misery, death, madness, and cannibalism.
  • Year: 1992
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/donner/index.html
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Duel
  • Description: From the railroads to Marshall Field's department store to Cyrus McCormick's reaper factory to the stockyards, workers struggle for their share of a new industrial capitalism. The Haymarket Affair becomes the most sensational labor incident of the 19th century.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Carl Byker; Mitch Wilson; David Mrazek
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel/index.html
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Eleanor Roosevelt
  • Description: Chicago develops the world's first skyscraper downtown, with a unique American architectural style. In its shadows are gambling, prostitution, corruption, poverty, and disease. In 1893 Chicago's business elite hosts a World's Fair, proudly showing 27 million visitors a glistening, sanitized, city of the future.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Sue Williams; Kathryn Dietz
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/index.html
  • Runtime: 145 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Fatal Flood
  • Description: In the spring of 1927, after weeks of incessant rains, the Mississippi River went on a rampage from Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans, inundating hundreds of towns, killing as many as a thousand people and leaving a million homeless. In Greenville, Mississippi, efforts to contain the river pitted the majority black population against an aristocratic plantation family, the Percys -- and the Percys against themselves. Liev Schreiber narrates this dramatic story of greed, power and race during one of America's worst natural disasters.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Chana Gazit; David Steward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/index.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Fly Girls
  • Description: During World War II, more than a thousand women signed up to fly with the United States military. Wives, mothers, actresses and debutantes who joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) test-piloted aircraft, ferried planes and logged 60 million miles in the air. Thirty-eight women died in service. But the opportunity to play a critical role in the war effort was abruptly canceled by politics and resentment, and it would be 30 years before women would again break the sex barrier in the skies. Produced by Silverlining Productions, 1999.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Laurel Ladevich
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• George Wallace: Setting the Woods on Fire (part 1)
  • Description: George Wallace's story is of a talented young man trying to do right and the devil's bargain he made to achieve power; and of an old man seeking redemption from the people he scorned. Born in 1919 in Barber County, AL, he shows early promise as a politician. In 1946, newlywed (to Lurleen) Wallace begins his career, first as a state representative, then as a circuit judge. In 1958, Wallace runs for governor and loses in a landslide. This loss is a major turning point for Wallace he becomes an unbridled segregationist. Within months, Wallace is back in the headlines for refusing to turn over voting records to a panel investigating discrimination against black voters. The 1962 gubernatorial election sees Wallace winning with the largest margin in Alabama history. Soon, mass civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham result in violent police action. In the spring of 1963, when a federal court orders the University of Alabama to admit two black students, Wallace stands in front of the school door to block their admittance. Soon afterward, the KKK blows up a Birmingham church, killing four little girls. By now, George Wallace is the most famous opponent to civil rights in the country. In the 1964 presidential campaign, he makes strong showings in three Democratic primaries, effectively inventing whiplash politics. In early 1965, a voting rights demonstration moves out of Selma and toward Alabama's capital. Wallace orders the marchers stopped, and a police riot breaks out. Bloody Sunday horrifies Americans. Wallace's opposition to the civil rights movement is a pivotal force in passing both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 1966, Wallace's wife Lurleen wins the governor's office. A few months later, cancer believed to be in remission returns and she passes away. Only days later, Wallace resumes his campaign for the presidency. In the growing chaos, millions see Wallace as a figure of stability.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Steve Fayer; Daniel Mccabe; Paul Stekler
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wallace/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• George Wallace: Setting the Woods on Fire (part 2)
  • Description: Five weeks after the death of his first wife, George Wallace is back on the presidential campaign trail. Richard Nixon is elected president in 1968, but Wallace manages to garner 10 million votes. In 1970, Wallace re-gains the governor's office, winning a nasty campaign. Days before his inauguration, Wallace marries second wife Cornelia. In a complete turnaround, Wallace announces he has always been a moderate, and no longer believes in racial segregation. The IRS begins an investigation of Wallace's financial affairs. Nixon agrees to call them off if Wallace will promise not to run in 1972 as a third party candidate. He announces as a Democrat and begins his campaign. On May 15, a long day of appearances end at a rally in Laurel, MD, where Wallace is shot five times by Arthur Bremer. Wallace recuperates from his injuries and fades from national view. He is re-elected as Alabama Governor in 1974, still harboring national ambitions. In 1976, George Wallace seems to be at the end of a long journey, but he still has one transformation left. He leaves the governor's mansion, brooding and reflecting on his life. He regrets the suffering he caused others, and calls his former enemies to ask for forgiveness. In 1982, he makes a fifth run for the office of governor. His pleas for forgiveness strike a chord and he wins. He fulfills campaign promises, appointing a record number of blacks to government jobs, and building a multi-racial coalition to get legislation passed. George Corley Wallace dies on September 13, 1998.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Steve Fayer; Daniel Mccabe; Paul Stekler
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wallace/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Golden Gate Bridge
  • Description: The story of engineer Joseph Strauss' mission to bring the Golden Gate Bridge into existence. He spent thirteen years arguing with politicians and opponents, before he could even break ground. This video explores the building of this spectacular bridge. It has since been called one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Laura Longsworth; Ben Loeterman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldengate/index.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Hoover Dam
  • Description: The dramatic story of how an ambitious, hard-driving engineer turned a ragtag army of unemployed into the nation's most celebrated workforce. Archival footage and photographs, including interviews with witnesses and historians.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Stephen Stept
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/hoover/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Iron Road
  • Description: With the discovery of gold in 1849, fortune hunters poured into the western U.S. so fast that, in 1850, California was added to the union. But getting to the fabled gold mines meant months of dangerous sailing around Cape Horn or traveling 2,000 miles across treacherous mountains and deserts inhabited by Indians. Dynamic forces of social change and growing technology brought about investment in a new mode of transportation--the railroad. Here is the story of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Built during the Reconstruction years following the Civil War, it came to symbolize a healing of wounds between the North and South.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Neil Goodwin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/iron/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Jimmy Carter: Jimmy Who?
  • Description: Growing up on a peanut farm in rural Georgia during the years of Jim Crow, Jimmy Carter remembered segregation in the Deep South. Jimmy got an appointment to the Naval Academy, and he began a life of military service. Working hard, he quickly earned the coveted post of Senior Officer on a nuclear submarine. Carter left the service and returned to Plains, Georgia to run the family farm after his father died. Soon, Jimmy was involved in local politics. After an early career of wins and losses, he became the Governor of Georgia in 1970. Barely two years in the governor's mansion, he had his eye on the White House. He began assembling his team by early 1974. Georgia Governor Carter announced his candidacy for President in December 1974. After early victories in Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida, the virtually unknown Carter rolled on to the Democratic nomination. By one of the closest margins in American history, Jimmy Carter was elected President. The Carter team arrived in Washington full of confidence. But, unable to move his agenda on Capital Hill, Carter was soon seen as a wounded leader. Before long, none of that mattered anymore.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Adriana Bosch
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/index.html
  • Runtime: 85 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Jimmy Carter: Hostage
  • Description: During his first year as President, Jimmy Carter met with more than 40 heads of state, resumed talks with the Chinese and the Soviets, and launched a new peace initiative in the Middle East. However, not long after the Carters visited the Shah in Iran, demonstrations broke out. In 1978, Carter was determined to help bring peace to the Middle East. The resulting Camp David Accords were hailed as a monumental triumph in diplomacy. With the economy languishing, Carter acted decisively to cut the budget deficit and bring inflation under control. He responded to the growing frustration by giving the controversial 'malaise speech.' In late 1979, Iranian students stormed the American Embassy in Teheran and took 52 Americans prisoner. Only weeks later, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. In response, Carter imposed sanctions on the Soviets. After months of failed negotiations to release the hostages, Carter authorized Operation Desert I, which quickly failed. The crisis continued. Republican Ronald Reagan won the 1980 election in a landslide. Carter left the White House and returned to Georgia. Jimmy was uncomfortable with the concept of a presidential library until he had the idea of incorporating an international center for resolving conflicts: the Carter Center. In his travels, Carter also championed the cause of the poor and the disenfranchised. At the end of this section is a brief notation about the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Jimmy Carter on October 11, 2002.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Adriana Bosch
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/index.html
  • Runtime: 80 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• John Brown's Holy War
  • Description: He led a righteous crusade against the evils of slavery yet used horrifying violence to carry out his mission. Martyr, madman, and murderer, John Brown was an extremist who was as controversial and misunderstood in the mid-1800s as he is today. His execution at Harper's Ferry sparked a chain of events that led to the Civil War. Hear his story and gain fresh insight into a unique figure in American history.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Robert Kenner; Ken Chowder
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/brown/
  • Runtime: 83 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Johnstown Flood
  • Description: On May 31, 1889, after severe rainstorms, the earthen dam above the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, broke without warning, killing more than 2,000 people. Expanding on the original Academy Award-winning film, this program explores Johnstown before the disastrous flood, highlighting the lives of those who worked in the valley and those who summered high above in the mountains.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Charles E. Guggenheim; Grace Guggenheim
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Journey to America
  • Description: At the beginning of this century, 18 million immigrants left their homelands on foot and on horseback, spurred by the hope of a new and better life free of persecution and poverty. JOURNEY TO AMERICA presents the personal story of the men, women, and children who came to America between 1890 and 1920. Remarkable footage of families making long treks through Europe and scenes of immigrants on crowded transport ships are interlaced with oral interviews to capture the excitement and drama of this momentous event.
  • Year: 1989
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Charles E. Guggenheim
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 58 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• LBJ: Beautiful Texas
  • Description: Lyndon Baines Johnson was a poor boy from the Texas hill country who ascended to the pinnacle of world power as the 36th president of the United States. LBJ's career started in 1938 when he was elected a congressman, one of the youngest ever. He was elected to the Senate in 1948 under a cloud of suspicion. LBJ won by only 87 votes. In 1954, when the Democrats took over the Senate, LBJ became the youngest majority leader ever at age 46. In 1957, LBJ engineered passage of the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction--but the bill had too many compromises and no teeth. By 1960, LBJ felt he was ready for the presidency, but John Kennedy got there first--and then picked LBJ as his vice president. Hear how LBJ's career got started from the people who were there: John Connally, Bobby Baker, George Reedy, Roger Wilkins, and others.
  • Year: 1991
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/36_l_johnson/
  • Runtime: 62 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• LBJ: My Fellow Americans
  • Description: After JFK's assassination, LBJ first calmed the country, then he threw the power of the presidency behind a civil rights bill. As LBJ said, "I'm going to be the president who finishes what Lincoln began." With some old-fashioned arm twisting, LBJ hammered the 1964 Civil Rights Act through Congress. Next he launched the War on Poverty. He envisioned a "Great Society" for all Americans. LBJ was determined to be the greatest president ever. Vietnam would prove to be his undoing. By the time LBJ took office, Truman, Eisenhower, and JFK had all sent advisors to Vietnam. LBJ was not about to look soft on Communism. In August 1964, he rammed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution through Congress. After his landslide victory over Goldwater in November 1964, LBJ felt on top of the world, but it was about to crumble.
  • Year: 1991
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/36_l_johnson/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• LBJ: We Shall Overcome
  • Description: After the triumph of the 1964 election, LBJ felt there was no problem the U.S. couldn't solve. New programs and agencies were created: Head Start, Urban Renewal, Public Television, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. In March 1965, the first U.S. troops were sent to Vietnam. Only George Ball challenged the conventional wisdom. By July 1965, LBJ had escalated the number of troops from 75,000 to 125,000. The growing quagmire in Vietnam was changing LBJ's presidency. Get the inside story from advisors who were there for it all.
  • Year: 1991
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/36_l_johnson/
  • Runtime: 64 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• LBJ: The Last Believer
  • Description: At his daughter's wedding in 1966, LBJ was the proud papa. But in 1966 and 1967 race riots in Watts, Detroit, and elsewhere shook the country. In Detroit, 43 people died and 7,000 were arrested. LBJ's Great Society was coming unraveled. Vietnam would do it in. By the end of 1967, a sense of siege came over the White House. The 1968 Tet offensive shattered the illusion of any progress in Vietnam. CBS anchor Walter Cronkite came out against the war. By March 1968, 500,000 American troops were in Vietnam. Bobby Kennedy announced he would run for president. On March 31, 1968, LBJ made the announcement that shocked the country--he would not run for another term.
  • Year: 1991
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/36_l_johnson/
  • Runtime: 52 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• MacArthur: Destiny
  • Description: No soldier has ever captured the American imagination like Douglas MacArthur. He led Americans into battle for a half-century, through glorious victories and soul-numbing defeats. Courageous and supremely egotistical, he battled anyone who dared question his military judgment, even the President of the United States.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Austin Hoyt; Sarah Holt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/index.html
  • Runtime: 115 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• MacArthur: Politics of War
  • Description: In early 1944, MacArthur considers a run for the presidency. When the Japanese falter, victory is within reach. Finally, the General fulfills his promise to return to the Phillipines. MacArthur is promoted to 5-star general and given command of the American forces for the invasion of Japan. When the war ends, MacArthur takes the Japanese surrender and is named SCAP (Supreme Commander Allied Powers) in the Far East. His task is now to rehabilitate and democratize Japan. In this capacity, MacArthur goes to great lengths to protect Emperor Hirohito and sanitize his image, leaving the blame for the war to others. Truman thinks MacArthur is a show-off, but appoints him commander when the Korean War begins. MacArthur desperately wants to fight an aggressive war, but is held in check by Washington. The enemy lays a trap for him at the Yalu River. General Matthew Ridgeway successfully fights a limited war in Korea--something MacArthur said couldn't be done. MacArthur is relieved of duty by Truman. He returns to the United States for the first time in decades, entertains another run for the presidency but instead watches his former aide, Eisenhower, become president. MacArthur dies in 1964 at the age of 84.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Austin Hoyt; Sarah Holt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/index.html
  • Runtime: 120 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Marcus Garvey: Look For Me in the Whirlwind
  • Description: Visionary yet enigmatic, brilliant yet manipulative, Marcus Garvey is one of the most controversial figures in American history. Both a powerful orator and a pompous autocrat, Garvey inspired the loyalty of millions of African Americans while infuriating many black leaders. He was a strong advocate of black self-help, yet was willing to collaborate with the Ku Klux Klan. And he inspired African Americans to support his economic enterprises, then lost their hard-earned money through mismanagement. MARCUS GARVEY: LOOK FOR ME IN THE WHIRLWIND uses a wealth of archival film, photographs and documents to uncover the story of this Jamaican immigrant who between 1916 and 1921 built the largest black mass movement in world history. It explores Garvey's dramatic successes and failures before his fall into obscurity. Among the film's most powerful sequences are interviews with people who witnessed the Garvey movement first hand more than 80 years ago. These interviews communicate the appeal of Garvey's revolutionary ideas to a generation of African Americans, and reveal how he invested hundreds and thousands of black men and women with a newfound sense of pride.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Stanley Nelson; Marcia Smith
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/index.html
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Meltdown at Three Mile Island
  • Description: Discusses the events of March 28, 1979, when a reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, overheated. Employs news footage and first-person interviews in relating the efforts made to avoid a catastrophic meltdown.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Chana Gazit; David Steward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/three/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Mount Rushmore
  • Description: The story of Mount Rushmore's creation is as bizarre and wonderful as the monument itself. It is the tale of a hyperactive, temperamental artist whose talent and determination propelled the project, even as his ego and obsession threatened to tear it apart. It is the story of hucksterism and hyperbole, of a massive public works project in the midst of an economic depression. And it is the story of dozens of ordinary Americans who suddenly found themselves suspended high on a cliff face with drills and hammers as a sculptor they considered insane directed them in the creation of what some would call a monstrosity and others a masterpiece. Narrated by Michael Murphy.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Mark Zwonitzer
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Murder of Emmett Till
  • Description: The shameful, sadistic murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till, a black boy who whistled at a white woman in a Mississippi grocery store in 1955, was a powerful catalyst for the civil rights movement. Although Till's killers were apprehended, they were quickly acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury and proceeded to sell their story to a journalist, providing grisly details of the murder. Three months after Till's body was recovered, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Stanley Nelson; Marcia Smith
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• One Woman, One Vote
  • Description: Documents the 70-year struggle for women's suffrage which culminated in the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. It illuminates the alliances, infighting, betrayals and defeats that paved the way for victory in the battle for women's right to vote. Historical footage is enhanced with vocal performances, and interviews with historians provide the viewer with both current and historical perspectives.
  • Year: 1995
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ruth Pollak; Felicia M. Widmann
  • Program website:
  • Runtime: 110 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Orphan Trains
  • Description: Modern foster care had its roots in a little-known 19th-century rescue program. In 1853, 10,000 homeless children prowled the streets of New York City. A young minister, Charles Loring Brace, founded the Children's Aid Society and sent many of these desperate children west to begin new lives with farm families. Over the next 75 years, until 1929, Brace's Society and other East Coast charities sent more than 150,000 orphaned and neglected children to 47 states--by train. Upon their arrival, the children faced the townspeople--and in dramatic moments of decision, families selected children to take home. Some were exploited and abused, but many were treated kindly and formed strong, loving bonds with their new mothers and fathers. Hear the remarkable stories of the last generation of Orphan Train children.
  • Year: 1995
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Janet Graham; Edward Gray
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/orphan/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Public Enemy #1
  • Description: For about a year from 1933 to 1934, America was thrilled and terrorized by a man called John Dillinger. A desperado, a bank robber, a bad man no jail could hold, his reputation grew until he was named the country's first Public Enemy #1 and hunted by virtually every cop in America. Operating during a time of great hardship, John Dillinger became a mythic figure who struggled against authority and garnered the support of many ordinary Americans, particularly those hardest hit by the Great Depression. Dillinger finally met his match in J. Edgar Hoover, who used the outlaw's celebrity to burnish his own reputation and that of his national law enforcement agency, the FBI. Hoover won the day making sure in the process that the moral of Dillinger's tale was "crime doesn't pay."
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ben Loeterman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dillinger/index.html
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Race for the Superbomb (part 1)
  • Description: At the end of World War II the United States is the sole nation with the atomic bomb. The Soviet Union, seeing the bomb as a threat to their national safety, develop an atomic program of their own. Tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union increase as Russia blocks road and rail access to Berlin. The Strategic Air Command is formed as a means of fighting a nuclear air war with Russia. Fearing the Soviets may develop an H-bomb before the U.S., President Truman reluctantly approves development of the super bomb. Russia responds in kind. After nearly three years of theoretical problem solving, the U.S. explodes its first thermonuclear device in the fall of 1952--an explosion with 800 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Thomas Ott
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Race for the Superbomb (part 2)
  • Description: In the political struggles following Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev takes over the leadership of the Soviet Union. The Soviets test their first H-bomb, but it is much less powerful than the U.S. version. Newly elected U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower implements nuclear deterrence as the primary strategy for the nuclear age. Criticism of the government's nuclear plans create rifts in the American nuclear scientific community. First the U.S. and then the Soviets develop new, much more powerful H-bombs, causing the scientists, military, political leaders and ultimately their nation's citizens to understand the futility of a global nuclear war. However, the strategy of building a strong nuclear deterrence causes both nations to embark on a nuclear arms escalation whose effects are still being felt today.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Thomas Ott
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Reconstruction: The Second Civil War: Revolution
  • Description: In the post-war South, life changed irrevocably for everyone: the wealthy landowners, and the former slaves. Freed blacks settled on abandoned plantations, allowed under General Sherman's wartime Special Field Order 15. After President Lincoln assassinated, the great work of reconstruction took on greater urgency - and concern. Black Civil Rights were a revolutionary idea. No one knew what to expect from new President Andrew Johnson as he announced his plan for Presidential Reconstruction. Most southerners received blanket pardons, but the large landowners and former leaders initially had to write to the president to request clemency. Soon, this requirement was relaxed so that the former leaders could regain control. Then, Johnson ordered lands given to blacks under Special Field Order 15 to be returned to their pre-war owners. Feeling betrayed, blacks refused to leave until black Union soldiers were sent. Across the south, landowners drew up contracts to keep their former slaves in the cotton fields. And, southern state legislatures passed Black Code laws that prohibited freedmen from any work except as field hands. A group in Congress, led by Thaddeus Stevens, formed the Radical Republican faction to fight for black rights. When the first post-war Congress convened, many former Confederate leaders and military officers were among those elected. They were denied their seats. The battle lines for Reconstruction were drawn. Congress passed the landmark 1866 Civil Rights Act over Johnson's veto, then approved the Fourteenth Amendment. Growing violence in the South turned the 1866 mid-term elections into a referendum on Johnson's Presidential Reconstruction program. The President continually exacerbated the situation with his belligerence. The Radical Republicans won a great majority in both houses, using their new power to pass a plan that divided the South up into five military districts.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Llewellyn M. Smith
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/index.html
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Reconstruction: The Second Civil War: Retreat
  • Description: Reconstruction was fitfully under way in 1867. The Radical Republican plan had just been implemented. New state constitutions were drafted, black freedmen voted in and were elected to southern legislatures, and white southerners struggled to regain control of their land in the new South. Southerners who initially accepted Northerners in their region now looked on them with suspicion and coined the term "carpetbagger" to describe them. The 1868 Presidential Election was a referendum on Reconstruction. Though many agreed with the Democrats openly-white supremacist platform, more were soothed by the "Let Us Have Peace" theme of Ulysses S. Grant's campaign. In Georgia, newly-elected black legislators were exiled from government until Grant and Congress demanded they be admitted. As federally-enforced Reconstruction took hold, secret societies meant to intimidate or harm blacks back into subservience popped up all over the South. Congress held a federal investigation on Southern violence against blacks. President Grant decided to make an example of South Carolina and declared martial law. President Grant's second term started on a hopeful note. When the country fell into recession, the economy became the main issue on the national agenda. Democrats illegally and violently regained control of legislatures in many southern states. The North did nothing to stop it. When White Leaguers struck in New Orleans, President Grant responded by sending in federal troops. The elected legislature was reinstated. A more sweeping civil rights bill was passed but was never widely enforced. Chaos reigned in Mississippi as whites attacked and killed blacks that attempted to vote. This time, Grant refused to help. After ten difficult years, Reconstruction died in a back room compromise. By 1913, many of the hard-gained rights won during Reconstruction had been lost. Segregation was the norm and lynchings epidemic.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Elizabeth Deane; Patricia Garcia Rios
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/index.html
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Remember the Alamo
  • Description: In the early 1830s Texas was about to explode. Although under Mexican rule, the region was home to more than 20,000 U.S. settlers agitated by what they saw as restrictive Mexican policies. Mexican officials, concerned with illegal trading and immigration, were prepared to fight hard to keep the province under their control. With war on the horizon, the Tejanos had to pick a side. Presented in Spanish.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Joseph Tovares
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/index.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Return with Honor
  • Description: Tells the story of American fighter pilots shot down over North Vietnam and their dramatic transformation from self-confident aviators to prisoners-of-war. By combining interviews with the airmen and their wives with never-before-seen footage from Vietnam's government archives, the film provides a moving account of how these men survived repeated bouts of excruciating torture, long periods of solitary confinement and harrowing loneliness.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Freida Lee Mock; Terry Sanders; Christine Z. Wiser
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/honor/index.html
  • Runtime: 120 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Richest Man in the World, Andrew Carnegie
  • Description: Follows Carnegie's life from his impoverished origins in Dunfermline, Scotland, through his business career, where he was on the cutting edge of the industrial revolution in telegraphy, railroads, and finally, steel.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Austin Hoyt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/
  • Runtime: 120 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Rockefellers (part 1)
  • Description: John D. Rockefeller Sr. grew up with a devout mother and "scoundrel" father. When, as a young man, he was advised to make as much money as he could and then give away as much money as he could, he took the advice to heart. John Sr. built an oil refinery, then formed Standard Oil with the goal of dominating the entire industry. Within a few short months, he did. He formed Standard Oil Trust to manage his myriad companies. Ida Tarbell�s series of damning articles about him and his business practices caused the wrath and anger of the public to turn on his whole family. As a young man, John Jr. found himself with the heavy burden of running Standard Oil when his father abruptly retired. Meanwhile, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trust a monopoly and demanded it be broken up, the Rockefellers' wealth tripled. John Jr. was held guilty in the court of public opinion in the wake of a deadly labor dispute in Ludlow, CO. Just a few days after his mother's death, he headed to Colorado to make amends. By then, John Jr. controlled virtually the entire family business.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Elizabeth Deane
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rockefellers/index.html
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Rockefellers (part 2)
  • Description: The third generation of Rockefellers -- "the Brothers" -- grew up in splendor and isolation. From childhood, Nelson emerged as the leader, overtaking his older brother John III as "dynastic heir." In an effort to redeem the family name, John Jr. created numerous and distinct philanthropies. He funded the construction of New York's Riverside Church; bought land in the Grand Teton mountains and donated it to the government for a national park; built with his wife Abby New York's Museum of Modern Art; then began the massive Rockefeller Center project completed during the height of the Great Depression. After active service during WWII, "the Brothers" took over the Rockefeller businesses. By 1952, John, Jr. retired, leaving his sons to advance their diverse interests. All excelled in their chosen fields, especially Nelson, who won the New York governor's seat easily. The presidency remained out of his reach, though he served for a year as Gerald Ford's vice president. He died a few years later under scandalous circumstances. The fourth generation of Rockefellers -- "the cousins" -- came of age questioning, and sometimes rejecting, the family legacy. After a century in the public eye, it is this generation that will determine the future of the Rockefeller name. Most seem dedicated to public service and philanthropy.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Adriana Bosch
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rockefellers/index.html
  • Runtime: 110 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Roots of Resistance: The Story of the Underground Railroad
  • Description: In the mid-1800s, black men and women traveled a network of escape routes known as the Underground Railroad. Their flight from the shackles of slavery in the South was organized by other escaped slaves and their allies, including famous ex-slaves Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. This program recounts the little-known story of black America's secret railroad to freedom through narratives of escaped slaves.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Theodore Thomas; Orlando Bagwell; Susan Bellows
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/films/amx0216.html
  • Runtime: 58 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Scottsboro, An American Tragedy
  • Description: In March 1931, two white women stepped from a box car in Paint Rock, Alabama, to make a shocking accusation: they had been raped by nine black teenagers on the train. So began one of the most significant legal fights of the 20th century. The trial of the nine falsely accused teens would draw North and South into their sharpest conflict since the Civil War, yield two momentous Supreme Court decisions and give birth to the civil rights movement. In addition to its historical significance, the Scottsboro story is a riveting drama about the struggles of nine innocent young men for their lives and a cautionary tale about using human beings as fodder for political causes.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Barak Goodman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/index.html
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Spy in the Sky
  • Description: In the spring of 1960, a CIA spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Overnight, the U-2 became the most famous aircraft in the world and Francis Gary Powers, who miraculously survived the crash, achieved instant notoriety that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Behind the scenes of this dramatic incident is the incredible tale of a team of engineers and courageous pilots who raced against the clock to design, perfect, and deploy the U-2.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Linda Garmon
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Stephen Foster
  • Description: Stephen Foster was the first great American songwriter. Though he virtually invented popular music as it is recognized today, Foster's personal life was tragic and riddled with contradiction. His marriage was largely unhappy, he never made much money from his work and he died at age 37 a nearly penniless alcoholic on the Bowery in New York. Joe Morton narrates.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Randall MacLowry; Catherine Shields
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/films/amx1312.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Monkey Trials
  • Description: In 1925, a Tennessee, biology teacher named John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution in defiance of state law. His trial became an epic event of the 20th century, a debate over free speech that spiraled into an all-out duel between science and religion. Featuring two of the 20th century's greatest orators, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, the Scopes trial was America's first major media event, with hundreds of reporters and live nationwide radio coverage dispersing the sensational news. Outside the courthouse, a circus atmosphere prevailed as a chimpanzee in a suit and hat vied with fire-and-brimstone preachers for the crowd's attention. "Monkey Trial" explores the dramatic moment when a new fault line opened in society as scientific discoveries began to challenge the literal truth of the Bible. Often humorous and at times frightening, the story of two value systems colliding resonates today.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Christine Lesiak
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/monkeytrial/index.html
  • Runtime: 80 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (part 1)
  • Description: Born in 1857, Theodore Roosevelt was a sickly, asthmatic child, who grew very close to his father. Roosevelt was obsessed with natural history as a boy. He spent long hours building up his body. While attending Harvard University, Roosevelt was devastated by the death of his father. He married and became the leader of New York society and was elected to the state legislature where he fought for workers' rights. His mother and wife both died the same day, leaving Roosevelt a father with an infant daughter. To recover from his grief, Roosevelt moved to Dakota to become a rancher. He remarried and returned to New York City to become Police Commissioner and Secretary of the Navy. He resigned to form the Rough Riders and fought in the Spanish American War, returning a national hero. He was elected governor of New York and then Vice President of the United States. Produced by David Grubin, 1996. Roosevelt became President of the United States when William McKinley was assassinated. He used office as a "bully pulpit" to correct what he perceived as the wrongs of American society. His first battle was to break of the large business trusts, first targeting the railroads. He broke up the railroad trust after many court battles. Next he sided with labor who was fighting for better working conditions and wages in a threatened coal mining strike in 1802. He expanded the power of the nation throughout the world by enlarging the naval fleet, monitored Latin America to prevent European Imperialism, and negotiated with Panama for the construction of the Panama Canal. He was elected for a second term as President of the U.S. in 1804. Produced by David Grubin, 1996.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Geoffrey C. Ward; Allyson Luchak
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tr/
  • Runtime: 120 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt (part 2)
  • Description: Roosevelt began his second term by renewing his battles with the trusts and with Congress over food and drug purity. Concerned for the nation's natural resources, he designated millions of acres of land as national parks, established national forests, wildlife refuges and national landmarks. Concerned with the balance of Power in Asia, Roosevelt sent Taft to Japan to negotiate a secret deal to protect U.S. holdings in the Philippines and helped negotiate a settlement to the Japanese-Russian War. However, Roosevelt's influence and power began to wane. He lost his renewed battles for social reform and after grooming Taft as his successor, he was bitterly disappointed about his loss of office. To recover from his loss of office, Roosevelt went on a highly publicized safari to Africa, and was then joined by his wife for a triumphant tour of Europe. He returned home to find Taft had sided with the conservatives. He decided to run against Taft in the primaries. He lost the nomination and his delegates to the Republican convention formed the Progressive Party and Roosevelt ran for President against Taft and the Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt lost the election and the support of his party. The mounted an expedition to the Amazon. He returned to the U.S. weakened by malaria. As World War I approached, Roosevelt campaigned for preparedness and regained his political standing. He was not allowed to fight in the war, but his sons did. They acquitted themselves heroically, but his son Quentin was killed in battle. A devastated Roosevelt died six months later. Produced by David Grubin, 1996.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Geoffrey C. Ward; Allyson Luchak
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tr/
  • Runtime: 120 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Transcontinental Railroad
  • Description: Go behind-the-scenes of one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century: the building of a transcontinental railroad across the United States. Completed in six years by entrepreneurs, brilliant engineers, and legions of dedicated workers.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Mark Zwonitzer; Michael Chin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tcrr/index.html
  • Runtime: 107 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Ulysses S. Grant: The Warrior
  • Description: This episode follows U.S. Grant's life from his frontier childhood through the victorious end of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln's subsequent assassination, including: Grant's duty in the US-Mexican War; his marriage and posting to the Pacific Northwest; resignation from the army; continued business failures; troubled re-commissioning into the Army and rapid advancement as the Civil War expanded; and his exceptional generalship during the that led to the final defeat of the Confederacy; and Lincoln's assassination that left Grant feeling responsible for taking up Lincoln's part in creating a last peace.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Adriana Bosch
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/index.html
  • Runtime: 110 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Ulysses S. Grant: The President
  • Description: During the immediate post-war years, racial rioting became commonplace. President Andrew Johnson fanned the flames with his racist rhetoric and pardons for former Confederates, leading to his impeachment. Grant's feelings about the former slaves changed during this time: he now believed that American freedoms be extended to African Americans as well. He responded to calls to run for president and was easily elected. The country was struggling with Reconstruction, the Industrial Revolution, and forming a workable Indian policy. Grant mistakenly trusted people who brought scandal and failure to his presidency. After leaving office, Grant's financial fortunes rose and then fell. Grant spent his last days suffering from throat cancer and writing his memoirs, which restored his family's finances after his death.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Elizabeth Deane
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/index.html
  • Runtime: 112 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• War Letters
  • Description: Based on newly discovered personal correspondence from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War, "War Letters" brings to life vivid eyewitness accounts of famous battles, intimate declarations of love and longing, poignant letters penned just before the sender was killed and heartbreaking "Dear John" letters from home. The program was inspired by "War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence From American Wars," edited by Andrew Carroll.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Robert Kenner; Paul Taylor
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/warletters/index.html
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Woodrow Wilson: A Passionate Man
  • Description: He was a gifted orator who was supremely confident before crowds, yet awkward in small groups. An emotionally complex man, he craved affection and demanded unquestioned loyalty. An intellectual with unwavering moral principles, he led America onto the world stage at a time when war and chaos threatened everything he cherished. This miniseries explores the transformation of a history professor into one of America's greatest presidents. Woodrow Wilson's life was shaped by great conflicts: the Civil War which he lived through as a child and World War I into which he reluctantly led America as president. The second conflict ultimately claimed him as a victim. While campaigning for his far-sighted League of Nations, he suffered a paralyzing stroke from which he never fully recovered. The only president incapacitated in office, Wilson carried out his duties from bed with the help of his wife who became the de facto chief executive. Narrated by Linda Hunt.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Carl Byker; Mitch Wilson; David Mrazek
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wilson/index.html
  • Runtime: 84 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Woodrow Wilson: The Redemption of the World
  • Description: He was a gifted orator who was supremely confident before crowds, yet awkward in small groups. An emotionally complex man, he craved affection and demanded unquestioned loyalty. An intellectual with unwavering moral principles, he led America onto the world stage at a time when war and chaos threatened everything he cherished. This miniseries explores the transformation of a history professor into one of America's greatest presidents. Woodrow Wilson's life was shaped by great conflicts: the Civil War which he lived through as a child and World War I into which he reluctantly led America as president. The second conflict ultimately claimed him as a victim. While campaigning for his far-sighted League of Nations, he suffered a paralyzing stroke from which he never fully recovered. The only president incapacitated in office, Wilson carried out his duties from bed with the help of his wife who became the de facto chief executive. Narrated by Linda Hunt.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Carl Byker; Mitch Wilson; David Mrazek
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wilson/index.html
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Wright Stuff
  • Description: The story of the Wright brothers and the invention of the airplane.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Nancy Porter; Kate Hudec; Jeanne Jordon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wright/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Zoot Suit Riots
  • Description: In August 1942, the murder of a young Mexican-American ignited a firestorm in Los Angeles. The tensions that had been building up for years between Mexican and white Los Angelenos boiled over. The press claimed Mexican youth--known as "zoot-suiters" for the clothes they wore--were terrorizing the city with a wave of crime. Police fanned out across the city arresting 600 Mexican Americans. Seventeen "zoot-suiters" headed to a trial in which prosecutors had little evidence to present. Nonetheless, guilty verdicts were handed down to all. The tensions the trial inflamed sparked riots between servicemen and the Mexican American community that led to "zoot-suiters" being beaten and stripped of their clothes. Despite vigorous denials from city officials, a citizen's committee concluded the riots had been fired by racial prejudice and encouraged both by sensational news reporting and a discriminatory police department.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Joseph Tovares
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/zoot/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Pill
  • Description: Featuring personal accounts from the first generation of women to have access to the Pill, this film shows how harnessing female horomones into a little pill unleashed a social revolution unlike any other in our history.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Chana Gazit; David Steward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Daughter From Danang
  • Description: Heidi seems the proverbial "all-American girl" from small-town Pulaski, Tennessee. But she was born Mai Thi Hiep in Danang, Vietnam, the daughter of an American serviceman and a Vietnamese woman. At the war's end, her mother, hearing rumors that racially mixed children would be persecuted, placed the 7-year-old girl on an "Operation Babylift" plane to the United States. Twenty-two years later, mother and daughter are miraculously reunited in Danang. But what seems like the cue for a happy ending is anything but as Heidi and her Vietnamese relatives are caught in a heart-wrenching clash of cultures.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Gail Dolgin; Vincente Franco
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/daughter/index.html
  • Runtime: 83 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Mr. Sears' Catalogue
  • Description: Issued in the late 1800s and weighing nearly four pounds, the early Sears Roebuck catalogue was the link to civilization and the good life for generations of rural Americans. This remarkable marketing tool changed the Sears company from a tiny concern selling overstocked watches into the world's largest merchandising corporation. This program explores how the Sears catalogue became a symbol for the natural ambitions and dreams of a sprawling country. Produced by Mark Obenhaus and Edward Gray, 1989.
  • Year: 1989
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Edward Gray; Mark Obenaus; Ken Levis
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Brilliant Madness
  • Description: Called "the most remarkable mathematician of the second half of the century," John F. Nash suffered a devastating breakdown at the age of thirty. He suddenly claimed that aliens were sending him messages, became obsessed with secret numbers and saw conspiracies all around him. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Nash spent a decade in and out of mental hospitals, surviving with the support of his wife and former colleagues. During that time, a mathematical proof he'd written at the age of twenty became a foundation of modern economics. Sometime in the 1980s, he gradually began to recover. In 1994, Nash capped his remarkable return from madness by winning the Nobel Prize.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Randall MacLowry; Mark Samels
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/index.html
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Kennedys: The Father
  • Description: Describes how Joseph Kennedy built his family into a potent political force. Traces the lives of Joe and Rose and their nine children, focusing particularly on Joseph Jr., John, Robert, and Edward.
  • Year: 1992
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Elizabeth Deane; Phillip Whitehead; Geoffrey C. Ward; Marilyn H. Mellowes
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kennedys/index.html
  • Runtime: 111 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Kennedys: The Sons
  • Description: The conclusion of The Kennedys follows the Kennedy story from the glamorous imagery of Jack and Jackie Kennedy's White House -- carefully cultivated by both the president and the first lady -- through the national tragedies of the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, to the dark days of Edward Kennedy's accident at Chappaquiddick and his unsuccessful 1980 presidential campaign, which may have finally freed him of the burden of his father's ambition.
  • Year: 1992
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Elizabeth Deane; Phillip Whitehead; Geoffrey C. Ward; Marilyn H. Mellowes; James A. Devinney
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kennedys/index.html
  • Runtime: 111 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Building The Alaska Highway
  • Description: In May 1942, thousands of American soldiers began one of the biggest and most difficult construction projects ever undertaken. This program tells how they battled to push a 1,520-mile road across one of the world's harshest landscapes.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Tracy Heather Strain; Randall MacLowry
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alaska/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Fidel Castro
  • Description: Through interviews with relatives, loyalists, and enemies in Cuba and abroad, American Experience constructs an intimate and revealing portrait of the most resilient of leaders.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Adriana Bosch
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/castro/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Kinsey
  • Description: Part of the PBS American Experience series. Through interviews with Alfred Kinsey's research assistants, his children, people who took his sex questionnaire, and historians, this documentary assesses the Kinsey's remarkable achievements.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Barak Goodman; John Maggio
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kinsey/index.html
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Mary Pickford
  • Description: In the early years of the 20th century, Mary Pickford became the movies� first superstar � and later its first �has been.�
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Sue Williams; Kathryn Dietz
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pickford/index.html
  • Runtime: 85 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• RFK
  • Description: One of Robert F. Kennedy's advisors has said, "It seems to me that what we're doing when we mourn Robert Kennedy is mourning our own lost possibilities." Find out what he means -- and whether you agree -- with this incisive, two-hour documentary focusing on the last twelve years of RFK's life. From kid brother, to vital Presidential advisor, to Senator and Presidential candidate, learn how world events changed and tempered Bobby Kennedy's outlook on life and politics. In the 1950s, RFK first gained national attention as a young man chasing Communists and Mafiosos. After his brother John's election in 1960, and his own controversial appointment as Attorney General, Robert advocated crucial civil rights legislation and advised deliberation in reaction to world events. After JFK's assassination, Bobby was left bereft and without an identity. He became a champion of those left behind and disenfranchised, a role that eventually led him to run for President in 1968 -- and be struck down in the aftermath of his primary victory in California.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Sarah Colt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rfk/index.html
  • Runtime: 114 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Fight
  • Description: June 22, 1938. Though the Great Depression rages and war looms, the eyes of the world are on Yankee Stadium in New York where, beneath threatening skies, German Max Schmeling and American Joe Louis are squaring off for the heavyweight championship of the world. More than 90,000 people crowd the stadium to watch the encounter, and countless millions more -- the largest radio audience in history -- listen in around the world to what one commentator would call "two minutes and four seconds of murder."
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Barak Goodman; John Maggio
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/fight/
  • Runtime: 92 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Great Transatlantic Cable
  • Description: It took a young American businessman with the crazy idea of laying a transatlantic telegraph cable linking Europe and America.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Axelrod; Peter Jones
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/cable/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Massie Affair
  • Description: In the early 20th century, the U.S. Navy dominated Hawaii. In 1931, a dark incident shattered the tranquil veneer of the islands and exposed growing racial tensions. The wife of a Navy liutenant accused 5 local men of rape. One man was killed. In the trial that followed, celebrity attorney Clarence Darrow offered an impassioned defense on behalf of the husband, calling the murder an "honor killing."
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Mark Zwonitzer; Bruce Shaw
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/massie/index.html
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Victory in the Pacific
  • Description: In this provocative, thorough examination of the final months of the war, American Experience looks at the escalation of bloodletting from the vantage point of both the Japanese and the Americans.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Austin Hoyt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pacific/
  • Runtime: 112 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Partners of the Heart
  • Description: In 1944, two men at Johns Hopkins University Hospital pioneered a groundbreaking procedure that would save thousands of so-called blue babies' lives. One of them, Alfred Blalock, was a prominent white surgeon. The other, Vivien Thomas, was an African American with a high school education. Partners of the Heart tells the inspiring, little-known story of their collaboration. Blalock recognized Thomas' talents when the younger man came inquiring after a hospital janitor's job. But though Blalock came to treat Thomas with tremendous respect in the lab, the two men were rarely treated as equals in the outside world. Over time, Thomas would go on to train two generations of the country's premier heart surgeons. In 1976, more than three decades after the first blue baby's life had been saved, John Hopkins finally formally recognized Thomas' extraordinary achievements, awarding him an honorary doctorate.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Andrea Kalin; Lou Potter
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/partners/index.html
  • Runtime: 58 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Seabiscuit
  • Description: Though he didn't look the part, Seabiscuit was one of the most remarkable thoroughbred racehorses in history. In the 1930s, when Americans longed to escape the grim realities of Depression-era life, four men turned Seabiscuit into a national hero. They were his fabulously wealthy owner Charles Howard, his famously silent and stubborn trainer Tom Smith, and the two hard-bitten, gifted jockeys who rode him to glory. By following the paths that brought these four together and in telling the story of Seabiscuit's unlikely career, this film illuminates the precarious economic conditions that defined America in the 1930s and explores the fascinating behind-the-scenes world of thoroughbred racing.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Stephen Ives; Michelle Ferrari
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/seabiscuit/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Influenza 1918
  • Description: In the spring of 1918, an army private reported to a hospital in Kansas. He was diagnosed with the flu, an illness that doctors knew little about. By the end of WWI, America was ravaged by a flue epidemic that killed 675,000 people.
  • Year: 2006
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Robert Kenner
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/index.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• New York: Center of the World (part 1)
  • Description: The first part of this final chapter of the series provides a powerful portrait of the events leading up to and following September 11, 2001. To understand the impact of 9/11, this program reaches back to when the idea of a "world trade center" was first conceived and the towers were constructed. You'll then explore the physical, economic, and symbolic aftermath of the attack--and what Americans can learn from the recovery effort.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Steeplechase Films; WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns; Lisa Ades
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/
  • Runtime: 99 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• New York: Center of the World (part 2)
  • Description: The second part of this final chapter of the series provides a powerful portrait of the events leading up to and following September 11, 2001. To understand the impact of 9/11, this program reaches back to when the idea of a "world trade center" was first conceived and the towers were constructed. You'll then explore the physical, economic, and symbolic aftermath of the attack--and what Americans can learn from the recovery effort.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Steeplechase Films; WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns; Lisa Ades
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/
  • Runtime: 81 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

American Masters

• Willa Cather: The Road is All
  • Description: Biographical depiction of Cather's life and the influences of the Nebraska frontier on her work.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Thirteen/WNET New York
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Christine Lesiak; Joel Geyer
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/cather_w.html
  • Runtime: 85 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

American Photography

• A Century of Images: Developing Image (1900-1934)
  • Description: Early in the 20th century, the 'Brownie'--the first affordable camera for the masses--was introduced. Over the next three decades, photographs are taken and used in myriad ways: to capture the vanishing Native American way of life in the West, to study and refine the way we work, to highlight social causes that require our attention, as a propaganda tool in the waging of war, to sell products, create media celebrities out of athletes and actors, and provide objective data in the advancement of science. Photography is slowly integrating itself into the fabric of our lives.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: KTCA; Middlemarch Films; Twin Cities Public Television, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Muffie Ellen; Meyer H
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Century of Images: Photographic Age (1935-1959)
  • Description: The Golden Age of photography begins as the Associated Press institutes a new 'wire' system of photo distribution. Suddenly, photos of an event half way around the world are seen everywhere at the same time. Photography affects the media in other ways as well, with the advent of LIFE, the first large format magazine, and tabloids. During the Great Depression, photos are used to 'sell' New Deal programs. Images made in WWII are another kind of propaganda tool: highly censored, they present a glorious, sanitized view of war. In the 1950s photographs are used to demonstrate how we are all members of "The Family of Man," and to jumpstart the civil rights movement.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: KTCA; Middlemarch Films; Twin Cities Public Television, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Muffie Ellen; Meyer H
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• A Century of Images: Photography Transformed (1960-1999)
  • Description: America changed profoundly in the 1960s and cameras were there to capture it all. From the civil rights movement, anti-war movement, Vietnam, and the space program-- photographers had unprecedented access to it all, and the media was willing to bring all the chaos of the era to the masses. With the advances in technology, photography became an increasingly powerful tool in criminology. Breakthrough digital technology promises both benefits and drawbacks for photography at the end of the 20th century. Though we live in a high-tech world, the enduring power of the still photograph remains.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: KTCA; Middlemarch Films; Twin Cities Public Television, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Muffie Ellen; Meyer H
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

American President

• Family Ties
  • Description: Even Cyrus Field admitted he would not have taken on the scheme had he understood its full ramifications. He was bored and looking for a new challenge when he learned of a venture to connect America and Newfoundland by cable. Why not take the cable all the way to Europe, making communications between the two continents �instant?�
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Kunhardt Productions; thirteen; wnet
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David McCarthy; Paul Bacon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Happenstance
  • Description: Tyler, Fillmore, A. Johnson, Arthur, Truman: happenstance has always played a part in government and politics. Almost one-quarter of our Presidents were chosen as Vice-Presidents and rose to power on some chance occurrence. Selected for reasons that have often had little to do with their suitability for the highest office, they have nonetheless exercised its powers in full. Of the five Presidents considered here, only one was able to gain election to the presidency in his own right, but each made his presence felt in the office, at times significantly changing the course of events.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Kunhardt Productions; thirteen; wnet
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David McCarthy; Paul Bacon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Independent Cast of Mind
  • Description: J. Adams, Taylor, Hayes, Carter: While the President alone is accountable for his administration, his office is surrounded by powerful interests, and he is continually being pushed and pulled on all sides. Every President struggles to chart his own course, but for the Presidents grouped together here, independence in action was raised to a point of principle, and it became a test of character. Each took on powerful interests with which he was himself politically affiliated, determined to stand on his own ground despite the potential damage to his political base.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Kunhardt Productions; thirteen; wnet
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David McCarthy; Paul Bacon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Professional Politician
  • Description: Van Buren, Buchanan, Lincoln, LBJ: At our nation's founding, active participation in political affairs was considered a duty and an honor, but not a way of life. All that had changed by the mid-nineteenth century when politics emerged as a vocation, a life's work for a worthy man. Each of these Presidents dedicated their lives to cultivating the art of politics, and each brought to the office decades of experience in the uses of power. Exemplified by cunning and ambition, they also were unmatched in the essential skills of forming coalitions, bargaining with adversaries, resolving conflict and building consensus.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Kunhardt Productions; thirteen; wnet
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David McCarthy; Paul Bacon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• American Way
  • Description: Jefferson, Coolidge, Hoover, Reagan: It is often observed that American national identity is less a condition than an idea. No one is better positioned to express that idea than the President. What we have come to refer to as "the vision thing" is an expectation that our Presidents will bring to office a particularly strong sense of national mission. They may have understood the special character of America in different ways, but in each case a belief that there was a distinctly American way of doing things guided their decisions.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Kunhardt Productions; thirteen; wnet
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David McCarthy; Paul Bacon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• World Stage
  • Description: Monroe, McKinley, Wilson, Bush: We live at a time when statesmen are trying to fashion a new order in the world and Americans are debating what role they should play in it. The President has no greater responsibility than representing the nation on the world stage. Securing a stable world in which American interests can be asserted and defended has been a basic part of the President's job description from the very beginning of our constitutional history. These four men engaged in this task at critical times in our national history and their achievements on the world stage stand as their most durable legacy.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Kunhardt Productions; thirteen; wnet
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David McCarthy; Paul Bacon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Heroic Posture
  • Description: Washington, W.H. Harrison, Grant, Eisenhower: From the beginning, the presidential office has beckoned to national heroes renowned for their selfless service to their country. This affinity is especially strong for men of military fame for the President is formally Commander-in-Chief as well as symbolically the steward of the national interest. The President-as-national hero has been quite effective in rallying the people to his side, but he does so by appearing to stand above or beyond politics. He exemplifies the value we all place on authenticity in governance. He evokes ancient images of the great republican tribunes, men of proven strength and courage who could be relied upon to protect the interests of the whole. We explore here four personifications of this ideal, suggesting a wide-ranging reality behind an enduring standard.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Kunhardt Productions; thirteen; wnet
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David McCarthy; Paul Bacon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Compromise Choices
  • Description: Pierce, Garfield, Harding, Ford: Ever since Lord Bryce asked the question in the late-nineteenth century, Americans have wondered why relatively obscure figures are so prominently featured in the American presidency. Much of the answer lies in the operation of American government during the middle years between Jackson and FDR. Political parties were the central organizing powers in those days and great men were often passed over for the presidential nomination precisely because their strong views threatened to remake those organizations rather than simply represent them. The consensus-building potential of the dark horse was discovered through scores of ballots on the convention floor. Today, true dark horse candidates no longer exist. But in the context of changing political times, compromise choices continue to be made.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Kunhardt Productions; thirteen; wnet
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David McCarthy; Paul Bacon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Expanding Power
  • Description: Jackson, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Nixon: Though the powers of the presidency have expanded with the growth of the nation, the process has been anything but consensual or smooth. The prerogatives of the presidency are uncertain and their assertion is invariably contested. These four presidencies are benchmarks in the development of executive power. We see here the emergence in practice of our modern conception of the executive office, and we take the measure of the men who fought to sustain it.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Kunhardt Productions; thirteen; wnet
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David McCarthy; Paul Bacon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Balance of Power
  • Description: Madison, Polk, Taft, Clinton: This final episode will bring the series up to date by examining presidential leadership in an era of an increasingly divided government. The American presidency was conceived as one part of a larger system of institutions, and its significance rests in good measure on its relationship to the whole. The constitutional design of three branches of federal power each of equal status was a break from traditional hierarchical arrangements, and while we tend to think of the President standing at the head of government, it might be more accurately understood as an integral part of a balance of powers. As our constitutional system has developed, this idea of balance has been elaborated in new and unexpected ways. The Presidents arrayed in this episode suggest four different conceptions of this constitutionally structured balancing act.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Kunhardt Productions; thirteen; wnet
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David McCarthy; Paul Bacon
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

America's Battleground

• America's Battleground
  • Description: Investigate key clashes in U.S. history that have brought profound changes to our institutions, culture and society. Comprising documentaries from public television stations across the country, this program explores struggles from the battlefield to the courtroom. The federal budget deficit is a problem today and was 200 years ago, causing the Whiskey Rebellion on the frontier of western Pennsylvania. In the waning days of the Civil War 300 black Union troops were killed by Confederate guerrillas at Poison Springs, AR. The debate over whether it was a battle or a massacre continues to this day. Then travel north and find out why the Nez Perce tribe, after 13 battles in Montana, surrendered only 40 miles from the Canadian border and freedom.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Wisconsin Public Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Chuck France; Dave Iverson
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Art:21

• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season I: Place
  • Description: "Most of the work that I do as an artist, whether it's music, or images or a story, begins with a place," says renown multi-media performance and recording artist Laurie Anderson in the Program Open she created for Art:21. "A room, a road, a city, a country...these places become jumping off points for my imagination." Filmed on location in New York City and featuring talking and tropical billboards, the Statue of Liberty, a choreographed dance with red chinese fans, and a trip to a Japanese grocery store, Anderson's whimsical work plays with scale, point of view, and virtual spaces to create a fanciful dreamscape. For this premiere opening segment, Anderson combines the roles of artists and host.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season I: Spirituality
  • Description: Program 2: Spirituality opens with an original work by artist, Beryl Korot. While quilting, actress and host S. Epatha Merkerson evokes the theme of spirituality as a "thread which connects us all." Using found material culled from the broadcast, Korot manipulated the footage on her computer: slowing down, colorizing, and looping isolated gestures and sounds. Meditative in its pace, Korot's work harnesses the power of modern technology to create a space for reflection and intimacy. Korot's piece blends together fleeting moments such as a sunset in the Arizona desert, a guitar ballad by John Feodorov, and the preparation of tea by Shahzia Sikander for her miniature painting.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season I: Identity
  • Description: The show opens with a whimsical collaboration between noted photographer and artist William Wegman and actor, playwright, and comedian Steve Martin. In this opening segment, Martin (or is it just a mannequin that looks like him?) questions the fundamental nature of identity amidst playful diversions which include card tricks, the sound of a lawnmower in the distance, ringing doorbells, and Wegman's agile Weimaraner dogs. The zany opening was created by Wegman on a sound stage and plays with varying degrees of reality and theatrical illusion. At one point, Steve Martin is rendered motionless when it's revealed that throughout the segment his hands have belonged to someone else�a puppeteer.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season I: Consumption
  • Description: Consumption begins with an original work created by artist Barbara Kruger. Hosted by tennis star and sports commentator John McEnroe, the humorously frenetic video explores the ways in which people consume things in their daily lives, from food to money to sex. Throughout the video, Kruger's trademark phrases in red and white demand the attention and obedience of the viewer. Proclaiming "Love art, Buy art, Sell art," and "Feed me, Love me, Buy me, Sell me", Kruger's text addresses the viewer in much the same way advertisers sway a consumer to buy a product.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season II: Stories
  • Description: The artists profiled in Stories tell tales�autobiographical, fictional, satirical, or fantastical�through architecture, literature, mythology, fairytales, and history. These artists provoke us to think about our own stories, the characters and caricatures, the morals and messages that define our real and imagined lives. Filmed on location in S�o Paolo, Brazil; New York, New York; Saratoga Springs, New York; [foundry], New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Seoul, South Korea; Seattle Washington; Houston, Texas; and Dallas, Texas.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/seasontwo/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season II: Loss and Desire
  • Description: Thoughts and responses to themes of Loss & Desire surface in many areas of our lives, from the philosophical to the emotional. In this program, specific works of art cause us to contemplate issues such as war and peace; the loss of community and the desire for connection; and the age-old human longing for perfection. Filmed on location in New York, New York; West Point, New York; Blair, New Jersey; Stuttgard, Germany; Paris, France; Mexico; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/seasontwo/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season II: Time
  • Description: Time is always present in our interaction with works of art, whether we sit to contemplate a painting, stroll past a sculpture, or watch a video piece for its entire duration or cycle. Some works of art are time-based in that the viewer must experience them through the passage of time, as with music, while others refer to time through links or references to art history, our collective human history, or the timelessness of nature. Filmed on location in China; Japan; New York, New York; San Antonio, Texas; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Los Angeles, California.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/seasontwo/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season II: Humor
  • Description: The four artists profiled in Humor have been influenced by the history of humor and comedy, including vaudeville, cartoons, and comic books. The artists in this hour reveal how humor and satire can stimulate laughter as well as serve as a vehicle to explore serious subjects, such as feminism, the natural environment, the excesses of consumer culture, social injustice, and war. Filmed on location in San Diego, California; Hermosa Beach, California; New York, New York; and Great Barrington, New York.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/seasontwo/index.html
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season III: Power
  • Description: The artists in Power challenge authority, oppression, and control. Each artist humanizes difficult issues by acting as a witness to violence, working to heal communities, or achieving a balance between constructive and destructive energies. Introduced by actor and comedian, David Alan Grier, Program 9: Power is shot on location in New York, New York; Washington, D.C.; S�o Paolo, Brazil; North Adams, Massachusetts; Williamstown, Massachusetts; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Boston, Massachusetts; Hiroshima, Japan; Tijuana, Mexico; and Austin, Texas.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/seasonthree/index.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season III: Memory
  • Description: Whether critical, irreverent, or introspective, the artists in Memory delve into personal memory and the past, transforming them in their work. The artists wrestle with complex topics such as the veracity of history, the nature of interpretation, subjective versus objective truth, and the ways in which objects and images from the past embody cultural memory. Introduced by actor Isabella Rossellini, Program 10: Memory is shot on location in Galisteo, New Mexico; Los Angeles, California; Paris, France; New York, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Austin, Texas.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/seasonthree/index.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season III: Structures
  • Description: The artists in Structures create systems, shift contexts, and engage with perception, utilizing unconventional devices such as exhibitions within exhibitions and dramatic shifts in scale between microcosm and macrocosm. Introduced by actor Sam Waterston, Program 11: Structures is shot on location in Akureyri, Iceland; London, England; New York, New York; Houston, Texas; North Adams, Massachussetts; S�o Paolo, Brazil; Newark, New Jersey; G�teborg, Sweden; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Austin, Texas.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/seasonthree/index.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art in the Twenty-First Century Season III: Play
  • Description: The artists in Play improvise games, draw inspiration from dance and music, and employ color, pattern, and movement to elicit delight. Indulging in process, these artists transform na�ve impulses into critical statements about the nature of identity, creative expression, and pleasure. Introduced by Grant Hill, Program 12: Play was shot on location in Brooklyn, New York; Berlin, Germany; Santiago de Compostela, Spain; New Haven, Connecticut; Houston, Texas; and Austin, Texas.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Art 21, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Sollins; Susan Dowling
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/seasonthree/index.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Avoiding Armageddon

• Silent Killers
  • Description: Examines the historical context of biological and chemical weapons, and provides interviews with victims who survived biological or chemical weapons attacks.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Ted Turner Documentaries
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Frank Sesno; Chris Guarino
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/avoidingarmageddon/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Nuclear Nightmares
  • Description: Discusses past and present nuclear dangers. Explores the myth that the end of the Cold War decreased the threat of a nuclear holocaust. Contends that unsecured nuclear weapons stockpiles, increased nuclear proliferation, and growing international terrorism has greatly increased the threat of nuclear attacks.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Ted Turner Documentaries
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Frank Sesno; Chris Guarino
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/avoidingarmageddon/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• New Face of Terror
  • Description: Explores the links between terrorism and these weapons. Visits various places around the world to see what factors lead people to become terrorists and what could be done to prevent this.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Ted Turner Documentaries
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Frank Sesno; Chris Guarino
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/avoidingarmageddon/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Confronting Terrorism
  • Description: Examines the concept of "homeland security" as well as some of the proactive programs around the world that attempt to change the environments that breed terrorism and instability.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Ted Turner Documentaries
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Frank Sesno; Chris Guarino
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/avoidingarmageddon/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Baseball

• Our Game
  • Description: See how the national pastime started, and it wasn't by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown. Meet the first baseball magnate Albert Goodwill Spalding, explore the game's first gambling scandal, and see the attempts by women to play the game in the 1860s.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Baseball Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken "The Kid" Burns; Lynn "The Babe" Novick; Geoffrey C. "The Mahatma" Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
  • Runtime: 114 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Something Like a War
  • Description: Major league baseball enters the 20th century in trouble, beset by declining attendance, rowdyism, unhappy players, and feuding, greedy club owners. Then it divides itself in two and succeeds beyond anyone's wildest dreams.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Baseball Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken "The Kid" Burns; Lynn "The Babe" Novick; Geoffrey C. "The Mahatma" Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
  • Runtime: 105 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Faith of Fifty Million People
  • Description: As players from small-town America and migrant men from the mines and factories fill the rosters of the teams, baseball moves into bright new stadiums in Boston and Brooklyn.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Baseball Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken "The Kid" Burns; Lynn "The Babe" Novick; Geoffrey C. "The Mahatma" Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
  • Runtime: 119 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• National Heirloom
  • Description: As baseball becomes the game of the power hitters, none is more important than Babe Ruth, the turbulent son of a Baltimore saloon keeper. Andrew "Rube" Foster forms the Negro National League, whose eight teams draw over 400,000 black fans.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Baseball Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken "The Kid" Burns; Lynn "The Babe" Novick; Geoffrey C. "The Mahatma" Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
  • Runtime: 115 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Shadow Ball
  • Description: As baseball struggles through the Depression, owners struggle to adapt, introducing night baseball, the first All-Star game, and the Hall of Fame to help fill their stadiums. Nothing seems to work.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Baseball Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken "The Kid" Burns; Lynn "The Babe" Novick; Geoffrey C. "The Mahatma" Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
  • Runtime: 125 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• National Pastime
  • Description: The 1940s are a memorable time for the game--Joe DiMaggio's celebrated hitting streak and the awe-inspiring performance of Ted Williams. Then World War II intervenes, and baseball's best players become soldiers.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Baseball Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken "The Kid" Burns; Lynn "The Babe" Novick; Geoffrey C. "The Mahatma" Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
  • Runtime: 150 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Capital of Baseball
  • Description: In the 1950s, New York City seems to own the game. The city is home to three successful baseball teams and dominates the World Series. This episode includes rare newsreel footage of some of baseball's most memorable moments.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Baseball Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken "The Kid" Burns; Lynn "The Babe" Novick; Geoffrey C. "The Mahatma" Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
  • Runtime: 133 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Whole New Ballgame
  • Description: In the 1960s, television emerges, the league expands to new cities, and huge new stadiums are built.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Baseball Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken "The Kid" Burns; Lynn "The Babe" Novick; Geoffrey C. "The Mahatma" Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
  • Runtime: 115 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Home
  • Description: The game changes a lot from the 1970s to the present, including the establishment of the free agent system, the astronomical rise in player salaries, and the ongoing battles between labor and management.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Baseball Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken "The Kid" Burns; Lynn "The Babe" Novick; Geoffrey C. "The Mahatma" Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
  • Runtime: 147 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Between The Wars

• Versailles: Lost Peace
  • Description: In the closing moments of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson drew up a 14-point peace plan, including a grand design for an international League of Nations. Documents the negotiations surrounding the eventual armistice agreement ending World War I.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Charles Musser; Kenneth Koerner
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Return to Isolationism
  • Description: Examines isolationism, the prevailing U.S. foreign policy for over a hundred years. Wilson's idea to create a League of Nations was severely criticized.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Charles Musser; Kenneth Koerner
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• First Salt Talks
  • Description: Highlights the world's first major disarmament meeting, the Washington Naval Conference of 1921. The Big Five--the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy-- attempted to agree to limit the postwar arms race.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Scott Neal Garen; Kenneth Koerner
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Radio, Racism and Foreign Policy
  • Description: The effects of foreign policy issues on the American public are the focus of this video, which examines the authoritarian radio campaign aimed at enforcing a conformity of beliefs, customs and traditions deemed to be the foundation of the American way of life.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Michael D. Ornstein; Kenneth Koerner
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Great Depression and Foreign Affairs
  • Description: During the Great Depression, most Americans and the majority of U.S. politicians were too preoccupied with domestic problems to notice the rise of dictators in Europe and Japan. This video focuses on American foreign policy following the Great Depression.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Charles Musser; Kenneth Koerner
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• FDR and Hitler: Their Rise to Power
  • Description: Chronicles the different styles of these world leaders and their rise to power.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; William T. Cartwright; Kenneth Koerner
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• FDR and Hitler: Dynamics of Power
  • Description: Two powerful modern leaders dominated much of the era before and during World War II: Adolf Hitler and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Examines the political and practical applications of radio and public addresses, including FDR's "fireside chats" and Hitler's effective ministry of propaganda.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; William T. Cartwright; Kenneth Koerner
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• America in the Pacific
  • Description: Examines American public opinion toward Japan, the Oriental mind, and the rise of Japan as a major world power following World War I.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Scott Neal Garen; Kenneth Koerner
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Recognition of Russia
  • Description: Examines the wave of working-class militancy that swept the world after the boom decade of the 1920s and the Roosevelt administration's official recognition of the U.S.S.R. in the first detente in 1933.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Michael D. Ornstein; Kenneth Koerner
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Latin America: Intervention in our Backyard
  • Description: Examines early U.S. policy in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America as Pan-American relationships deteriorated until, in 1933, President Roosevelt abolished the Monroe policy of intervention.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; William Kronick; Charles Musser; Kenneth Koerner; David J. Eagle
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Italian-Ethiopian War Africa in World Affairs
  • Description: During the first part of the century, Italy was torn by economic and political strife. Benito Mussolini came to power by championing the resistance of the ruling class movement against communist unions. This video focuses on Mussolini's Italy, his dreams of an empire, and his costly invasion of Ethiopia, one of the chief episodes paving the way for World War II.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; William Kronick; Art Stafford; Kenneth Koerner; David J. Eagle
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Spanish Civil War
  • Description: Examines fascist Spain and the Spanish Civil War. The popular fascist claim that totalitarianism was the only way to effectively fight communism fueled the rebellion against the country's republican government.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Scott Neal Garen; Kenneth Koerner; David J. Eagle
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Phony War
  • Description: In 1938, Adolf Hitler absorbed Austria, began threatening the rest of eastern Europe, and then shocked the world by invading Poland. American public opinion wavered between a desire to help and a commitment to maintain neutrality. This video explores American domestic turmoil as many declared the war stories phony and just a matter of propaganda.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; William T. Cartwright; Kenneth Koerner; David J. Eagle
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• FDR and Churchill: Human Partners
  • Description: The close personal friendship between Roosevelt and Churchill is examined and viewers learn how this relationship had a profound effect on the history of the Western world.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Richard Beck; Kenneth Koerner; David J. Eagle
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Japan Invades China
  • Description: Highlights Japan's imperialistic expansion into French Indochina, the Dutch Indies, Burma, Malaya, and the Philippines. In 1941, President Roosevelt decided to enforce a total embargo, freezing all assets originating in Japan. In the face of this economic pressure, the Japanese government decided to force the United States into war.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Michael D. Ornstein; Kenneth Koerner; David J. Eagle
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• War Comes to Pearl Harbor
  • Description: Focuses on the diplomatic and economic pressure placed on Japan prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor; the consequence of the governments' failure to reach an agreement; and the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
  • Year: 1978
  • Production Company: Anthony Potter Productions, Inc.; Reeves Entertainment Group
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Potter; Jeffrey Weston; Kenneth Koerner; David J. Eagle
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 25 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Broadway: The American Musical

• Give My Regards to Broadway (1893-1927)
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Educational Broadcasting Corporation; Broadway Film Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Kantor; Jac Venza; David Horn
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Syncopated City (1919-1933)
  • Description: Gossip columnist Walter Winchell gave Broadway a nickname that becomes synonymous with all of New York: "It is the Big Apple, the goal of all ambitions, the pot of gold at the end of a drab and somewhat colorless rainbow." With the advent of Prohibition and the Jazz Age, America convulsed with energy and change, and nowhere was the riotous mix of classes and cultures more dramatically on display than Broadway. "There was this period in which everybody was leaping across borders and boundaries," says director/producer George C. Wolfe. "There was this incredible cross-fertilization, cultural appropriation." While brash American women flapped their way to newfound freedoms, heroines of Broadway like Marilyn Miller became a testament to pluck and luck. It was the age of "Whoopee" and the "Charleston," "Runnin' Wild" and the "George White Scandals." In 1921, a jazz show like no other arrived: "Shuffle Along," which featured a rich, rousing score by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, reopening Broadway's doors to black artists. Unique talents like the Marx Brothers and Al Jolson -- a Jewish immigrant and Prohibition's biggest star -- rocketed to stardom. The Gershwin brothers, the minstrels of the Jazz Age, brought a "Fascinating Rhythm" to an entire nation. Innovative songwriting teams like Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart ignited a new age of bright melodies and clever lyrics with the massive hit "Manhattan." But as the Roaring Twenties came to a close, Broadway's Jazz Age suffered the one-two punch of the "talking picture" and the stock market crash, triggering a massive talent exodus to Hollywood and putting an end to Broadway's feverish expansion.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Educational Broadcasting Corporation; Broadway Film Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Kantor; Jac Venza; David Horn
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' (1929-1942)
  • Description: The Great Depression proved to be a dynamic period of creative growth on Broadway, and a dichotomy in the musical theater emerged. Productions like Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" offered glamour and high times as an escape, while others -- such as "Of Thee I Sing," which satirized the American political system, and the remarkable WPA production of "The Cradle Will Rock," about a steel strike -- dealt directly with the era's social and political concerns. When Bing Crosby recorded "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime," the doleful Broadway ballad took the hit parade by surprise. "This song spoke to the hearts, and to the minds, and to the emotions and thoughts, of everybody who lived during that depression," says lyricist Yip Harburg's son, Ernie. Rodgers and Hart created a string of new shows, including the sexually frank "Pal Joey," a genuine departure that starred newcomer Gene Kelly. In the gloom of the depression, Porter offered Broadway audiences such unforgettable songs as "You're the Top," which served as an effervescent tonic to a weary nation. In 1935, George Gershwin created his epic masterpiece, "Porgy and Bess," bringing a hybrid style of folk opera to Broadway. The onset of World War II galvanized the country and America's troubadour, Irving Berlin, rallied the troops with "This Is the Army."
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Educational Broadcasting Corporation; Broadway Film Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Kantor; Jac Venza; David Horn
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' (1943-1960)
  • Description: The new partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II changed the face of Broadway forever, beginning with the record-breaking "Oklahoma!" in 1943, featuring a landmark ballet by Agnes de Mille. "Carousel" and "South Pacific" then set the standard for decades to come by pioneering a musical where story is all-important. For challenging the country to confront its deep-seated racial bigotry, "South Pacific" won the Pulitzer Prize. In "On the Town," an exuberant team of novices -- Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jerome Robbins -- captured the energy, humor, and pathos of New York City during World War II. Irving Berlin triumphed again with "Annie Get Your Gun," featuring Ethel Merman and the unofficial anthem of the American musical theater, "There's No Business Like Show Business." In shows like "Guys and Dolls," "My Fair Lady," and "Kiss Me, Kate," sophisticated adaptations of literary material prevailed. "Cole Porter led the way in writing adult songs about love and sex," says theater historian Robert Kimball. "He defied the censors. He, probably more than any other songwriter in this century, made it possible for the openness that we have in all popular music." In 1956, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe triumphed with "My Fair Lady," featuring an 18-year-old Julie Andrews. TV's THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW became the most important showcase for Broadway musicals. Yet with the death of Oscar Hammerstein II soon after the premiere of "The Sound of Music" in 1959, the curtain began to lower on a golden age.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Educational Broadcasting Corporation; Broadway Film Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Kantor; Jac Venza; David Horn
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Tradition (1957-1979)
  • Description: "West Side Story" not only brought untraditional subject matter to the musical stage, it ushered in a new breed of director/choreographer who insisted on performers who could dance, sing and act. But by the time Jerome Robbins' last original musical, "Fiddler on the Roof," closed after a record run of 3,242 performances in 1972, the world of Broadway had changed forever. Rock 'n' roll, civil rights, and the Vietnam War ushered in new talents, many trained by the retiring masters, taking musical theater in daring new directions with innovative productions like "Hair," the first Broadway musical with an entire score of rock music. The adult narrative of Stephen Sondheim's "Company" plunged the musical into a new era. Hal Prince's conceptual staging showcased John Kander and Fred Ebb's dynamic score for "Cabaret." Bob Fosse captured a sexuality and cynicism ahead of its time with "Chicago," but it was director/choreographer Michael Bennett who spearheaded the biggest blockbuster of all -- "A Chorus Line." "It totally changed the musical theater," says Shubert Organization chairman Gerald Schoenfeld. "It was a catalyst for the improvement of this area, and of course this area is now the most desirable area in New York." With Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd," the Broadway musical reached unexpected new heights in style and material with a tale of slaughter and cannibalism set in 19th-century London. By the end of the 1970s, Broadway became the centerpiece of a remarkably successful public relations campaign that would lure tourists to New York for years to come.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Educational Broadcasting Corporation; Broadway Film Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Kantor; Jac Venza; David Horn
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Putting it Together (1980-Present)
  • Description: Legendary as the "Abominable Showman," notorious producer David Merrick reconquered Broadway in 1980 with a smash adaptation of the movie musical "42nd Street." But soon the biggest hits were arriving from an unexpected source -- London. Producer Cameron Mackintosh redefined the business of show business as "Cats," "Les Mis�rables," "The Phantom of the Opera," and "Miss Saigon" became international blockbusters. Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park with George" defied categorization while Jerry Herman's crowd-pleasing "La Cage aux Folles" had two men sing a love song to each other for the first time on the stage -- a breakthrough soon overshadowed by the decimation of Broadway by AIDS. Yet with Julie Taymor's triumphant reimagining of "The Lion King," Disney led an astonishing resurrection of 42nd Street. Composer Jonathan Larson scored a bittersweet victory with the rock-flavored "Rent," and the old-style musical was reborn in Mel Brooks' "The Producers," which became the first must-see musical comedy in decades, despite a ticket price of $480 for each VIP seat. After 9/11, Broadway -- like the rest of America -- emerged from the darkness. Broadway's corporate dominance continues to grow, as evidenced by new shows such as "Wicked," the biggest hit of the 2003-04 season, with 10 Tony nods.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Educational Broadcasting Corporation; Broadway Film Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Kantor; Jac Venza; David Horn
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Civil War

• Cause
  • Description: Beginning with a dramatic indictment of slavery, this first eposide dramatically evokes the causes of the war. Here are the burning questions of Union and states' rights, the story of John Brown at Harper's Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the firing on Fort Sumter, and the jubilant rush to arms on both sides. The episode comes to a climax with the disastrous Union defeat at Manassas, where both sides now learn it is to be a very long war.
  • Year: 1989 - 1990?
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; WETA
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Ric Burns; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
  • Runtime: 100 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Very Bloody Affair
  • Description: The year 1862 saw the transformation of Lincoln's war to preserve the Union into a war to emancipate slaves. Episode Two begins with the political infighting that threatened to swamp Lincoln's administration and then follows Union General George McClellan's ill-fated campaign on the Virginia Peninsula. Viewers witness the battle of ironclad ships, partake of camp life, and watch slavery begin to crumble. Viewers meet Ulysses S. Grant, whose exploits come to a bloody climax at the Battle of Shiloh.
  • Year: 1989
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; WETA
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Ric Burns; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
  • Runtime: 70 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Forever Free
  • Description: This episode charts the dramatic events that led to Lincoln's decision to set the slaves free. Convinced by July 1862 that emancipation was now morally and militarily crucial to the future of the Union, Lincoln must wait for a victory to issue his proclamation. But as the year wears on, there are no Union victories to be had, thanks to the brilliance of Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. The episode comes to a climax in September 1862 with Lee's invasion of Maryland. On the banks of Antietam Creek, the bloodiest day of the war takes place, followed shortly by the brightest--the emancipation of the slaves.
  • Year: 1989
  • Production Company: Florentine Films
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Ric Burns; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
  • Runtime: 76 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Simply Murder
  • Description: The episode begins with the nightmarish Union disaster at Fredericksburg and comes to two climaxes that spring: at Chancellorsville in May, where Lee wins his most brilliant victory but loses Stonewall Jackson; and at Vicksburg, where Grant's attempts to take the city by siege are stopped. During the episode, we learn of fierce Northern opposition to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the miseries of regimental life, and the increasing desperation of the Confederate home front.
  • Year: 1989
  • Production Company: Florentine Films
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Ric Burns; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
  • Runtime: 62 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Universe of Battle
  • Description: This episode opens with a dramatic account of the turning point of the war: the Battle of Gettysburg--the greatest ever fought in the Western Hemisphere. For three days, 150,000 men will fight to the death in the gentle Pennsylvania countryside, culminating in Pickett's legendary charge. This extended episode goes on to chronicle the fall of Vicksburg, the New York draft riots, the first use of black troops, and the western battles at Chickamauga and Chattanooga. The episode closes with the dedication of a new Union cemetery at Gettysburg in November, where Abraham Lincoln struggles to put into words what was happening to his people.
  • Year: 1989
  • Production Company: Florentine Films
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Ric Burns; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
  • Runtime: 96 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Valley of the Shadow of Death
  • Description: Episode Six begins with a biographical comparison of Grant and Lee and then chronicles the extraordinary series of battles that pitted the two generals against one another. In 30 days, the two armies lose more men than both sides have lost in three years of war. With Grant and Lee finally deadlocked at Petersburg, we visit the ghastly hospitals of the North and South, and follow Sherman's Atlanta campaign through the mountains of northern Georgia.
  • Year: 1989
  • Production Company: Florentine Films
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Ric Burns; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
  • Runtime: 70 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Most Hallowed Ground
  • Description: This episode begins with the presidential campaign of 1864 that set Abraham Lincoln against his old commanding general, George McClellan. The stakes are nothing less than the survival of the Union itself. Eleventh-hour Union victories at Mobile Bay, Atlanta, and the Shenandoah Valley tilt the election to Lincoln, and the Confederacy's last hope for independence dies. In an ironic twist, Lee's Arlington mansion is turned into a Union military hospital and the estate becomes Arlington National Cemetery--the Union's most hallowed ground.
  • Year: 1989
  • Production Company: Florentine Films
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Ric Burns; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
  • Runtime: 72 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• War is All Hell
  • Description: With William Tecumseh Sherman's brilliant March to the Sea, this episode brings war to the heart of Georgia and the Carolinas and spells the end of the Confederacy. In March, following Lincoln's second inauguration, first Petersburg and then Richmond finally fall to Grant's army. Lee's tattered Army of Northern Virginia flees westward toward a tiny crossroads town called Appomattox Court House. There the dramatic and deeply moving surrender of Lee to Grant takes place.
  • Year: 1989
  • Production Company: Florentine Films
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Ric Burns; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
  • Runtime: 69 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Better Angels of Our Nature
  • Description: This extraordinary final episode of THE CIVIL WAR begins in the bittersweet aftermath of Lee's surrender and then goes on to narrate the horrendous events of five days later when, on April 14, Lincoln is assassinated. After chronicling Lincoln's poignant funeral, the series recounts the final days of the war, the capture of John Wilkes Booth, and the fates of the series' major characters. The episode then considers the consequences and meaning of a war that transformed the country from a collection of states to the nation we are today.
  • Year: 1989
  • Production Company: Florentine Films
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Ric Burns; Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
  • Runtime: 69 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Conquistadors with Michael Wood

• Fall of the Aztecs
  • Description: Wood lands on a small island off the coast of Mexico, where in 1519, Hernan Cortes led a band of some 500 soldiers onto the mainland and into the heart of the Aztec empire. On the shores of the Yucatan, Cortes first saw the Mayan pyramids. Wood continues west to the frontier between the Mayan and Aztec worlds. The Aztecs greeted Cortes with gifts of gold, an act that sealed their fate. Trekking over the mountains in torrential storms, Wood wonders how this small band of Spanish adventurers overthrew an empire of millions, and why the Aztec ruler Montezuma believed the Spanish were gods.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Maya Vision International
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Wood
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/conquistadors/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Conquest of the Incas
  • Description: The Incas in Peru worshipped the sun and thought their empire was the whole world -- until the Spaniards arrived. In 1532, conquistador Francisco Pizarro uncovered this civilization, which extended 3,000 miles from Ecuador to Chile. Wood traces Pizarro's daring march into Peru with fewer than 200 men. Following ancient Inca desert roads, Wood climbs the Andes with a train of llamas, ascending fairy-tale peaks overlooking the Pacific coast. The Spanish pursuit of Manco, the Inca leader who mounted a war of liberation, takes Wood to Cuzco, the Incan "navel of the earth." He continues on to the ruins of the Sacred Valley and Macchu Picchu, over the passes of the high Andes, up 17,000-foot glaciers and down into tropical rainforests to locate the lost city of the Incas at Vilcabamba.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Maya Vision International
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Wood
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/conquistadors/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Search for El Dorado
  • Description: From Peru, Wood moves to Ecuador, where a member of the Pizarro clan, Gonzalo, led an expedition in 1541 to find El Dorado, a ruler reputed to possess unsurpassed riches in gold. Crossing the Andes, Wood and his crew hack through the dense forests to the Coca River. Once there, they build a balsa raft to carry them to the site where the Spanish expedition split up. On Christmas day of 1541, Francisco de Orellana, a veteran of the battles with the Incas in Peru, set out with 57 men on one of the great voyages of exploration. Orellana and his men discovered and traveled the length of the Amazon River, encountering an elaborate network of kingdoms and unknown empires -- with a population perhaps as high as five million -- that were eventually wiped out by war and disease.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Maya Vision International
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Wood
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/conquistadors/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• All the World is Human
  • Description: Alvar Nu�ez Cabeza de Vaca arrived in Florida in 1528 to begin the exploration and conquest of what is now the southern United States. His experience living among the Indians was to spark the debate over the morality of the conquistadors' deeds. Wood tracks their progress northward toward Tallahassee, where, fleeing hostile Indians, the conquistadors built boats in the hope of reaching Mexico. Shipwrecked off the coast of Texas, most were never seen again. For five years, Cabeza de Vaca lived among the Karankwa and then the Coahuiltean Indians until he rejoined three fellow conquistadors. Together they embarked on an epic walk across America to the Pacific coast, reappearing eight years after they were lost. Their route remains a subject of controversy. Using Cabeza de Vaca's own book, Wood rides through the north Mexican desert, sleeping at prehistoric campsites. Traveling to the Pacific along ancient Indian trails, he visits the spectacular Native-American city of Casas Grandes, passing through some of the most beautiful landscapes in America.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Maya Vision International
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Wood
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/conquistadors/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Crucible of Empire

• Spanish American War
  • Description: Demonstrates how and why the Spanish-American War constitutes such an important milestone. The first hour will examine the events and attitudes that led to war; the second will explore the conflict and its outcome. The invention of the motion- picture camera and developments in photography concurrent with the Spanish-American War provide us with the earliest footage and stills of battle scenes. Rich visuals, a compelling story, and intriguing analogies to current foreign policy will make CRUCIBLE OF EMPIRE a riveting documentary. Produced by Great Projects Film Company, Inc., 1999.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Great Projects Film Co.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Daniel A. Miller; Daniel B. Polin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/crucible/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Culture Shock

• Born to Trouble:  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  • Description: One of America's most beloved and banned books, Mark Twain's novel was attacked when it was published in 1885 for its "low morals." Later, it became part of the American literary canon, only to become controversial again on the grounds of racism
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Jill Janows
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/beyond/huck.html
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Empires

• Martin Luther
  • Description: Martin Luther nailed his treatise to the doors of the Wittenberg Cathedral and forever changed the Christian world. He offered a new vision of man's relationship with God and, in turn, redefined man's relationship with authority in general, bringing the collapse of the medieval world and the birth of the modern age.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Lion Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Kirsty Hunter; Cassian Harrison; William M. Larkin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/martinluther/
  • Runtime: 107 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Empires: Egypt's Golden Empire

• Warrior Pharaohs
  • Description: In 1560 BC, Egypt was divided into two. Its very existence was threatened from both north and south. But one family was determined to restore Egypt to its former glory.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Lion Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Bruce Robinson; Kirsty Hunter
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Pharaohs of the Sun
  • Description: When Amenhotep III became pharaoh in 1390 BC, Egypt controlled a vast empire and was rich, respected and free. But it faced the challenge of powerful new rivals.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Lion Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Bruce Robinson; Kirsty Hunter
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/
  • Runtime: 51 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Last Great Pharaoh
  • Description: The reign of Ramesses II - known also as Ramesses the Great - marked the high point of the New Kingdom and the high point of Egyptian culture. But like any highpoint, it was all downhill as the New Kingdom gradually fell into ruin.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Lion Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Bruce Robinson; Kirsty Hunter
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Empires: Greeks, Crucible of Civilization

• Revolution
  • Description: It was perhaps the most spectacular flourishing of imagination and achievement in recorded history. In the 4th and 5th centuries BC, the Greeks built an empire that stretched across the Mediterranean from Asia to Spain. They laid the foudnation of modern science, politics, warfare and philosophy, and produced some of the most breathtaking art and architecture the world has ever seen. The first segment tells the story of the troubled birth of the world's first democracy, ancient Athens, through the life of an Athenian nobleman, Cleisthenes. The program closes on the eve of the new society's first great test: invasion by the mighty empire of Persia.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Atlantic Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Geffen
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Golden Age
  • Description: The second part recounts the Greeks' heroic victory against the mighty Persian Empire through the life of Themistocles, one of Athens' greatest generals. Greece, now master of the Mediterranean, undergoes one of the most startling intellectual and physical transformations in history. Pericles, the elected leader of Athens, oversees the building of the Parthenon and an extraordinary flourishing of the arts and sciences, laying the foundation for what is now called "Western culture."
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Atlantic Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Geffen
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Empire of the Mind
  • Description: The final segment describes how Athens, at the height of her glory, engaged in a suicidal conflict with her greatest rival, Sparta. Through the eyes of Socrates, Athens' first philosopher, viewers see the tragic descent of Athenian democracy into mob rule. As defeat piles on defeat, the Athenians, shattered and stripped of their empire, take revenge on their most vocal critic and condemn Socrates to death before a people's court.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Atlantic Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Anthony Geffen
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Empires: Islam: Empire of Faith

• Messenger
  • Description: Introduces the dramatic story of the rise of Islam with the extraordinary life of the prophet Muhammad and his simple but revolutionary message. The episode covers the revelation and early writing of the Koran, the creation of the first mosque, the persecution suffered by the first Muslims and the major battles fought by Muhammad and his followers to establish the new religion. The rapid religious, cultural and political expansion of Islam overwhelms the empires of Persia and Byzantium, creating a new empire larger than Rome.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Gardner Films Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Robert Gardner
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Awakening
  • Description: Examines the flowering of Islam into one of the great civilizations in history. Culture and goods flow freely throughout a large empire. Islamic principles and influence are spread further, affecting the intellectual development of the West. Arabic becomes the language of learning, and achievements in art, architecture, science and medicine flourish. The episode also tells the story of the Crusades and describes the recapture of Jerusalem by Saladin the Great. The program ends with the devastating invasion of Islamic lands by the Mongols.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Gardner Films Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Robert Gardner
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/
  • Runtime: 54 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Ottomans
  • Description: Reveals the dramatic transformation of Islam resulting from the Mongol invasion. Nomads enlisted by Muslims to fight the Mongols stake their own claims and become known as Ottomans. The Ottomans transform the Islamic world, creating a new empire that expands westward into Christian territories. Suleyman the Magnificent shapes the Ottomans into a military powerhouse and an empire of extreme wealth and sophistication, which threatens the great power centers of Europe and the empire of the Persian Safavids to the east, before falling victim to enemies from within.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Gardner Films Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Robert Gardner
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Empires: Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire

• Way of the Samurai
  • Description: In the early 16th century, Japan is a warlike society ruled by samurai and their daimyo warlords. When Portuguese merchants arrive in 1543, they are the first Europeans to set foot in Japan. Missionaries quickly set out to convert the nation to Christianity. In the same year, a samurai boy named Tokugawa Ieyasu is born to a low ranking daimyo family.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Lyn Goldfarb Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Morris Barret; Deborah DeSnoo; Lyn Goldfarb; William M. Larkin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/japan/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Will of the Shogun
  • Description: With Ieyasu in control, peace settles over Japan, and a new society based on the samurai ethics of obedience and loyalty is established. In 1600, William Adams becomes the first Englishman to set foot in Japan. Impressed by European trading vessels, Ieyasu asks Adams to help him build his own fleet. Aware that the English have no interest in converting the Japanese to Christianity, Ieyasu decides to expel the Portugese and Spanish who often combine missionary work with trade.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Lyn Goldfarb Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Morris Barret; Deborah DeSnoo; Lyn Goldfarb; William M. Larkin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/japan/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Return of the Barbarians
  • Description: By 1690, Japan is a nation completely isolated from the western world, and a time of cultural flowering and intellectual pursuit ensues. Shogun Tsunayoshi introduces his Laws of Compassion protecting the poor and preventing the abuse of animals. By the 18th century, Edo has become the largest and one of the liveliest cities in the world, attracting samurai, geisha, courtesans, merchants, writers and actors. The classes begin to mix, and culture and commerce flourish.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Lyn Goldfarb Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Morris Barret; Deborah DeSnoo; Lyn Goldfarb; William M. Larkin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/japan/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Empires: Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites

• By the Rivers of Babylon
  • Description: Tells the story of the Israelites and the creation of the world's first monotheistic religion.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Oregon Public Broadcasting; Red Hill Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Carl Byker; Isaac Mizrahi; David Mrazek
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Book and the Sword
  • Description: Tells the story of the Israelites and the creation of the world's first monotheistic religion.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Oregon Public Broadcasting; Red Hill Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Carl Byker; Isaac Mizrahi; David Mrazek
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• End of Days
  • Description: Tells the story of the Israelites and the creation of the world's first monotheistic religion.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Oregon Public Broadcasting; Red Hill Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Carl Byker; Isaac Mizrahi; David Mrazek
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Gift of the Jews
  • Description: Tells the story of the Israelites and the creation of the world's first monotheistic religion.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Oregon Public Broadcasting; Red Hill Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Carl Byker; Isaac Mizrahi; David Mrazek
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Empires: Napoleon

• To Destiny
  • Description: Recounts the story of Napoleon's extraordinary rise from the obscurity of his Corsican childhood to the victories in Italy that made him a hero to the French people and convinced him that he was destined for greatness. The program also tells of his love for Josephine Beauharnais, a woman of extravagant habits and tastes, who did not at first return his passionate affection.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: David Grubin Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Allyson Luchak
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/home.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Mastering Luck
  • Description: Charts Napoleon's ascent to absolute power, from victorious general to first consul to emperor of France. The program describes his achievements -- from the Napoleonic Code and the Bank of France to bridges, roads and canals -- as well as the tyrannical nature of his rule and the violent opposition of most of Europe.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: David Grubin Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Allyson Luchak
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/home.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Summit of Greatness
  • Description: Witnesses Napoleon's conquest of most of Europe in a series of brilliant triumphs, including his legendary victory at the Battle of Austerlitz. To sustain his rule, he must continue to fight, but when he invades Spain, he has begun to reach too far.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: David Grubin Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Allyson Luchak
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/home.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• End
  • Description: Describes Napoleon's downfall, including the invasion and subsequent retreat from Russia, and his final battles in which all of Europe is arrayed against him. Exiled to Elba, he returns to France after just 10 months, only to be defeated for the last time at Waterloo. Napoleon spends his final days exiled on an island far out in the South Atlantic, where he writes his memoirs and reinvents his legend.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: David Grubin Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Allyson Luchak
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/home.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Empires: Roman Empire in the First Century

• Order from Chaos
  • Description: Millions of people -- both famous and uncelebrated -- play parts in the astonishing rise of Rome. Above them all is Caesar Augustus. Born in times of crisis and raised amid civil war, Augustus comes to personify the people he leads. He is contradictory: capable of both brutal violence and tender compassion. He is influential: forging the image of Roman grandeur that endures to this day. And he is enormously popular. But those that cross Augustus -- his rivals Marc Antony and Cleopatra; the love poet, Ovid; even his own daughter, Julia -- face dire consequences. The story of Augustan Rome is the story of greatness at a price.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Goldfarb and Koval Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Bruce Robinson; Kirsty Hunter; Cassian Harrison
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Years of Trial
  • Description: In the year 14 A.D., Caesar Augustus dies and the empire stands at a crossroads. Will Rome continue the course set by its first emperor -- or return to chaos? A reluctant new emperor confronts mutiny and intrigue. At first, Tiberius struggles to emulate his predecessor, but he soon abandons the effort. His ultimate decline from ascetic ruler to reclusive despot ushers in one of the most notorious rulers of the ancient world: Caligula. As fear and conspiracy grip Rome, crisis roils the provinces. In Judea, a charismatic leader named Jesus challenges the religious and political establishment. The local furor barely touches Rome, but the legacy of Jesus will one day engulf the empire.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Goldfarb and Koval Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Bruce Robinson; Kirsty Hunter; Cassian Harrison
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Winds of Change
  • Description: In the aftermath of Caligula's madness, Claudius, the most unlikely member of the imperial family, rises to become one of the greatest emperors of the Roman empire ... only to fall victim to a brutally ambitious wife. A principled philosopher named Seneca finds himself compromised as tutor to the erratic young Emperor Nero. In Britain, a warrior queen named Boudicca battles Roman legions, and from Judea, a revolutionary named Paul begins spreading the words of Jesus across Roman lands. Back in the capital, Nero's disastrous rule shakes the empire to its foundation. Rome nearly burns to the ground. The empire is on the edge of disaster.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Goldfarb and Koval Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Bruce Robinson; Kirsty Hunter; Cassian Harrison
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Years of Eruption
  • Description: With Nero's death, the dynasty of Augustus comes to an end. Once again, the empire faces an uncertain future. Rival generals fight for supremacy in the streets of Rome. A new dynasty brings another tyrant to the throne. Mount Vesuvius erupts, burying Pompeii and thousands of people beneath a torrent of ash and mud; a young citizen survives the disaster and records the night of terror. But the empire weathers the traumas. As the first century draws to a close, the Emperor Trajan expands the empire to its greatest geographic extent and offers new prosperity to a greater number of citizens. He sets the course for generations to come and projects the collective voice of ancient Rome across the ages.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Goldfarb and Koval Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Bruce Robinson; Kirsty Hunter; Cassian Harrison
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Empires: The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance

• Birth of a Dynasty
  • Description: In the towns and cities live merchants and entrepreneurs who sense that their world is changing. With increasing trade and wealth an appetite for enlightenment develops.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Lion Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Horth; Cassian Harrison
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Magnificent Medici
  • Description: In the workshops of Florence, business has never been better. Under Medici patronage, artists like Sandro Botticelli go on to redefine the Renaisssance itself. For now, Botticelli's �Adoration of the Magi� confirms his position at the heart of Medici power.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Lion Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Horth; Cassian Harrison
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Medici Popes
  • Description: January 26, 1504: Michelangelo exposes �David� to the scrutiny of the outside world. It's hailed as a triumph. Michelangelo has created the ultimate symbol of resistance to the overbearing Medici.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Lion Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Horth; Cassian Harrison
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Power vs. Truth
  • Description: Cosimo strikes a deal with Giorgio Vasari, a versatile artist who believes the young Duke has potential. As a boy, Vasari rescued the broken arm of Michelangelo's �David�. Now, with Cosimo's approval, he oversees its repair.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Lion Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Horth; Cassian Harrison
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Freedom: A History of US

• Independence
  • Description: The colonists in America decide to stake everything on an armed struggle for freedom and a chance to build a new kind of nation.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 53 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Revolution
  • Description: After defeating the world's most awesome military power, Americans turn to the task of creating a government that will live up to their high ideals. Concludes with a look at the unknown West through the Lewis and Clark expedition.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 53 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Liberty for All?
  • Description: America was founded as a free land in which people could live out their own destiny but at what cost to Native Americans?
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 53 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Wake Up, America
  • Description: The Industrial Revolution brings Americans new leisure and personal freedom, but also mounting problems to factory workers, including children.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 53 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Fatal Contradiction
  • Description: The Declaration of Independence declares, "All men are created equal," but there is a glaring exception -- America's slaves.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• War to End Slavery
  • Description: The most terrible war in America's history is fought over the future of slavery in our nation. Looks at the issues of slavery, the abolition movement and the Civil War.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• What is Freedom?
  • Description: After the Civil War political turmoil takes place in Washington D.C. and a new age of segregation begins.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Whose Land is This?
  • Description: White settlers and soldiers massacre western Indians, while U.S. immigrants become targets of increasing prejudice.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Working for Freedom
  • Description: As the split widens between the rich and the poor, a new labor movement arises fighting for the rights of workers.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Yearning to Breathe Free
  • Description: The newly unveiled Statue of Liberty symbolizes all that is best in America, inspiring an era of reform and compassion. Looks at the work of Susan B. Anthony and women's suffrage, child labor, John Muir, Ida Tarbell and her exposure of abuses by Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and Jane Addams, the first American social worker.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Safe for Democracy?
  • Description: With help from the Wright brothers, the country begins to soar culminating in the trans-Atlantic flight by Lindbergh. Americans join a fight for freedom in World War I and at home women get the vote.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Depression and War
  • Description: America enters into an economic depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt initiates the New Deal and the United States enters World War II.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Democracy and Struggles
  • Description: America becomes the acknowledged leader of the free world and embarks on a course of rebuilding democracies abroad.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Let Freedom Ring
  • Description: In the 1950s and early '60s a freedom movement emerges with the purpose of ending segregation and racism against African-Americans becoming the most effective social revolution in U.S. history. It also examines the presidency of John F. Kennedy and the rise of the National Farm Workers' Association.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• We Shall Overcome
  • Description: The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963 brutally opened a decade that promised peace but yielded violence. His successor, Vice President Lyndon Johnson, took the oath of office on Air Force before flying to Washington.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Becoming Free
  • Description: Richard Milhouse Nixon served as the thirty-seventh president. His foreign policy accomplishments rank his tenure as one of the most dynamic in presidential history. Inheriting the war in Vietnam from previous administrations, Nixon first sought a military solution, but then turned to diplomacy to end United States' involvement. By approaching Communist China in a historic visit in 1972, Nixon drove a wedge into the powerful Soviet/Chinese block, which began to diplomatically isolate the various Communist dominated countries around the world. This strategy not only ended the war in Vietnam (1973) but also led to the first nuclear arms treaty with the Soviet Union and limited the spread of soviet influence in the Middle East.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Kundhardt Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Brian Brunius
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
  • Runtime: 26 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Frontline

• Killer at Thurston High
  • Description: Frontline takes a measure of the new national dilemma of kids killing other kids in school through a detailed, intimate journey into the life of one high school shooter.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael J. Kirk; Peter J. Boyer; Miri Navasky; Karen O'Connor
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kinkel/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Assault on Gay America
  • Description: In the telling of the life and death of Billy Jack Gaither, explores the roots of homophobia in America and asks how these attitudes, beliefs and fears contribute to the recent rise in violence against gays.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Claudia Pryor Malis
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Merchants of Cool
  • Description: The world of marketers of popular culture to teenagers: They spend their days sifting through reams of research, conduct endless surveys and focus groups. They comb the streets, the schools, and the malls, hot on the trail of the "next big thing" that will snare the attention of a market segment worth an estimated $300 billion a year. They are the merchants of cool: the creators and sellers of popular culture, who have made teens the hottest consumer demographic in America.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Rachel Dretzin; Barak Goodman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Inside the Teenage Brain
  • Description: It's the mystery of mysteries - especially to parents. Now the experts are exploring the recesses of the brain and finding explanations for why adolescents behave the way they do and how the new discoveries can change the way we teach, or perhaps even understand, our teenagers.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Sarah Spinks
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Bigger Than Enron
  • Description: The collapse of Enron caused many to question the watchdog system designed to protect investors. But Enron and Arthur Andersen are the tip of the iceberg. In the late 1990s, Enron was just one of the more than 400 corporations forced to dramatically restate their value because of accounting lapses, failures or fraud. Now, FRONTLINE examines an oversight system gone soft.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Hedrick Smith; Marc Shaffer
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/regulation/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero
  • Description: Illuminates the myriad spiritual questions that have come out of the terror, pain, and destruction of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, and explores how the spiritual lives of both believers and non-believers have been challenged in the aftermath of September 11 by questions of good and evil, God's culpability, and the potential for darkness within religion itself.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Helen Whitney; Ron Rosenbaum
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/faith/
  • Runtime: 117 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• China in the Red
  • Description: Films over 3 year, tells the stories of 10 Chinese individuals-- factory workers, rural villagers, and a millionaire entrepreneur, caught up in China's dramatic, ongoing effort to modernize its economy. The economic reforms that have brought China economic prosperity now threaten the livelihood of many Chinese workers. The Chinese Communist Party can no longer afford to subsidize the factories, and millions of workers are being laid off, with no social safety net to catch them.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Sue Williams; Kathryn Dietz
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/red/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Long Road to War
  • Description: Drawing on Frontline reports over the past 12 years, focuses on key moments in U.S.-Iraqi relations, including policy toward Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the origins of the 1991 Gulf War and its ragged end, the frustrated attempt to disarm Iraq in the 1990s, and the long-standing effort by Washington foreign-policy hawks to remove Saddam Hussein. Examines what has been learned during this period about the mind and methods of Saddam.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Kirk; Louis Wiley Jr.
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/longroad/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Tax Me If You Can
  • Description: The tax shelter was one of corporate America's biggest hidden profit centers in recent years, costing the U.S. Treasury as much as $50 billion a year. Ordinary taxpayers wind up footing the bill. Correspondent Hedrick Smith provides an inside look at how big corporations and wealthy individuals cut their taxes with intricate, hidden, and abusive tax shelters and investigates the role of blue chip accounting firms in these secret deals.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Hedrick Smith; Rick Young
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tax/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Invasion of Iraq
  • Description: A year after the fact, a followup report on the U.S.-led coalition's March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Richard Sanders; Jeff Goldberg; Eammon Matthews
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/invasion/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Ghosts of Rwanda
  • Description: Through interviews with key government officials, diplomats, soldiers, and survivors, this documentary examines the state-sponsored genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Explores the reasons why the international community and the United States did not intervene as Hutu extremists killed some 800,000 Tutsis.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Greg Barker
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Diet Wars
  • Description: Looks at the array of weight loss programs from Atkins to Weight Watchers and shows the contradictory principles in each.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Jon Palfreman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/diet/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Jesus Factor
  • Description: Examines the rudiments of President George W. Bush's faith as an evangelical Christian, the extent to which his spiritual beliefs impact or influence his political decision-making, and how closely his religious views mirror those of the country's burgeoning and politically influential evangelical movement.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Raney Aronson
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Rumsfeld's War
  • Description: With the U.S, Army deployed in a dozen hotspots around the world, on constant alert in Afghanistan, and taking casualties every day in Iraq, some current and former officers now say the army is on the verge of being "broken." Digs into the aggressive attempts to assert civilian control and remake the military by the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his allies.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Kirk
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pentagon/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Persuaders
  • Description: Examines the "persuasion industries" of advertising and public relations. Shows how marketers have developed new ways of integrating their message into the fabric of our lives. Explores how the culture of marketing has come to shape the way Americans understand the world and themselves and how the techniques of the persuasion industries have migrated to politics
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Barak Goodman; Rachel Dretzin
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/
  • Runtime: 85 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Is Wal-Mart Good for America?
  • Description: Examines Wal-Mart's importation of Chinese goods into the U.S. Discusses that while some economists credit Wal-Mart's focus on low costs with helping contain U.S. inflation, others charge that the company is the main force driving the massive overseas shift to China in the production of American consumer goods, resulting in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs and a lower standard of living in the U.S.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Rick Young; Hedrick Smith
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Company of Soldiers
  • Description: Reports from inside the U.S. Army's 8th Cavalry Regiment stationed in Baghdad for an up-close, intimate look at the dangers facing an American military unit in Iraq. Tracks the day-to-day challenges facing the 8th Cavalry's Dog Company as it suddenly has to cope with a dramatic increase in attacks by the insurgents.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Tom Roberts
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/company/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Karl Rove - The Architect
  • Description: Traces the political history and career of Karl Rove--a man who has been on the inside of every political and policy decision of George W. Bush's administration, including the battles on Social Security, taxes, and tort reform.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Kirk
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/architect/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• New Asylums
  • Description: Nearly 500,000 mentally ill men and women are serving time in U.S. jails and prisons. As sheriffs and prison wardens become the unexpected and often ill-equipped caretakers of this burgeoning population, they raise a troubling new concern: Have America's jails and prisons become its new asylums?
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Miri Navasky; Karen O'Connor
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Jew Among the Germans
  • Description: Marian Marzynski, Polish Holocaust survivor, sets out on a personal quest to find out how Germans are going to design a memorial to the murder of six million Jews, to be unveiled on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Over three years he meets artists, architects and planners who struggle with questions of guilt, responsibility and memory. He struggles with his own relationship to the German people and meets a young "third generation" of Germans who declare their distance from their parents and grandparents.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Marian Marzynski
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/germans/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? (part 1)
  • Description: Originally produced in 1993 to mark the 30th anniversary of the event, this investigative biography examines the Kennedy assassination by exploring the enigma that was Lee Harvey Oswald. Was Oswald the emotionally disturbed lone gunman of the 1964 Warren Commission Report? Was he, as the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979, only one of two gunmen that day in Dallas? Or was he an unwitting scapegoat for the real assassins, as Oswald himself claimed when he was arrested?
  • Year: 1992
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: William Cran; Ben Loeterman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/oswald/
  • Runtime: 66 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? (part 2)
  • Description: Second part of a 1993 investigative biography that examines the Kennedy assassination.Was Oswald, as the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979, only one of two gunmen that day in Dallas? Or was he an unwitting scapegoat for the real assassins, as Oswald himself claimed when he was arrested?
  • Year: 1992
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: William Cran; Ben Loeterman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/oswald/
  • Runtime: 48 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald? (part 3)
  • Description: Third part of a 1993 investigative biography of the Kennedy assassination. Was Oswald the emotionally disturbed lone gunman of the 1964 Warren Commission Report? Or was he an unwitting scapegoat for the real assassins, as Oswald himself claimed when he was arrested?
  • Year: 1992
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: William Cran; Ben Loeterman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/oswald/
  • Runtime: 58 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• From Jesus to Christ (part 1)
  • Description: Traces the life of Jesus, exploring the message that helped his ministry grow and the events that led to his crucifixion. Born in the reign of Emperor Augustus in the Pax Romana--the Roman Peace--Jesus was a subject of the Roman Empire. This first hour looks at how scholars and archaeologists have pieced together a new portrait of where Jesus was born, how he lived, and who he was.
  • Year: 1998
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: William Cran; Marilyn Mellowes
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• From Jesus to Christ (part 2)
  • Description: Turns to the period that followed his death, examining the rise of Christianity and concluding with the First Revolt--the bloody and violent siege of Jerusalem and the beginning of a rift between Christianity and Judaism. Frontline explores new evidence suggesting that Jesus' followers, because of their diversity and the differences in their cultures and language, looked at and interpreted Jesus and his teachings in many different ways.
  • Year: 1998
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: William Cran; Marilyn Mellowes
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• From Jesus to Christ (part 3)
  • Description: Examines the period after the First Revolt, tracing the development and impact of the Gospels, looking at the increasingly hostile relationship between the Christians and the Jews. The hour concludes with another bloody Jewish war against Rome, the Second Revolt.
  • Year: 1998
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: William Cran; Marilyn Mellowes
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• From Jesus to Christ (part 4)
  • Description: This final hour documents the extraordinary events of the second and third centuries in which Christianity grew from a small Jewish sect to an official religion of the Roman Empire.
  • Year: 1998
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: William Cran; Marilyn Mellowes
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Class Divided
  • Description: Documents a reunion of Iowa teacher Jane Elliott and her third-grade class of 1970, subjects that year of an ABC News television documentary entitled: The Eye of the Storm. Shows how her experimental curriculum on the evils of discrimination had a lasting effect on the lives of the students.
  • Year: 1985
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: William Peters
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

I'll Make Me A World

• Lift Every Voice
  • Description: This program looks at the trials and triumphs of the first generation of African-Artists born to freedom.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Sheila Curran Bernard; Sam Pollard
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Without Fear or Shame
  • Description: This program discusses the lives of African-American leaders W.E.B. DuBois, A. Philip Randolph, and Marcus Garvey; the Harlem Renaissance and its major figures, such as Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and women blues singers; and examines the conflicts which arose over what art should express when community leaders seek to use it in the struggle for racial justice.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Betty Ciccarelli; Sam Pollard
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Bright Like a Sun
  • Description: Discusses the creative visions of African-American artists such as singer, actor, and activist Paul Robeson, who uses his fame and artistry to fight for social justice; sculptor Augusta Savage, who builds an art school in Harlem to nurture African-American talent, jazz musicians Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, playing the bebop that will become a recognized musical genre.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Sheila Curran Bernard; Denise A. Greene
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Dream Keepers
  • Description: Looks at African-American artists after World War II, and the impact of African-American "firsts" in the arts and other areas of society on the nation as a whole. Focuses on playwright Lorraine Hansberry, ballerinas Delores Browne and Raven Wilkinson, and author James Baldwin.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Sheila Curran Bernard; Denise A. Greene
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Not a Rhyme Time
  • Description: From the 1960s through the 1980s, African-American artists make inroads both in civil rights and in the performing arts. Focuses on artist Romare Bearden, poet Gwendolyn Brooks and the Black Arts Movement, and author Alice Walker.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Sheila Curran Bernard; Denise A. Greene
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Freedom You Will Take
  • Description: Looks at the contemporary cultural landscape, which has been transformed by the power of African-American film, performance, dance, rap music, and the spoken word art forms. Focuses on Spike Lee and his influence on American independent cinema; choreographer Bill T. Jones and how his work challenges stereotypical views of race, sexuality, and fear; and how hip-hop expresses the hopes and challenges of young African-Americans.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Sheila Curran Bernard; Denise A. Greene
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

In Remembrance of Martin

• In Remembrance of Martin
  • Description: Personal comments from family members, close friends, former classmates and advisors are chronicled in this remarkable documentary honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. To memorialize the life and work of Dr. King, Coretta Scott King is joined by distinguished public figures including the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Julian Bond, Jimmy Carter, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Senator Edward Kennedy, John Lewis, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Andrew Young. Together they remember highlights in Dr. King's career and trace his leadership in the civil rights movement. This program includes portions of King's "I Have a Dream" address.
  • Year: 1986
  • Production Company: Idanha Fims
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Kell Kearns; Lori Kearns; Dave Marquis
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 58 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

In Search of Shakespeare

• Time of Revolution
  • Description: The first episode sets Shakespeare's life in the early years of Elizabeth's reign, at the beginning of Elizabeth's Cultural Revolution, with the seesaw politics of England in the twenty years since Henry VIII's split with Rome. The age is marked by the battle of conscience and power, which will lead to religious and class struggle, and eventually to Civil War. Through local documents - and with the help of the modern-day town councilors - we follow William's father's career in a small town, rising to become Alderman and Mayor. Contrary to the myth, Shakespeare came from an upwardly mobile family. Dad makes money, not only as a glover, but by money lending and illegally dealing in wool, as we learn from recently discovered court cases. His eldest son William is one of the privileged few, brought up in a nice house, with money, servants, and a good education. We follow his school days in the old schoolroom where he was taught; we see a Tudor school play performed by the boys today. We also see the medieval mystery plays that were seen by William until they were banned as "childish superstition" when he was 15.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Maya Vision International
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Wood
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Lost Years
  • Description: Shakespeare's "missing years" have mystified scholars for centuries. In episode two Michael Wood explores conflicting theories of how Shakespeare spent the ten years between his marriage to Anne Hathaway and his emergence as a star writer in London.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Maya Vision International
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Wood
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Duty of Poets
  • Description: In episode three of his historical detective story Michael Wood uncovers Shakespeare's rise to fame and fortune in Elizabethan London, and the disasters in life and love which marked his path to greatness. 1590s England was still split by religious conflict.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Maya Vision International
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Wood
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• For All Time
  • Description: In the final episode of his historical detective story, Michael Wood uncovers the story of Shakespeare's life in the "New Age" of King James I. We discover Shakespeare's neighborhood in London where he lived with a French Huguenot family - and played a fascinating part in the marriage of their daughter. Wood visits the present Queen's robe makers - Ede and Ravenscroft - and finds evidence for Shakespeare's role in the royal coronation.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Maya Vision International
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Michael Wood
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Jazz

• Gumbo
  • Description: JAZZ begins in New Orleans, nineteenth century America's most cosmopolitan city, where the sound of marching bands, Italian opera, Caribbean rhythms, and minstrel shows fills the streets with a richly diverse musical culture. Here, in the 1890s, African-American musicians create a new music out of these ingredients by mixing in ragtime syncopations and the soulful feeling of the blues. Soon after the start of the new century, people are calling it jazz. In this episode we meet the pioneers of this revolutionary art form: the half-mad cornetist Buddy Bolden, who may have been the first man to play jazz; pianist Jelly Roll Morton, who claimed to have invented jazz but really was the first to write the new music down; Sidney Bechet, a clarinet prodigy whose fiery sound matched his explosive personality; and Freddie Keppard, a trumpet virtuoso who turned down a chance to win national fame for fear that others would steal the secrets of his art.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Jazz Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Geoffrey C. Ward; Ken Burns; Lynn Novick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Gift
  • Description: Speakeasies, flappers, and easy money -- it's the Jazz Age, when the story of jazz becomes a tale of two great cities, Chicago and New York, and of two extraordinary artists whose lives and music will span almost three-quarters of a century -- Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. As the Roaring Twenties accelerate, Paul Whiteman, a white bandleader, sells millions of records playing a sweet, symphonic jazz, while Fletcher Henderson, a black bandleader, packs the dance floor at the whites-only Roseland Ballroom with his innovative big band arrangements. Then, in 1924, the year Whiteman introduces George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," Henderson brings Louis Armstrong to New York, adding his improvisational brilliance to the band's new sound -- and soon Armstrong is showing the whole world how to swing.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Jazz Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Geoffrey C. Ward; Ken Burns; Lynn Novick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
  • Runtime: 110 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Our Language
  • Description: As the stock market continues to soar, jazz is everywhere in America, and now, for the first time, soloists and singers take center stage, transforming the music with their distinctive voices and the unique stories they have to tell. In this episode, we meet Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, whose songs ease the pains of life for millions of black Americans and help black entrepreneurs create a new recording industry around the blues; Bix Beiderbecke, the first great white jazz star, who is inspired by Louis Armstrong to dedicate his life to the music and in turn inspires others with solos of unparalleled lyric grace, only to destroy himself with alcohol at age 28; and two brilliant sons of Jewish immigrants, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, for whom jazz offers an escape from the ghetto and a chance to achieve their dreams. In New York, we follow Duke Ellington uptown to Harlem's most celebrated nightspot, the gangster-owned, whites-only Cotton Club, where he continues blending the individual voices of his band members to create harmonies no one has imagined before, then gets the break of a lifetime when radio carries his music into homes across the country, bringing him national fame. And in Chicago, where he has returned to find himself billed as "The World's Greatest Trumpet Player," we listen as Louis Armstrong combines the soloist's and vocalist's arts to create scat singing, then watch as he charts the future of jazz in a series of small group recordings that culminates in his masterpiece, "West End Blues." Called "the most perfect three minutes of music" ever created, Armstrong's astonishing performance lifts jazz to the level of high art, where his genius stands alone.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Jazz Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Geoffrey C. Ward; Ken Burns; Lynn Novick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
  • Runtime: 113 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• True Welcome
  • Description: In 1929, America enters a decade of economic desperation, as the Stock Market collapses and the Great Depression begins. Factories fall silent, farms fall into decay, and a quarter of the nation's workforce is jobless. In these dark times, jazz is called upon to lift the spirits of a frightened country, and finds itself poised for a decade of explosive growth. New York is now America's jazz capital. On Broadway, Louis Armstrong revolutionizes the art of American popular song and displays a flair for showmanship that makes him one of the nation's top entertainers. In Harlem, Chick Webb pioneers his own big band sound at the Savoy Ballroom, where black and white dancers shake the floor with a new dance called the Lindy Hop. And in the city's clubs, pianists Fats Waller and Art Tatum dazzle audiences with their stunning virtuosity. But it is Duke Ellington who takes jazz "beyond category," composing hit tunes with a new sophistication that has critics comparing him to Stravinsky. Now the nation's best-known black bandleader, Ellington tours in his own private railcar, transcending stereotypes with an elegant personal style that disarms prejudice and inspires racial pride. Meanwhile, Benny Goodman is making a name for himself, broadcasting big band jazz nationwide, based on Fletcher Henderson's arrangements. In 1935, Goodman takes his band on tour, but in most towns people ask for the old, familiar tunes. Then, finally, at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, the dancers go wild when they hear Goodman's big band beat. By the end of the night, the Swing Era has begun.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Jazz Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Geoffrey C. Ward; Ken Burns; Lynn Novick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
  • Runtime: 122 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Swing: Pure Pleasure
  • Description: As the Great Depression drags on, jazz comes as close as it has ever come to being America's popular music, providing entertainment and escape for a people down on their luck. It has a new name now -- Swing -- and for millions of young fans, it will be the defining music of their generation. Suddenly, jazz bandleaders are the new matinee idols, with Benny Goodman hailed as the "King of Swing," while teenagers jitterbug just as hard to the music of his rivals -- Tommy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Glen Miller, and the mercurial Artie Shaw. But the spirit of Swing isn't limited to the dance floor. In New York, Billie Holiday emerges from a tragic childhood to begin her career as the greatest of all female jazz singers. And in Chicago, Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson prove that, despite segregation, there is room in jazz for great black and white musicians to swing side-by-side on stage. At Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, however, there is room for only one King of Swing, and on May 11, 1937, Benny Goodman travels uptown for a showdown with Chick Webb. It's billed as "The Music Battle of the Century," and more than 4,000 dancers, black and white, crowd the floor to urge both champions on. But when it's over, there's no doubt who wears the crown.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Jazz Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Geoffrey C. Ward; Ken Burns; Lynn Novick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Swing: Velocity of Celebration
  • Description: As the 1930's come to a close, Swing-mania is still going strong, but some fans are saying success has made the music too predictable. Their ears are tuned to a new sound -- pulsing, stomping, suffused with the blues. It's the Kansas City sound of Count Basie's band and it quickly reignites the spirit of Swing. By 1938, Basie and his men are helping Benny Goodman brings jazz to Carnegie Hall. After the show, they travel uptown to battle Chick Webb to a draw at the Savoy Ballroom. And that summer, they turn 52nd Street into "Swing Street," performing nightly at the Famous Door. Soon Basie's lead saxophonist, Lester Young, is challenging Coleman Hawkins for supremacy, matching the old sax-master's muscular sound with a laid-back style of his own. Young teams with Billie Holiday for a series of recordings that reveals them as musical soulmates, and tours with her in Basie's band until she leaves to join Artie Shaw. But America isn't ready for a black woman who swings with white musicians, and Holiday is soon back in New York, pouring her outrage into the anti-lynching ballad, "Strange Fruit." By the decade's end, Chick Webb has taken a chance on a teenage singer named Ella Fitzgerald and achieved the fame he dreamed of. Duke Ellington has been hailed as a hero in Europe, amid anxious preparations for war. And weeks after that war begins, Coleman Hawkins startles the world with a glimpse of what jazz will become, improvising a new music on the old standard, "Body and Soul."
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Jazz Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Geoffrey C. Ward; Ken Burns; Lynn Novick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
  • Runtime: 104 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Dedicated to Chaos
  • Description: When America enters World War II, jazz is part of the arsenal. In Europe, where musicians like the Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt continue to play despite a Nazi ban, jazz is a beacon of hope. In America, it becomes the embodiment of democracy, as bandleaders like Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw enlist, taking their swing to the troops overseas. For many black Americans, however, that sound has a hollow ring. Segregated at home and in uniform, they find themselves fighting for liberties their own country denies them, as authorities padlock the Savoy Ballroom to keep servicemen off its integrated dance floor, and military police patrol Swing Street, breaking up fistfights sparked by prejudice and pride. Despite such injustices, jazz answers the call during the war years. Duke Ellington sells war bonds and premieres his most ambitious work ever, the tone portrait "Black, Brown and Beige," as a benefit for war relief. His band at a peak, Ellington is helped now by the gifted young composer Billy Strayhorn and continues manipulating his players' talents, turning his orchestra into an instrument with which he creates music of astonishing perfection. Yet underground and after hours, jazz is changing. In a Harlem club called Minton's Playhouse, a small band of young musicians, led by the trumpet virtuoso Dizzy Gillespie and the brilliant saxophonist Charlie Parker, has discovered a new way of playing -- fast, intricate, exhilarating, and sometimes chaotic. A wartime recording ban keeps their music off the airwaves, but soon after the atom bomb forces Japan's surrender, Parker and Gillespie enter the studio to create an explosion of their own. The tune is called "Ko-Ko," the sound will soon be called "bebop," and once Americans hear it, jazz will never be the same.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Jazz Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Geoffrey C. Ward; Ken Burns; Lynn Novick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
  • Runtime: 118 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Risk
  • Description: The postwar years bring America to a level of prosperity unimaginable a decade before, but the Cold War threat of nuclear annihilation makes these anxious years as well. In jazz, this underlying tension will be reflected in the broken rhythms and dissonant melodies of bebop, and in the troubled life of bebop's biggest star, Charlie Parker. Nicknamed "Bird," Parker is a soloist whose ideas and technique are as overwhelming for musicians of his generation as Louis Armstrong's had been a quarter-century before. He is idolized -- his improvisations copied, his risk-all intensity on stage imitated, and his self-destructive lifestyle adopted as a prerequisite for inspiration. Parker's example helps bring a narcotics plague to the jazz community, and when he dies, wasted by heroin at age 34, drugs are as much a part of his legacy to jazz as the genius of his music. But Parker is not the only bebop innovator. His longtime partner, Dizzy Gillespie, tries to popularize the new sound by adding showmanship and Latin rhythms, while pianist Thelonius Monk infuses it with his eccentric personality to create a music all his own. Except for jazz initiates, however, few people are listening. Teens now swoon for pop singers and dance to rhythm and blues. Searching for a new audience, California musicians create a mellow sound called cool jazz, and Dave Brubeck mixes jazz with classical music to produce a million-seller LP. But one man remains determined to give jazz popular appeal on his own terms, the trumpet player Miles Davis. A one-time Parker sideman who has finally broken heroin's grip on his career, Davis is moving beyond the cool sound he inspired and stands poised to lead jazz in a new direction.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Jazz Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Geoffrey C. Ward; Ken Burns; Lynn Novick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
  • Runtime: 125 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Adventure
  • Description: In the late 1950s, America's postwar prosperity continues, but beneath the surface run currents of change. Families are moving to the suburbs, watching television has become the national pastime, and baby boomers have begun coming of age. For jazz, it is also a period of transition when old stars like Billie Holiday and Lester Young will burn out while young talents arise to take the music in new directions. Jazz still has its two guiding lights. In 1956, the first year Elvis tops the charts, Duke Ellington recaptures the nation's ear with a performance at the Newport Jazz Festival that becomes his best-selling record ever. The next year, Louis Armstrong makes headlines when he condemns the government's failure to stand up to racism in Little Rock, Arkansas, risking his career while musicians who dismissed him as an Uncle Tom remain silent. Meanwhile, new virtuosos are emerging: saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins; jazz diva Sarah Vaughan; and the drummer Art Blakey, whose Jazz Messengers will become a proving ground for young musicians over the next 40 years. But the leading light of the era is Miles Davis -- a catalyst constantly forming new groups to showcase different facets of his stark, introspective sound; a popularizer whose lush recordings with arranger Gil Evans expand the jazz audience; and a cultural icon whose tough-guy charisma comes to define what's hip. As the turbulent Sixties arrive, however, two saxophonists take jazz into uncharted terrain. John Coltrane explodes the pop tune "My Favorite Things" into a kaleidoscope of freewheeling sound, while Ornette Coleman challenges all conventions with a sound he calls "free jazz." Once again, the music seems headed for new adventures, but now, for the first time, even musicians are starting to ask, Is it still jazz?
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Jazz Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Geoffrey C. Ward; Ken Burns; Lynn Novick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
  • Runtime: 114 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Masterpiece by Midnight
  • Description: During the Sixties, jazz is in trouble. Critics divide the music into "schools" -- Dixieland, swing, bebop, hard bop, modal, free, progressive, avant-garde. But most young people are listening to rock 'n' roll. Though Louis Armstrong briefly outsells the Beatles with "Hello Dolly," most jazz musicians are desperate for work and many head for Europe, including bebop saxophone master, Dexter Gordon. At home, jazz is searching for relevance. During the Civil Rights struggle, it becomes a voice of protest. Before his early death, the avant-garde explorer John Coltrane links jazz to the Sixties quest for a higher consciousness with his devotional suite "A Love Supreme." And Miles Davis, after conquering the avant-garde with a landmark quintet, combines jazz with rock by using electric instruments to launch a wildly popular sound called Fusion. In the 1970s, jazz loses the exuberant genius of Louis Armstrong and the transcendent artistry of Duke Ellington, and for many their passing seems to mark the end of the music itself. But in 1976, when Dexter Gordon returns from Europe for a triumphant comeback, jazz has a homecoming, too. Over the next two decades, a new generation of musicians emerges, led by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis -- schooled in the music's traditions, skilled in the arts of improvisation, and aflame with ideas only jazz can express. The musical journey that began in the dance halls and street parades of New Orleans at the start of the twentieth century continues. As it enters its second century, jazz is still brand new every night, still vibrant, still evolving, and still swinging.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Jazz Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Geoffrey C. Ward; Ken Burns; Lynn Novick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
  • Runtime: 110 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Liberty! The American Revolution

• Reluctant Revolutionaries
  • Description: In 1763, American colonists are happily British. They live in a hierarchical world of gentlemen and commoners and are proud to be subjects of King George III. With the end of the French and Indian War, America has become a land of opportunity, and the future founding fathers all powerful, ambitious men--are poised to take advantage of it. In the midst of this tranquility, the British impose a seemingly routine tax--the Stamp Act. It creates a firestorm throughout the colonies as Americans see their liberties and their power threatened. Benjamin Franklin finds himself in the center of controversy as relations between England and America begin to unravel.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Twin Cities Public Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Timothy Brady; Erika Stenrick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Blows Must Decide
  • Description: By the fall of 1774, British troops occupy Boston. Thirteen colonies, which until now have had little in common with one another, take faltering steps to unite in reaction to this aggression. But even after shots are fired at Lexington, there is great disagreement about what to do next. A best-selling pamphlet, Thomas Paine's COMMON SENSE, helps turn the tide toward independence, stating that it is the right of men to govern themselves. On July 2, 1776, independence is declared. Two days later, Congress ratifies the Declaration of Independence. A fight for independence is being transformed into a political revolution.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Twin Cities Public Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Timothy Brady; Erika Stenrick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Times that Try Men's Souls
  • Description: Days after the Declaration of Independence is signed, an immense British force drops anchor in New York harbor, pitting the largest professional army in the world against George Washington's army of untrained volunteers. After an early string of defeats, he realizes that to keep the Revolution alive, he must avoid fighting at all costs and keep his army on the run. On the day after Christmas, 1776, with just days of enlistment left for many recruits, a desperate Washington leads his Continentals quietly across the half-frozen Delaware River, surprising a garrison of Hessian soldiers at Trenton, Washington becomes a hero and the American Revolution goes on.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Twin Cities Public Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Timothy Brady; Erika Stenrick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Oh Fatal Ambition
  • Description: All of Europe is intensely interested in the outcome of the American Revolution. But no country is watching events more closely than France, long Britain's rival in Europe and the New World. Congress, hoping to take advantage of this rivalry, dispatches Benjamin Franklin to Versailles in late 1776 to request financial and military support. Though Franklin charms the French, Louis XVI is reluctant to back the young republic without proof it can win. British General John Burgoyne takes his army down the Hudson River in an ill-fated campaign to cut off New England from the rest of the colonies. His defeat at Saratoga is the incentive France needs to supply arms and men to the revolution in America.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Twin Cities Public Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Timothy Brady; Erika Stenrick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• World Turned Upside Down
  • Description: How do Americans, fighting in the name of liberty, justify the institution of slavery? The British army hopes to exploit the contradictions posed by slavery in the south, an area they assume is mostly loyal to the crown. This episode details this British miscalculation, shows how their attempt to win the "hearts and minds" of the south ultimately fails, and describes the entrance of France into the Revolution. The miraculous convergence of Washington's army and the French fleet at Yorktown traps a weary British army lead by Lord Cornwallis. Two years later, The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending eight long years of fighting. The Revolutionary War is over.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Twin Cities Public Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Timothy Brady; Erika Stenrick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Are We to Be a Nation?
  • Description: Monarchy is a thing of the past for the new nation. Yet peace brings with it a new set of challenges: the country is bankrupt and the states find themselves squabbling over many issues. There is no national army, no common currency and no strong government capable of dealing with these problems. A Constitutional convention held in 1776, convened to revise the Articles under which the country is run, instead creates a blueprint for an entirely new system of government. In the end, the Constitution is ratified, and it includes a Bill of Rights. The revolutionary idea that power should flow upward from the people instead of downward from a king, heralds the birth of modern politics.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Twin Cities Public Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Timothy Brady; Erika Stenrick
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Matters of Race

• Divide
  • Description: Ten years ago, Siler City, North Carolina, was a black and white town of segregated communities with a shared geography and an unsettled history. This quiet, rural southern town is a "laboratory" for the national transformation that is fundamentally altering America's sense of itself. The program addresses the following questions: how does rapid change in racial demographics affect small-town America? What happens when white people and white culture no longer dominate? What visions of the future do residents have? Does the future more closely resemble the country's racialized and segregated past? Is America going back to the future? Or is the nation seeing the declining significance of race? Utilizing the writing of Eric Liu (The Accidental Asian::Notes of a Native Speaker) and Ruben Martinez (Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail) and directed by John Valadez, this episode explores power and identity in small-town America.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Roja Productions; National Minority Consortia
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Orlando Bagwell
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/mattersofrace/index.shtml
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Race is/Race Ain't
  • Description: Episode two looks at race in America and the meaning of the black/white paradigm in multiracial America today. The hour, co-directed by Lulie Haddad and Orlando Bagwell, weaves the personal memoirs of writers John Edgar Wideman ("Fatheralong: A Meditation on Fathers and Sons, Race, and Society") and Jane Lazarre ("Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness: A Memoir of a White Mother of Black Sons") with the story of the King-Drew County Medical Center in South Central, Los Angeles. It examines the polarities of race and asks the provocative question, is race real? Where does truth end and collective fantasy begin? Where do private lives intersect with public concerns? And how deeply is race embedded in American history and in daily life? By chronicling the daily activities of the diverse hospital staff, the program explores how race can become a divisive factor that can incite feelings of suspicion and accusations of discrimination even in an environment where diversity is recognized as a necessary and desired reality.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Roja Productions; National Minority Consortia
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Orlando Bagwell
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/mattersofrace/index.shtml
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• We're Still Here
  • Description: The third program is a contemporary look at two communities often overlooked in the race dialogue: American Indians and Native Hawaiians. On the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the program features the voices of three generations of Lakota families as they consider their past, their future and the process of merging multiple world views, ways of life, and ideas of America. Through the stories of these families the film considers the historical construction of Indian "otherness" and its influence on the ways a new generation of Lakota people will address issues of unemployment, alcohol, domestic abuse, and apathy ravaging their community. Meanwhile, across the Pacific Ocean, beginning in the late 1990s, lawsuit after lawsuit challenged the rights of Native Hawaiians to run schools and housing programs that provided only for their beleaguered community. Having been accused of reverse-racism, how do they see themselves in relation to the rest of the nation? And what are their connections to other Native communities? These are the questions explored in this film, which is directed by Sindi Gordon.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Roja Productions; National Minority Consortia
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Orlando Bagwell
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/mattersofrace/index.shtml
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Tomorrow's America
  • Description: The final episode explores youth culture and the values of the next generation by putting the camera into the hands of three young producers. Through their short documentaries, these producers explore the way race is imagined and understood by the next generation, a generation influenced by cultural cross-pollination and the information superhighway.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Roja Productions; National Minority Consortia
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Orlando Bagwell
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/mattersofrace/index.shtml
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

New York

• City and Country
  • Description: Follows the story of New York from the discovery of its vast protected harbor by Henry Hudson in 1609 through George Washington's triumphant return to the city at the end of the American Revolution in 1783. The first settlers, sent by the Dutch West India Company, founded "New Amsterdam" not to guarantee themselves religious freedom -- but to make money harvesting animal furs. This entrepreneurial spirit will set New York apart throughout its history. Post-Revolution New York is in ruins, but thanks to the efforts of leaders such as Alexander Hamilton and DeWitt Clinton, within 50 years it is the fastest growing city in the world and one of its most important. Hamilton is instrumental in founding the New York Stock Exchange and convincing the new federal government to assume the city's war debt. Clinton contributions include the 1811 Commission Plan and the Erie Canal project.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Steeplechase Films; WGBH; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns; Lisa Ades
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/
  • Runtime: 114 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Order and Disorder
  • Description: The completion of the Erie Canal creates an explosion of economic opportunities for New York. During this period, immigration also increases exponentially -- due to the promise of a better future in the new World and worsening conditions and persecution around the world. The Irish come in droves, cast out of their native land by the Great Famine. The Tammany Hall political machine rises to power as a method, however corrupt, of helping those left out of the "American Dream." As the building of Central Park commences, twenty years of unprecedented economic growth end with the Panic of 1857. Abraham Lincoln vaults to the presidency based on appearances he made in New York, and soon the country dissolves into Civil War. One of the ugliest incidents in city history occurs as a mostly-Irish mob riots for days at the injustice of the 1863 Conscription Act. Post-Riot New York struggles to implement more and better social services. William M "Boss" Tweed becomes the chief of Tammany Hall.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Steeplechase Films; WGBH; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns; Lisa Ades
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/
  • Runtime: 115 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Sunshine and Shadow
  • Description: Outside the newly-finished Central Park, New York is becoming increasingly divided into the haves (the Robber Barons) and the have nots (tenement-dwellers). John Augustus Roebling and his son, Washington, begin work on the Brooklyn Bridge. "Boss" Tweed becomes the most powerful man in New York, then falls hard and dies in jail. The financial crisis of 1873 sets the stage for economic re-birth masterminded by J.P. Morgan. After fourteen years of construction, the Brooklyn Bridge is completed. A young Al Smith grows up under the Manhattan span of the bridge. Jacob Riis draws needed attention to the plight of the poor in New York in his landmark book How the Other Half Lives. New York's transformation into a great metropolis is completed with the 1898 annexation of Brooklyn, parts of Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. At the dawn of the 20th century, more immigrants from new homelands arrive in New York.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Steeplechase Films; WGBH; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns; Lisa Ades
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/
  • Runtime: 113 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Power and People
  • Description: At the dawn of the 20th century, New York's population triples in a generation -- thanks largely to immigration. The flood of new residents makes the city feel alien to other Americans. At the same time, Manhattan is running out of space, and building starts heading skyward. Factory workers, many of them young immigrant women, organize and start to fight for better working conditions. As many work under bleak and dangerous conditions, the Reform movement fights an uphill battle for humane labor and housing laws. Their work becomes easier after the unnecessary and tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire. Al Smith moves from the New York State legislature into the Governor's Mansion.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Steeplechase Films; WGBH; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns; Lisa Ades
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Cosmopolis
  • Description: The 1920s comes to be known as a decade of excess as New York goes on the gaudiest spree in history. F. Scott Fitzgerald becomes the spokesman for the era. Modern American culture is born, as the radio becomes available and Jazz music is played in Harlem. Many are attracted to the glittery, fast-paced life in New York. Others are appalled. Al Smith fights a losing battle in the 1928 presidential election. He is shocked at his reception in the American countryside, where people distrust him simply because he comes from that "alien" place, New York City. Meanwhile, the decade ends with the massive Crash of '29. New York goes on a skyscraper building spree that ends with the dedication of the Empire State Building. As the 30s begin, the city will never be the same.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Steeplechase Films; WGBH; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns; Lisa Ades
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• City of Tomorrow
  • Description: This program examines the immense new forces unleashed in New York, from the Depression to the New Deal, which permanently alter the city. Along the way, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and master builder Robert Moses attempt to create a bold new city of the future.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Steeplechase Films; WGBH; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns; Lisa Ades
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• City and the World
  • Description: 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.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Steeplechase Films; WGBH; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ric Burns; Lisa Ades
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/
  • Runtime: 140 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

NOVA

• Life's Greatest Miracle
  • Description: The development of a child from conception to birth, using both microimagery and the story of a young couple preparing for their first child.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Julia Cort
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/miracle/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Odyssey

• Seeking the First Americans
  • Description: Archaeologists from Texas to Alaska search for clues to the identity of the first people to tread the North American continent - the early hunters who between 11,000 and 50,000 years ago crossed the Bering Strait in pursuit of game.
  • Year: 1980
  • Production Company: Public Broadcasting Associates Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 58 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Chaco Legacy
  • Description: Examines archaeological theories about the rise and fall of Chacoan culture, which had a high level of technical development and flourished over 900 years ago in the area of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Shows their extensive water control system, the large network of roads they constructed and several mammoth structures they built. Includes a history of the different excavation projects.
  • Year: 1988
  • Production Company: Public Broadcasting Associates Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 58 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Myths and Moundbuilders
  • Description: American settlers wondered what were those many earth mounds dotting the wooded landscape? In 1897, the relationship between mounds and Indian descendants came to light through the work of Cyrus Thomas. Thomas also suggested that not all mounds were built by the same Indian tribes.
  • Year: 1981
  • Production Company: Public Broadcasting Associates Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 58 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

P.O.V.

• Two Towns of Jasper
  • Description: About the trials of the three men implicated in the murder of James Byrd, Jr. who was beaten, chained to a pickup truck, and dragged to death in Jasper, Tex. on June 7, 1998. Through interviews, this film examines the effect that the murder and the trials had on the townspeople and race relations within the town. Black townspeople were filmed and interviewed by a Black crew and Whites by a White crew.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: two tone productions, inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Whitney Dow
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/twotownsofjasper/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• What I Want My Words to Do to You
  • Description: Look into the minds and hearts of women inmates of a New York prison. Go inside a writing workshop led by Eve Ensler, where the women create poetry and prose which ends in the performance of their writing by critically acclaimed actors.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Borrowed Light, LLC
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Judith Katz; Gary Sunshine
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2003/whatiwant/
  • Runtime: 80 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color

• Infamy
  • Description: INFAMY--(1919-1942)--Opening with some of the earliest color motion picture images ever filmed - of a victory parade in Paris at the end of World War I - the first episode takes viewers from the years leading up to the outbreak of World War II through the Nazi invasion of Poland that triggered the joint British and French declaration of war on Germany to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway. Among the many scenes captured in color footage are life in Depression-era America; huge Nazi rallies in pre-war Germany; the sinking of a British merchant ship six weeks into the war and the rescue effort mounted by a passing American vessel; civilian refugees streaming along the roads of occupied France; the devastation at Pearl Harbor as photographed by a Navy film unit working for Hollywood director John Ford; and the U.S. victory over the Japanese at Midway - the decisive sea battle of the Pacific war.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: TWI; Carlton; KCTS Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Martin Smith
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/teachers/episodes.html
  • Runtime: 54 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Battlefronts
  • Description: BATTLEFRONTS--(1942-1944)--The second episode covers America's early involvement in the war, from the massive buildup of the country's military and industrial capabilities to preparations for D-Day. Among the many scenes captured in color footage are the mobilization of women and African Americans on the industrial home front and in the military; the internment of Japanese Americans; training of African-American aviators at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute; the horrors of the Warsaw Ghetto; and the boarding of troops onto landing craft bound for Normandy, scene of what was to be the largest amphibious invasion in history.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: TWI; Carlton; KCTS Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Martin Smith
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/teachers/episodes.html
  • Runtime: 54 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Wrath
  • Description: WRATH--(D-Day-VE Day)--The third episode encompasses the months between D-Day in June 1944 and VE Day in May 1945. Among the many scenes captured in color footage are the seizure of a German U-boat carrying Enigma code machines; the Allied assault on the beaches at Normandy; the jubilant welcome of GIs after the liberation of Paris; freed American POWs burning their prison; the first Jewish Sabbath service conducted at the just-liberated Dachau concentration camp; andVE Day celebrations following Germany's surrender.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: TWI; Carlton; KCTS Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Martin Smith
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/teachers/episodes.html
  • Runtime: 54 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Triumph
  • Description: TRIUMPH--(The Pacific, 1943-1945)--The concluding episode captures America's efforts to win the war in the Pacific. Among the many scenes captured in color are U.S. troops staging a dawn landing on tiny but strategically important Tarawa; the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi; U.S. aircraft carriers under attack by kamikaze pilots during the battle for Okinawa; the desperate fight to save the USS Franklin after the aircraft carrier is hit and set afire by armor-piercing bombs 50 miles from Japan; the funeral procession following President Roosevelt's sudden death in April 1945; the devastation wrought on Hiroshima by the atomic bomb; the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri; and celebrations in the streets of New York marking the end of the war.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: TWI; Carlton; KCTS Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Martin Smith
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/teachers/episodes.html
  • Runtime: 54 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Rough Science: Season 2

• Gold Rush
  • Description: Five ingenious scientists start their epic journey on the other side of the world to hunt for gold. Kate Humble joins the team of modern-day prospectors as they follow in the footsteps of the original gold pioneers on the rugged and unforgiving west coast of New Zealand's South Island.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Shakers
  • Description: The scientists-turned-gold prospectors continue their epic search for gold in the wilds of New Zealand's South Island.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Quakers
  • Description: The scientists continue to look for gold in New Zealand, following in the footsteps of the original prospectors from 1860.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Ice
  • Description: This week series host Kate Humble takes the Rough Scientists away from their epic quest for New Zealand gold, and sets them one of the show's toughest challenges yet. The team must measure the speed and melt of the Franz Josef Glacier, an awesome seven miles of ice.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Treasure Hunt
  • Description: The Rough Scientists step up their search for gold. The deadline is looming for series host Kate Humble and the five Rough Scientists, who must find and extract enough gold to make a souvenir of their stay on New Zealand's south island. As the tension mounts, Kate sets three tough challenges: to extract gold from rock and sand, to build an altimeter, and to use the altimeter to find buried gold from a treasure map.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Big Smelt
  • Description: It's D-Day for our Rough Scientists, who must build a furnace and bellows so they can try to smelt and form gold into souvenirs as a reminder of their six-week stay in New Zealand. To turn their powdered gold flakes into a solid nugget they have to achieve the white-hot temperature of 1943�F (1062�C) so the gold will melt.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Rover
  • Description: Week one's challenges are heavily focused on the "exploration" theme. Jonathan's challenge is to make a rover; a remote controlled vehicle that could explore strange new worlds. NASA come to Death Valley to test out their machines, so for Jonathan's ultimate test we subject his rover to a NASA style experiment in the desert. But unlike NASA, Jonathan has just three days and whatever he can find lying around the mine to come up with a working rover.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Comunication
  • Description: No space mission can succeed without communication, so our second set of Rough Science space challenges are all based around making contact. Jonathan and Kathy have to come up with a way of communicating that doesn't use sound waves - because in the vacuum of space, there's nothing for them to move through.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Spacesuit
  • Description: Although everyone thinks of space as very cold, in fact, if you stood on the sunny side of the moon, the temperature would be hot enough to boil the blood in your body. Spacesuits are designed to protect astronauts from these extremes of temperature. The Rough Scientists have to collectively design a cooling system for their very own spacesuit. And to test it out, at the end of day three, they're going to have to go to Death Valley and do a mock moon walk in their spacesuit - hopefully staying deliciously cool.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Impact
  • Description: All about meteorites and asteroids. Not too far from the Rough Science base on the edge of Death Valley is Meteor Crater. Iain, Kathy and Mike have to work out how big the meteor that caused this huge crater must have been.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Aerial Surveyor
  • Description: The Rough Scientists had to make a Mars Rover which could explore strange new worlds. This week Kathy and Jonathan have to go one better and design an aerial surveyor that can explore much greater areas by floating above land. Just like the rover challenge, they've been given a tiny camera which will record whatever the aerial surveyor sees.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Rocket
  • Description: All about rockets. Mike, Jonathan and Kathy have to make three different rockets, but there's a catch; they're only allowed to use one thing as a fuel � and that's water! They've also got to design their rockets to carry a "passenger" � a (raw) egg. And Ellen and Iain have to find a way of returning the egg safely to Earth.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Open University; BBC; WETA-TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shulman; Andrew Law; Paul Manners
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/
  • Runtime: 27 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Scientific American Frontiers

• 21st Century Medicine
  • Description: Explores some of the remarkable frontiers of medicine, including how the computer is revolutionizing medicine, from brain surgery to phobias and gene therapy.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda; Andrew Liebman; Jill Singer; Bonnie Waltch; John Angier; Sherry Lassiter
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript605.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Different Way to Heal?
  • Description: Discusses latest findings on how to extend the lifespan, including low calorie diets, research in tissue engineering and cell rejuvenation, and the importance of diaily physical and mental activity.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1210/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Affairs of the Heart
  • Description: Alan Alda heads into the operating room to witness amazing advances in the repair and replacement of the hard-working heart.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1104/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Alien Invasion
  • Description: Describes how the accidental or purposeful introduction of alien species into new areas affects that environment.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Andrew Liebman; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1204/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Animal Einsteins
  • Description: Host Alan Alda explores current research being done on animal intelligence, in particular language, counting, and simple arithmetic.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Andrew Liebman; John Angier; Jill Singer; Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript903.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Beneath the Sea
  • Description: Profile of ccean explorer Bob Ballard. Alan Alda joins Bob Ballard's undersea exploration team as they explore the deep sea.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Andrew Liebman; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1207/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Beyond Science?
  • Description: Investigates what is real in science and what is not, including balancing patients energy for healing, dowsing, handwriting analysis, and palm reading.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Huntley; John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript802.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Bionic Body
  • Description: Shows advancements in repairing the human body with new technology.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Sherry Lassiter; Bonnie Waltch; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1107/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Body Building
  • Description: About the remarkable advances being made to repair and replace damaged human body parts. You'll learn about a self-contained artificial heart, a lab where tissue is grown for body parts like livers and eye retina, look at the innovative "liver chip," and learn about efforts to grow new nerve cells that might help injured spinal cords heal themselves. Finally see courageous paralyzed volunteers test the Functional electrical stimulation (FES) systems.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Graham Chedd; David Huntley; Sherry Lassiter
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1209/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Calls of the Wild
  • Description: The morning calls of birds, the sounds bats make when hunting, elephant perception of sounds through the ground, and other animal sounds and methods of perception are shown.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; John Angier; Andrew Liebman; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1308/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Changing Your Mind
  • Description: Alan Alda learns about the way the brain works as researchers demonstrate how malleable the brain is and memories are, how it is possible to grow one's own brain, what happens when one dreams, and new understandings of the human mind.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1101/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Chimps R Us
  • Description: A five-part program focusing on chimpanzees. It opens with an interview with zoologist Jane Goodall about her remarkable life among the chimps and then visits a chimpanzee sanctuary where psychologist David Bjorklund is investigating how young chimps learn. Primate behaviourist Frans de Waal observes the social behavior of a group of chimps living at the Yerkes Regional Primate Center in Atlanta. In the next segment David Bjorklund tests two young chimps for the ability to think abstractly while at Ohio State University, Sally Boysen demonstrates how they do think abstractly. Closes with a segment photographed by Karl Ammann about the illegal bushmeat trade in chimpanzees and other animals in Africa, as he follows poachers deep into the forest to document the commercial trade.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1108/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Coming into America
  • Description: This program highlights current research which is challenging the traditional theory of how people first came to North America in prehistoric times. It has been assumed that the Clovis, the oldest people to populate the continent, moved south from Alaska as Canadian ice sheets were breaking up. New findings by archealogists indicate people may have come from more than one place following a number of routes including a Pacific coastal route, a Beringian land route and an Atlantic ice route. Clovis culture and technology is discussed. New research findings by Dennis Stanford, Jon Erlandson, Michael Collins, Al Goodyear, Steve Holen and David Yesner are presented.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1406/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Creatures of the Deep
  • Description: Reveals information about sharks, whales and other creatures that inhabit the sea.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Huntley; Graham Chedd; John Angier; Marc Etkind; Bonnie Waltch; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript604.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Dead Men's Tales
  • Description: Uses archaeological, forensic and historical methods to learn about the Jamestown Colony, mummies found in the Xinjiang Province of China, the truth to the legend of Wild Bill Longley, the burials and lives of the people who built the pyramids, and the evacuation of a 13th century palace in South Africa.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1203/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Deep Crisis
  • Description: Examines steps being taken to mitigate the impact of dams upon declining salmon populations and to document the migratory patterns of Atlantic bluefin tuna.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1306/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Don't Forget
  • Description: Why do some memories slip away, never to return, while others leave a permanent mark? Alan Alda meets scientists who are trying to unravel the mysteries of memory -- where memories come from, how they're remembered and what people can do to hold on to them.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1402/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Dragon Science: A Scientific Expedtion to China
  • Description: Travel on a scientific journey around China, from the site of an ancient mummy find in Xinjiang to the world's largest dam on the Yangtze River. Meet scientists studying ancient herbal medicines and experimenting with hybrid rice to feed over one billion people. A stop in Beijing includes a test of a fuzzy logic system that may prevent traffic accidents.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript602.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Expedition Panama
  • Description: Expedition Panama: Explores the tropical island of Barro Colorado, the Panama Canal, wildlife, agriculture, and foods of Panama.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Andrew Liebman; John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript801.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Fat and Happy?
  • Description: Shows how eating healthier can improve the quality of life and increase longevity.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Andrew Liebman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1110/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Flying Free
  • Description: Inventor Paul MacCready builds flying machines inspired by nature. Alan Alda joins MacCready's team as they test fly a variety of unconventional planes. Also examines how nature itself first solved the problem of flight, when insects evolved wings more than 300 million years ago.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Andrew Liebman; David Huntley; Jill Singer; John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1109/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Flying High
  • Description: Reveals the flight secrets of birds, insects, and airplanes.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Graham Chedd; David Huntley; Andrew Liebman; Jill Singer; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript603.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Forever Wild?
  • Description: Visits the Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northeast Oklahoma, where scientists, using chiefly the interplay of bison and fire, are seeking to restore the full prairie ecosystem on a 50-square-mile former cattle ranch. In "The Second Earth, " Biosphere scientists examine the effect of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels on natural ecosystems. In "Raven's World, " Peter Raven and Alan Alda discuss the pressing need to conserve Earth's biodiversity--a term Raven himself helped coin in the 1980's.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1304/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Future Car
  • Description: Explores the latest developments by the Big Three in automobile design technology that replaces gasoline with non-fossil fuels such as hydrogen or electricity.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1403/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Games Machines Play
  • Description: Skilled science students put their ingenious creations to the test while competing for the top prize in the RoboCup 2001.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1208/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Gene Hunters
  • Description: Alan meets some of the brightest and most charistmatic scientists hunting genes. Their work could unlock the mysteries of human disease.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; John Angier; Andrew Liebman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1202/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Going to Extremes
  • Description: Meet researchers and scientists exploring the inner workings of the mind, using a combination of technology and psychological studies to find out how the human brain works.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Graham Chedd; David Huntley; Jill Singer; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript704.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Growing Up Different
  • Description: Looks at children growing up with different views of the world due to physical and mental challenges and scientific advances that can improve their ability to function.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1205/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Hot Times in Alaska
  • Description: Alaska is warming up. It's now a few degrees warmer than it was a century and a half ago, and the trend seems to be accelerating. Already the landscape is changing dramatically -- permafrost is thawing, glaciers are melting, forests are succumbing to drought and insect attack. Alan Alda meets Alaskan scientists who are working to find out if these are the first signs of global warming and what the future may hold.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1404/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Inventing the Future
  • Description: Leap forward into the future when Frontiers visits the MIT media lab to test out smart cars, smart rooms, and wearable computers. Scientists here are redefining the computer as we know it, from a box that sits on your desk to an intelligent personal information appliance that might be with you at all times.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript701.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Journey to Mars
  • Description: Find out how a Mars mission can be affordably accomplished and why it's so important to explore the "red planet." Watch host, Alan Alda try out some of the tools currently being developed by NASA to make life in space less traumatic for the astronauts who will someday make this historic journey.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Andrew Liebman
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript902.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Life's Little Questions II
  • Description: Follow host Alan Alda as he uses science to try to find explanations to some of life's questions.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1105/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Life's Really Big Questions
  • Description: See how our hands set us free and play baseball, how an ancient telescope found an alien world, see a baby robot that may grow up without needing us, and learn why Noah's flood may have been a snowball. Hear the big questions that scientists are asking.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Andrew Liebman; John Angier
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1103/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Losing It
  • Description: Follows a group of 12 persons for several months as they adopt different strategies for weight loss, ranging from online diet systems to gastric bypass surgery. Also looks at research that attempts to explain the body's complex weight-regulation systems, and to explain, among other things, why dieting is difficult.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1401/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Make Up Your Mind
  • Description: Scientists look to the brain's frontal lobe as the seat of personality.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1302/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Mediterranean on the Rocks
  • Description: Alan Alda travels to the Mediterranean Sea and investigates: how ancient peoples built papyrus boats; why an invasive species of algae, Caulerpa taxifola, threatens the environmental health of the area; how copper was made at a 2,500 year-old archaeological site in Cyprus; how scientist track the finback whale and treat and release injured sea turtles back to the sea.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Huntley; John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript1004.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Mysteries of the Deep
  • Description: Scientist unlock secrets from the last frontier on Earth - the ocean's depths. The discoveries of intrepid explorer Bob Ballard change science, history and maybe our future.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Andrew Liebman; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1305/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Natural Born Robots
  • Description: Explores the latest innovations in robotic science and shows how designs are inspired by living things.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Andrew Liebman; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript1002.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Never Say Die
  • Description: Discusses latest findings on how to extend the lifespan, including low calorie diets, research in tissue engineering and cell rejuvenation, and the importance of daily physical and mental activity.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Andrew Liebman; John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript1003.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Nordic Sagas
  • Description: Explores several aspects of current and ancient Norway, Iceland and Sweden. Includes the excavation and reconstruction of Viking ships, volcanic activity and life in Iceland, a segment on digital photography in Sweden and the effects of the Chernobyl disaster on reindeer in Sweden.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Huntley; Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript803.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• On the Ball
  • Description: Increasingly science and technology are providing a crucial performance edge to athletes and officials and even enhancing the spectator's experience the game. In Calgary, Alan visits with Joan Vickers, and finds out how her research on where athletes focus their gaze has improved the skills of basketball and tennis players, golfers -- even darts players. Alan goes to Fenway Park to checkout the high tech equipment -- a spin-off from research into tracking missiles -- helping baseball umpires separate balls from strikes. And Alan visits the Tennis Science Center at UC Davis to pick up some tips on his own favorite sport.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; John Angier; David Huntley; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1206/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Pet Tech
  • Description: Alan trains a virtual dog and discovers Internet links for lonely parrots.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; David Huntley; Jill Singer
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1201/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Pieces of Mind
  • Description: Shows a sleep laboratory and how the brain works to create memories, dreams, and language. Shows how technology is helping scientists understand more about when and how the human brain learns language, processes and recalls information, and dreams dreams.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Jill Singer; Graham Chedd; John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript703.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Robots Alive!
  • Description: Robots that talk, walk, and think for themselves are the featured subjects. Also includes a test ride in a van that drives itself and competitions with robot contestants. Host Alan Alda meets with the inventors of these robots to find out more about their works in progress and what we might expect to see in the near future.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Graham Chedd; David Huntley; Andrew Liebman; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript705.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Science in Paradise
  • Description: Alan Alda accompanies scientists in the Carribean tracking hawksbill turtles as part of a conservation project and working to save coral reefs afflicted with an unexpected disease. He visits Trinidad and learns to play that country's native instrument -- the steel pan -- and uncovers science stories in island sites from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to the Soufriere Hill Volcano on the island of Monserrat.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Andrew Liebman; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript901.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Science Safari
  • Description: Alan Alda tours South Africa visiting a wildlife park, a township that uses herbs to treat illnesses, and an archaeological dig near Cape Town. He also investigates how South Africa is trying to control the mosquito population in an effort to eradicate malaria.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript702.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Spiders
  • Description: This science special focuses on the elusive arachnids, their way of life, and their relationship with their rather large neighbors.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; John Angier; David Huntley; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript905.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• SuperPeople
  • Description: Presents deep water divers who can hold their breath for over 5 minutes; people with extraordinary memories; new tests to predict altitude sickness; and the effects of weighlessness on the human body.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Andrew Liebman; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1102/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Art of Science
  • Description: This video looks at the way art and science overlap and influence each other, and how computers are challenging our conventional ideas about art, while changing the very nature of everyday experience.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Andrew Liebman; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript804.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Dark Side of the Universe
  • Description: New discoveries about dark matter and dark energy have astronomers wondering if ours is but one of an infinity of universes.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1405/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Frontiers Decade
  • Description: Alan Alda: "On this edition of Scientific American Frontiers, you're invited to a party. We're celebrating 10 years of the series, with a high-speed trip through 200 stories, and a decade of science."
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript1005.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Intimate Machine
  • Description: Explores research aimed at making computers, or machines controlled by computers, as sensitive, gentle and caring as a human companion - or at least a devoted family pet.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1303/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• New Zoos
  • Description: Today's zoos have taken on a new look. With it comes a new philosophy -- work being done in "new zoos" can help wild animal populations survive and thrive. Where zoo residents were once captured from the wild, today's captive breeding programs are helping to replenish wild populations. And knowledge gained by studying animals in zoos is helping scientists learn how to protect many wild animals whose habitat is shrinking.
  • Year: 1998
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Jill Singer; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript805.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Wonder Pill
  • Description: Discusses the mysterious power of placebo effect.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1307/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Prime Time Primates
  • Description: Takes the viewer from a Rhesus monkey preserve on a Puerto Rican Island to the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta to the Duke University lemur sanctuary to demonstrate behavioral links between all species of primates, including humans. Primate researchers such as Frans de Waal are interviewed, and species such as lemurs, chimpanzees, and humans are shown demonstrating various qualities such as learning skills, aggression, and sharing.
  • Year: 1995
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Jill Singer; Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript504.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Unearthing Secret America
  • Description: Archeological digs at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown yield clues to the daily life of slaves.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1301/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Voyage to the Galapagos
  • Description: Contents: Bienvenidos A Galapagos -- Darwin's Eden -- Evolving beaks -- Lizards of the sea -- Masked killers -- Paradise lost?
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Andrew Liebman; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript1001.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Wild Places
  • Description: Life in dogtown -- Raven's world -- Flight into the unknown.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Sherry Lassiter; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1106/index.html
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Wild West
  • Description: Tracks rattleshakes in the Sonoran Desert, conducts a forensic detective hunt to identify one of Custer's last troopers, has a close encounter with a scorpion, trains with a cowgirl who uses science to rope a calf, and visits the Biosphere 2 rain forest located in the Arizona desert.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; David Huntley; Andrew Liebman; Jill Singer; John Angier; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript601.htm
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Worried Sick
  • Description: Shows the body's physiological reaction to stress. Host Alan Alda meets researchers who are exploring the ill effects of stress on health and aging, and how relaxation can help lessen the damage.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John Angier; David Huntley; Leslie Reinherz; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1310/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• You Can Make it on Your Own
  • Description: Includes segments on the use of computers in creating and writing music, invention of new musical instruments, computers that record the daily life of their wearers, and a mechanical engineering contest at M.I.T.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Television; Scientific American Magazine; Chedd-Angier
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Graham Chedd; Alan Alda
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/saf/1309/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Secret Life of the Brain

• Wider Than the Sky: The Baby's Brain
  • Description: Examines how the brain builds itself from conception through the first year of life. Neurobiologists study the intricate relationship between genes and the environment, and a study is done to find out if the difficulties premature babies have paying attention and learning later in life can be overcome by providing an environment that imitates the womb.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: David Grubin Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Sarah Colt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Syllable from Sound: The Child's Brain
  • Description: Shows that nowhere is learning more dramatic than in the way a child learns language. Examines this process, particularly the role of the left versus the right brain centers, and what can happen when the left hemisphere is damaged by disease. Tells the story of Michael Rehbein, who had to have the left hemisphere of his brain removed to control seizures caused by a rare brain disease. Dana Boatman at Johns Hopkins University, who has been testing Michael ever since his operation, wants to know how the right side of his brain has compensated.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: David Grubin Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Sarah Colt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• World of Their Own, A: The Teenage Brain
  • Description: Research has shown that during puberty, when the brain begins teeming with hormones, the pre-frontal cortex, the center of reasoning and impulse control, is still a work in progress. Discusses the problems of the adolescent brain and also special risks, including addictive drugs or alcohol, with emphasis on the chaos of schizophrenia and research that is being done to understand and alleviate it
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: David Grubin Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Sarah Colt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• To Think by Feeling: The Adult Brain
  • Description: Looks at the adult brain. Explores the critical interplay between reason and emotion and what happens when the balance between the two brain regions that handle them goes awry. Because of a stroke, Marvin Bateman has lost his ability to connect with other people and has difficulty making decisions. Another man, Johny Cortez, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and has panic attacks. Writer and psychologist Lauren Slater has been plagued with life-long depression, but believes that abuse suffered as a child made the condition worse.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: David Grubin Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Sarah Colt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Through Many Lives: The Aging Brain
  • Description: Presents recent studies which indicate that the normal aging process leaves most mental functions intact, that we do not lose brain cells as we age, and that the aging brain is far more resilient than previously believed. Shows U.S. poet laureate Stanley Kunitz at age 95, still writing poems and reading to a live audience. At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, neuroscientist Edward Taub has developed an innovative form of therapy that helps stroke patients overcome years of paralysis by reviving the damaged circuits in their brains. Scientists have discovered that elderly brains continue producing new neurons. At Harvard Medical School, neurologist Jeffrey Macklis is trying to find out whether it is possible to use the new neurons to replace those killed by disorders like Parkinson's Disease.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: David Grubin Productions; thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Grubin; Sarah Colt
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Secrets of the Dead IV

• Killer Flu
  • Description: Discusses the 1918 flu pandemic, its deadly consequences and the possibility that a similar strain could occur today.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: thirteen; WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Liz McLeod; Bill Lyons; Brian Brunius; Kathy Svitil
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_killerflu/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Teach Me Different! with Sally L. Smith

• Nature of the Condition
  • Description: Professor Smith demonstrates simple techniques used to guide learning disabled children to academic success.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Blair Productions, LLC.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Randall Blair
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Effective Teaching Methods
  • Description: Professor Smith demonstrates simple techniques used to guide learning disabled children to academic success.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Blair Productions, LLC.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Randall Blair
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Prizing Diversity
  • Description: Professor Smith demonstrates simple techniques used to guide learning disabled children to academic success.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Blair Productions, LLC.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Randall Blair
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Problem Solving and Self-Advocacy
  • Description: Professor Smith demonstrates simple techniques used to guide learning disabled children to academic success.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Blair Productions, LLC.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Randall Blair
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

The West

• People
  • Description: Experience the rich cultural diversity of Native American tribes and the impact that early white explorers had on their lives. Students will learn about the mysterious disappearance of the Anasazi culture and the successful Pueblo revolt against their Spanish conquerors. First-person accounts bring to life the adventures of early explorers, from Cabeza de Vaca, the first white man to enter the West, to the Lewis and Clark expedition.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: West Film Project, Inc.; Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Stephen Ives
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
  • Runtime: 83 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Empire Upon the Trails
  • Description: From Mexican landowners in California to Native American tribes in the Black Hills, students discover various perspectives on territorial claims to the West and the history of U.S. annexation. This segment explains how events, such as the Texas War of Independence, opened the door to U.S. annexation. Diary excerpts, letters, and other primary resources vividly portray the experiences of early Oregon Trail settlers and the Mormons.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: West Film Project, Inc.; Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Stephen Ives
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
  • Runtime: 85 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Speck of the Future
  • Description: Through firsthand accounts, relive the rush for gold and other opportunities in the West and witness the effect of westward migrations on Native Americans. While exploring the adventures of the '49ers on the overland trails and witness the prosperity of the gold rush towns like San Francisco, also learn about broken treaties with the Plains Indians and the slaughter of Native American tribes in California.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: West Film Project, Inc.; Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Stephen Ives
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Death Runs Riot
  • Description: Teach about the impact of slavery and the Civil War in the West. Students learn about "Bleeding Kansas," the "Gettysburg of the West," and how the end of the fighting brought on the beginning of the military campaign against Indians. Included are portrayals of individuals who resisted federal authority, such as Brigham Young and Black Kettle.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: West Film Project, Inc.; Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Stephen Ives
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Grandest Enterprise Under God
  • Description: See how the transcontinental railroad was built, and then how it opened up the West to European settlers and brought on the extermination of the buffalo and the defeat of Southern Plains Indian tribes. Witness the transformation through first-person accounts from Native Americans, European immigrants, Chinese laborers, buffalo hunters, homesteaders from the eastern U.S., and cowboys on the dusty trails leading from Texas.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: West Film Project, Inc.; Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Stephen Ives
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Fight No More Forever
  • Description: Witness the final subjugation of defiant Indian tribes and other holdouts to federal authority in the West. Included are balanced, up-to-date portrayals of many of the most memorable characters from America's past, including George Armstrong Custer, Sitting Bull, Brigham Young, and Chief Joseph.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: West Film Project, Inc.; Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Stephen Ives
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Geography of Hope
  • Description: Many Americans who set out to change the West found that the West changed them instead. View the broad panorama of western experiences including those of homesteaders and farmers on the Great Plains, Chinese immigrants, Hispanic townspeople in California, Mormons in Utah, the great showman Buffalo Bill Cody, cowboys during the fall of the great ranching boom, African-American sharecroppers searching for a "Promised Land," and Native Americans on the reservations.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: West Film Project, Inc.; Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Stephen Ives
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Ghost Dance
  • Description: Discover how mining and industrial expansion changed the West forever, while land rushes and assimilation efforts prolonged the tragedy for Native Americans. Through primary resource materials, explore the West's promise of a better life and learn about a religious movement called the Ghost Dance that swept through dispirited Indian reservations and culminated in the tragedy at Wounded Knee.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: West Film Project, Inc.; Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Stephen Ives
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
  • Runtime: 60 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• One Sky Above Us
  • Description: Los Angeles steals its water supply, millions of Mexicans migrate north, and Hollywood begins to shape the West and the nation's image of it. At the end of the 19th century, America celebrated the "closing" of the West, but differing historical accounts help us learn how the West's story never ends, and how it continues to influence American life today.
  • Year: 1996
  • Production Company: West Film Project, Inc.; Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Stephen Ives
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
  • Runtime: 64 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

This Far By Faith

• There is a River
  • Description: Explores the evolution of African-American religious thought, from the beliefs and rituals Africans brought to America to the influence of Christian teachings imposed on slaves in the new world. It charts the growth of independent black churches and attempts by slaves and free blacks to unify the black community. Through the lives of two 19th century black leaders, Sojourner Truth and Denmark Vesey, we see how religion and belief in God provided hope in the face of desperation.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; The Faith Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: W. Noland Walker
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• God is a Negro
  • Description: Focuses on the role of Henry McNeal Turner, whose efforts to create a sense of self-respect among African-Americans began in the political arena and shifted to the religious realm. His emphasis on a black nationalist philosophy and his rejection of white power alienated him from some leaders, but led to a greater role for the black church in African-American culture. Turner's philosophy and teachings encouraged his followers to find God from within, raising their opinions about themselves and all black people.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; The Faith Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: June Cross
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Guide My Feet
  • Description: Follows the movement of African-Americans from the South to the promised land of the North, from country to city, from rejection to hope. It is also the story of Cecil Williams and Thomas A. Dorsey, two men a generation apart but united by a vision to take the stark reality of the streets into the church, challenging Christianity to be true to its promise of acceptance. In Chicago, Thomas Dorsey pioneers a different direction for spiritual expression: gospel music. In San Francisco, the Reverend Cecil Williams strives to pull down barriers with his "come as you are" church. Through their efforts, Dorsey, Williams and others create a new faith and a new music.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; The Faith Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Lulie Haddad
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Freedom Faith
  • Description: Traces the connections between "Freedom faith"--The belief that God intended all people to be equal and free--and the Civil Rights Movement. Faith give black families a way of insulating themselves from the oppression of segregation in the 1940s and 1950s, and provided the seeds for opposition to Jim Crow. Many of the protests of the 1960s are shown from the perspective of Prathia Hall, an eminent black preacher who was born in 1940 and literally grew up with the movement. Hall is one of many voices in the film--voices of ordinary people who, through faith, risk their lives to challenge America to live up to its promise of equality.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; The Faith Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Alice Markowitz
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Inheriters of the Faith
  • Description: Follows the journeys of African-Americans who seek a spiritual experience in the traditions of Islam and Yoruba. Originating in West Africa and pre-dating Christianity, Yoruba focuses on honoring ancestors, and worshipers gain strength and spirituality from within. Another emerging spiritual direction is the Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad. When Muhammad's son, Warith Deen, takes over the movement after his father's death, he transforms the organization to more closely follow the practice of orthodox Islam. Louis X. Farrakhan resurrects the ideology of the old Nation of Islam in 1978.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; The Faith Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Valerie Linson
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Rise Up and Call Their Names
  • Description: Follows 60 people in the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage on a physical and spiritual voyage as they walk from Massachusetts to Florida, than make their way to the Caribbean and ultimately to Africa. Their purpose is to pray for the spirits of their ancestors, and to discover for themselves the spiritual value of such a journey. After months of difficult travel and deep soul-searching, the pilgrims reach Africa with a stronger sense of identity and purpose.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Blackside Inc.; The Faith Project, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Leslie D. Farrell
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/
  • Runtime: 56 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Triumph of Life: Nature

• Four Billion Year War
  • Description: How tiny pioneers came to settle on a seething molten ball of dust and gas, and slowly created a cosmic oasis teeming with a seemingly endless variety of life, from microscopic bacteria to whales the size of locomotives.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Green Umbrella; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Nick Upton
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/triumphoflife/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Mating Game
  • Description: Takes a passionate look at the evolution of sex, which allows a species to pass its genes along from generation to generation.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Green Umbrella; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Nick Upton
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/triumphoflife/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Eternal Arms Race
  • Description: On some ancient battlefield, an early human soldier realized that a sharpened stick could become a deadly spear that would send the terrified enemy scrambling for safety. In response, the defeated soldiers came up with their own innovation: wooden shields that blunted the spears and suddenly turned the tables. It was then up to the attackers to devise another new weapon that could defeat the shields and restore their advantage. An arms race was born.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Green Umbrella; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Nick Upton
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/triumphoflife/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Winning Teams
  • Description: Life may be a contest in which only the fittest individuals survive, but cooperation has also played a key role in evolution. WINNING TEAMS takes a close look at the alliances that animals have forged -- with others of their own kind and very different organisms -- in a bid to stay alive. In fact, teamwork occurs everywhere, from flocks of birds and herds of wildebeest to colonies of ants and termites.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Green Umbrella; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Nick Upton
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/triumphoflife/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Brain Power
  • Description: Hearts, eyes, flippers and wings -- evolution has forged many remarkable body structures. But none is more amazing than the brain, that bundle of nerve cells that allows us to sense our surroundings, sort out information, and make decisions.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Green Umbrella; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Nick Upton
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/triumphoflife/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Survivors
  • Description: Nearly five billion years after it was born of a dusty cloud drifting in space, our planet has become home to a remarkable variety of life forms, from microscopic bacteria to majestic redwoods. But life's triumph hasn't always been smooth. Evolution has been marked by progress and retreat, success and failure. Creative destruction is a central force in evolution, as older life forms die out and give way to newcomers better adapted to changing conditions.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Green Umbrella; Thirteen/WNET
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Nick Upton
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/triumphoflife/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

U.S.-Mexican War, 1846-1848

• Neighbors and Strangers
  • Description: In 1836, Texans--most of them immigrants from the United States--rebel against Mexico. A Mexican army arrives to put down the rebellion but is defeated. Ten years later, Texas is annexed by the United States, and the United States and Mexico become embroiled in a border dispute.
  • Year: 1998
  • Production Company: KERA; North Texas Public Broadcasting; Once TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Rob Tranchin; Ginny Martin; Andrea Boardman
  • Program website: http://wwww.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• War for the Borderlands
  • Description: In June of 1846, an army of 1600 soldiers begin a 900 mile march to conquer the Mexican territory of New Mexico. In California, wealthy rancher Mariano Vallejo is imprisoned by a group of U.S. settlers in the Bear Flag Revolt, which gives birth to the short-lived independent Republic of California.
  • Year: 1998
  • Production Company: KERA; North Texas Public Broadcasting; Once TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Rob Tranchin; Ginny Martin; Andrea Boardman
  • Program website: http://wwww.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Hour of Sacrifice
  • Description: In 1846, former Mexican President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna returns from exile to unite Mexico against the U.S. invasion. U.S. President James K. Polk formulates a plan to open a second front against Mexico. In 1847, Santa Anna's troops meet Zachary Taylor's army near the small hacienda of Buena Vista. Winfield Scott lands 10,000 U.S. soldiers on the beach at Veracruz. Scott and Santa Anna meet at Cerro Gordo in a battle that turns into a rout of the Mexican army. Defeated but unbowed, Santa Anna falls back to Mexico City to defend the capital.
  • Year: 1998
  • Production Company: KERA; North Texas Public Broadcasting; Once TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Rob Tranchin; Ginny Martin; Andrea Boardman
  • Program website: http://wwww.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html
  • Runtime: 55 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Fate of Nations
  • Description: The U.S. army reaches the Mexican capital defended by 20,000 Mexican soldiers led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The battle for Mexico city begins with heavy casualties on both sides. Mexican defenders fight back courageously, but the capital is finally forced to surrender. General Winfield Scott rides triumphantly into Mexico City to occupy the fabled "Halls of Montezuma." On Feb. 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, and a new border is established between Mexico and the United States.
  • Year: 1998
  • Production Company: KERA; North Texas Public Broadcasting; Once TV
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Rob Tranchin; Ginny Martin; Andrea Boardman
  • Program website: http://wwww.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Wonders of the African World with Henry Louis Gates Jr.

• Black Kingdoms of the Nile: The Swahili Coast
  • Description: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. travels through Egypt and Sudan in search of ancient Nubia, and ancient African civilization. In the second segment Gates travels along the coast of Kenya and Tanzania to the island of Zanzibar in search of the origins of Swahili heritage.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Wall to Wall Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wonders/
  • Runtime: 106 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Slave Kingdoms: The Holy Land
  • Description: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. travels through the old kingdoms of Asante and Dahomey in Ghana and Benin to learn the real story of the transatlantic slave trade. In the second segment Gates travels to Ethiopia to investigate the history of Christianity in the ancient civilization.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Wall to Wall Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wonders/
  • Runtime: 106 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Road to Timbuktu: Lost Cities of the South
  • Description: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. travels through Mali, following ancient trade routes from the goldmines of the south to the the legendary city on the shores of the Sahara desert, in search of the forgotten libraries of Timbuktu. In the second segment Gates travels from South Africa to Zimbabwe, exploring a thousand-year-old city kept from public view for seventy years and heads for the medieval stone citadel of Great Zimbabwe.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Wall to Wall Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wonders/
  • Runtime: 106 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video

Individual Titles

• Against the Odds
  • Description: See the little-known story of the visual artists who made the Harlem Renaissance one of the most important artistic events in the 20th century. Rich archival footage recalls the vibrancy of Harlem in the Roaring Twenties, and the many significant personalities that shaped the movement, such as William E. Harmon, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Alain Locke. Discover how African-American artists triumphed over formidable odds.
  • Year: 1993
  • Production Company: New Jersey Channel
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Amber Edwards
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• American Valor
  • Description: Looks at America's military heroes from Bull Run to Mogadishu--the brave soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen whose actions have earned them the country's highest recognition, the Medal of Honor. Tells their stories through newsreel footage, photographs, military art, and interviews with recipients and comrades who witnessed their heroic acts.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: Whidbey Island Films; WETA Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Norman S. Powell
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/weta/americanvalor/
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Battle for Korea
  • Description: A fresh look at the Korean conflict, often labeled "the forgotten war." Using information declassified at the end of the Cold War, the documentary looks at the military aims of the confrontation, which included the first combat engagements of the jet age and marked the beginning of air-to-air warfare between American pilots and their Soviet counterparts.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: Malin Film and Television Production
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Dave Flitton; Greg Moodie; Percival/Tanner
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 110 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Benjamin Franklin (Part 1)
  • Description: An extensive, detailed examination of the extraordinary life of Benjamin Franklin, from his humble beginnings to fame as a scientist, founding father, and America's first diplomat to France. Pt. 1: Let the experiment be made ; The making of a revolutionary.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: Twin Cities Public Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ellen Hovde; Muffie Meyer; Ronald Blumer
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/
  • Runtime: 110 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Benjamin Franklin (Part 2)
  • Description: An extensive, detailed examination of the extraordinary life of Benjamin Franklin, from his humble beginnings to fame as a scientist, founding father, and America's first diplomat to France. pt. 2: The chess master.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: Twin Cities Public Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ellen Hovde; Muffie Meyer; Ronald Blumer
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Beyond F.A.T. City
  • Description: Offers practical strategies and inspirational advice for teachers and parents of children with learning disabilities who constantly struggle with Frustration, Anxiety, and Tension (F.A.T.)
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: PBS
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Bob Comiskey; Niki Vettel; Dennis Allen
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 92 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Brooklyn Bridge
  • Description: About America's best-loved landmark, the program explores the great problems and ingenious solutions that marked the bridge's construction, tracing its transformation from a spectacular and heroic engineering feat to a symbol of strength, vitality, ingenuity, and promise in American culture.
  • Year: 1981
  • Production Company: Ken Burns
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Amy Stechler
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/brooklynbridge/
  • Runtime: 59 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Berga: Soldiers of Another War
  • Description: Award-winning filmmaker Charles Guggenheim dedicated the last six months of his life finishing Berga: Soldiers of Another War. This is a story about his fellow American infantrymen, captured during the Battle of the Bulge and then sent to a Nazi slave labor camp where many of them died. Until now, the story has remained untold, lost in the trauma of WWII.
  • Year: 2002
  • Production Company: Guggenheim Productions, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Charles E. Guggenheim; David McCollough
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/berga/
  • Runtime: 86 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Dark Passages
  • Description: Employs a mixture of interviews, slave narratives, and dramatization. Tells the story of the impact of the Atlantic slave trade. Takes the viewer from the House of Slaves on Goree Island off the coast of Dakar, Senegal, to the village of Juffere on the Gambia River.
  • Year: 1990
  • Production Company: Black Entertainment Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Tanya Heart; Valerie Whitmore
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 50 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Declining By Degrees: Higher Education at Risk
  • Description: This documentary, set on four different college campuses, examines both the promise and the peril in higher education today.
  • Year: 2005
  • Production Company: Learning Matters, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Carrie Glasser; John Heus; Shae Isaacs; David Wald
  • Program website: http://www.decliningbydegrees.org/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• D-Day: Down to Earth - Return of the 507th
  • Description: Recounts the history of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment through its remarkable battles in World War II and the inspiring culmination of its story 60 years later. Men from the 507th dropped into Normandy on D-Day and fought through bitter cold in the Battle of the Bulge and participated in the largest airborne assault of the war--Operation Varsity.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: 507PIR Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Phil Walker; David Druckenmiller
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Dare to Repair: A Do-It-Herself Guide to Home Improvement
  • Description: Includes information on choosing and using tools, repairing and maintaining appliances, performing basic plumbing and electrical work, and fixing damaged walls, windows, doors, and more.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Connecticut Public Broadcasting
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Julie Sussman; Stephanie Glakas-Tenet; Ed Gonslaves; Roynn Lisa Simmons
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 75 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Empire of the Air
  • Description: Story of radio from 1906-1955 and the three men who made it happen: Lee de Forest, Edwin Howard Armstrong, and David Sarnoff. Combines archival photographs, newsreels of the period, interviews, and radio soundtrack.
  • Year: 1991
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; Radio Pioneers Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Geoffrey C. Ward; Morgan Wesson; Tom Lewis
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/empire/
  • Runtime: 113 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Our Town
  • Description: Filmed stage performance of Thornton Wilder's play.
  • Year:
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Diego; Phyllis Digilio
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 122 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Finest Hour: Battle of Britain (part 1)
  • Description: In 1940, war erupted in Europe. By spring, Great Britain was all that stood between Hitler and the complete enslavement of the continent. Alone but defiant -- and inspired by the bravado of their new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill - the British people prepared for war. British and French troops were overwhelmed in May 1940 when Germany invaded France. At Dunkirk the Allies were evacuated by the Royal Navy and a large flotilla of civil boats. As the British braced for German attack, Churchill ordered the destruction of the French fleet at Oran to keep it out of Hitler's control. This controversial move, combined with the resolute stance of the British population, began to turn American popular opinion toward aiding Great Britain. Hitler ordered his Luftwaffe to take control of the English Channel: the Battle of Britain was about to begin.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Phil Craig; Nick Ward
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 108 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Finest Hour: Battle of Britain (part 2)
  • Description: The Battle of Britain began on August 13, 1940. The Royal Air Force was outnumbered three to one, but had one advantage: radar. Damaged, but not destroyed, British air bases struggled to remain operational. RAF pilots remained defiant as the battle wore on. Many British parents sent their children to safety in Canada. Hitler changed tactics and targeted the civilian population. When P.M. Churchill refused to leave London, even during the worst of 'the Blitz,' he came to symbolize his people's resolve in the face of danger. As soon as Franklin Roosevelt won the 1940 presidential election, he quickly began work on his 'Lend Lease' program to assist Great Britain. As 1940 came to a close, Great Britain was still fighting alone - exhausted but defiant. Great Britain could never have won WWII alone. But in 1940, through dedication and perseverance, she refused to lose it.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Phil Craig; Nick Ward
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 108 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Frank Lloyd Wright (part 1)
  • Description: Frank Lloyd Wright spent his life striving to express his idealistic vision for American architecture. Wright first put these ideals into practice working for the architect Louis Sullivan in Chicago. Wright designed his Prairie Homes and public buildings as well: the Larkin building and Unity Temple. Wright's professional practice, however, felt the effects of his tumultuous personal life. After racking up debt, he abandoned his wife Kitty and six children and left for Europe with Mamah Borthwick Cheney. Upon their return, Wright built a haven for them in a Wisconsin, calling it Taliesin. Mamah's was tragically murdered. Wright found solace in his work. His next building, the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, was an engineering success. He began a relationship with Olgivanna Hintzenberg, who would remain his partner for life. These years, scandals overshadowed his architecture.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; American Lives Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Lynn Novick; Geoffrey C. Ward; Peter Miller
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/flw/
  • Runtime: 84 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Frank Lloyd Wright (part 2)
  • Description: Wright and Olgivanna began the Taliesin Fellowship, taking on apprentices who would "learn by doing." With Fallingwater Wright regained critics' acclaim with Wright masterfully employing modern principles and materials in an organic relationship to the landscape. His Usonian houses, on the otherhand, provided high-quality housing designed to be mass-produced for under $5,000. In 1937, the Fellowship began its annual pilgrimage to the Arizona desert. Here he built Taliesin West, the desert camp where the Fellowship would spend its summers. The post-war boom was Wright's most productive phase. He designed provocative and controversial buildings that ranged from a service station to a synagogue. In his design for the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum the spiral-ramped museum was not only effective; it was breathtaking. In 1959, six months before the completion of the Guggenheim, Wright died.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; American Lives Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Lynn Novick; Geoffrey C. Ward; Peter Miller
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/flw/
  • Runtime: 76 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Flyers In Search of a Dream
  • Description: Most Americans are familiar with the names and faces of Orville and Wilbur Wright, Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, but few know the stories of America's pioneering black aviators, who overcame enormous social pressures to gain the right to fly. "Flyers in Search of a Dream" documents this important phase of history through the lives and adventures of early black aviators. Viewers meet an unusual group of individuals including Bessie Coleman, the first black pilot to receive an aviator's license, and James Herman Banning, the first black pilot to successfully complete a transcontinental flight.
  • Year: 1986
  • Production Company: WGBH Educational Foundation
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Philip Hart; Barbara Barrow-Murray; Tanya Hart
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 58 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• First Measured Century (part 1)
  • Description: On the cusp of the 20th century, Frederick Jackson Turner released his seminal work The Significance of the Frontier in American History. As America experienced an unprecedented wave of immigration, the field of Eugenics took hold. Frank Boas led the battle against Eugenics and all scientific racism. Results from H.H. Goddard's IQ tests convinced Congress to pass the National Origins Act. Early women social reformers (like Jane Addams and Julia Lathrop) used data to make the case for political action to alleviate poverty. 1920's Shepherd-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act became the model for social welfare legislation for the rest of the century. John D. Rockefeller Jr. commissioned Robert and Helen Lynd to complete a study of religious attitudes in a society increasingly based on material possessions. The Lynds' meaningful work, Middletown, was released in 1929. Recent Social Trends provided the statistical basis against which many social trends would be measured for the rest of the century. Data was used extensively to measure the depth and suffering of the Great Depression, and to apply aid from the vast array of New Deal programs. George Gallup legitimized pubic opinion polls when he accurately predicted the winner of the 1936 presidential election. Soon afterward, he published The Pulse of Democracy.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: BJW Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John C. Sorensen; John Mernit; Vincent Cannato
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/fmc/program.htm
  • Runtime: 83 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• First Measured Century (part 2)
  • Description: America's entry into WWII proved a huge engine of social and economic change. The African-American middle class emerged as the desperate need for workers overcame many longstanding employment prejudices. Near war's end, President Roosevelt signed the GI Bill, unleashing an unforeseen array of consequences - including the rapid growth of the suburbs, and dramatic increases in marriage and birth rates. Alfred Kinsey released his far-reaching works on human sexuality in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Though some of his data would not hold up under reexamination, his numbers were ultimately less important than the impact of his work on social reform. Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique was a major influence for the women's movement that grew in the 1960s. Michael Harrington and Daniel Patrick Moynihan published The Other America and The Negro Family: The Case for National Action respectively, both of which made solid claims for the disenfranchised. In the 1970s, many industries were deregulated in an attempt to battle 'stagflation.' Social scientists revisited 'Middletown' in the 1980s to measure how much things had changed since the Lynd study decades earlier.
  • Year: 2000
  • Production Company: BJW Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: John C. Sorensen; John Mernit; Vincent Cannato
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/fmc/program.htm
  • Runtime: 90 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's
  • Description: An exploration of Alzheimer's, taking a sweeping and intimate look at how this cruel disease affects nearly five million Americans and their loved ones.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Twin Cities Public Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Shenk
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/theforgetting/
  • Runtime: 117 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Food for the Ancestors
  • Description: Presents Mexican customs relating to the care and remembrance of the dead as celebrated in the culturally rich state of Puebla. Focuses on folk arts related to the celebration, such as weaving, pottery, dance, and preparation of special foods.
  • Year: 1999
  • Production Company: Food for Thought Productions
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Jan Thompson
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/foodancestors/
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• 1421: The Year China Discovered America
  • Description: In U.S. schools it is taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. But did he? Gavin Menzies has developed a theory--supported by a wide variety of sources and hypotheses -- that negates the Columbus discovery. Claiming that Columbus traveled west with a map of the lands he would encounter, Menzies� deducted that an intrepid Chinese Admiral named Zheng commanded a huge fleet of vessels that reached America�s East Coast decades earlier. Evidence supporting the presence of a large Chinese fleet as far west as Africa is compelling. From there, the story contains more assumptions, making it less persuasive but still plausible. Did Italian merchant Nicolo daConti travel with the Chinese, then back to Europe with maps that ended up in Columbus� hands? Do Native Americans have Chinese DNA strands because of interaction with the Chinese arriving from the east, rather than because of migration across the Bering Strait? Are the Bimini "shark mounds" really the burial site of shipwrecked Chinese junks? Menzies ideas have created intense controversy. Scientists and historians have challenged almost every aspect of the theory. Many key documents have been destroyed. The truth may never be known. Challenge your students to question basic premises of the American experience and spark a debate with no easy answers with 1421: The Year China Discovered America?
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Paladin Invision; Penguin Television
  • Writer/Director/Producer: David Wallace; Sun Shuyun
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 113 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip
  • Description: Horatio Nelson Jackson, an eccentric Vermont doctor, drove from San Francisco to New York City, in 1903 to became the first person to drive an automobile across the continent - a feat never before accomplished. It would mark the beginning of a new era in America and the end of another. It took Lewis & Clark over two years to go from the Atlantic to the Pacific - Horatio went the opposite direction, by means of the "Horseless carriage", in less than 3 months.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; American Lives II Film Project
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Dayton Duncan
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/horatio/
  • Runtime: 108 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• How Difficult Can This Be?--'F.A.T. City, A Learning Disabilities Workshop
  • Description: A group experiences life the way a learning disabled student does and learns methods of teaching and helping such students.
  • Year: 2004
  • Production Company: PBS
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Peter Rosen
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 106 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Huey Long
  • Description: This program is a documentary about the life and times of Huey P. Long, the populist governor and senator of Louisiana during the 1930s. Narrated by David McCullough, the program combines rare archival materials with interviews with those who knew Long and those who studied him.
  • Year: 1985
  • Production Company: Ken Burns
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns; Richard Kilberg
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/hueylong/
  • Runtime: 87 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Journey of Man
  • Description: How did the human race populate the world? A group of geneticists have worked on the question for a decade, arriving at a startling conclusion: the "global family tree" can be traced to one African man who lived 60,000 years ago. Dr. Spencer Wells hosts this innovative series, featuring commentary by expert scientists, historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists.
  • Year: 2003
  • Production Company: tigress
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Dr. Spencer Wells
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 114 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Jeanette Rankin: The Woman Who Voted No
  • Description: In 1916, Montana voters sent Jeannette Rankin to the U.S. Congress, making her the first woman ever elected to national office. She came to national attention when she voted against American entry into the First World War, saying, "I want to stand by my country, but I cannot vote for war." She did not return to office in 1918 and instead worked for several peace groups throughout the '20s and '30s. She was reelected to Congress in 1940 and was again faced with the declaration of war. She remained true to her conscience and cast the only opposing vote. Her choice ended her political career. This program chronicles her life as a prominent speaker, lobbyist and grassroots suffragist organizer.
  • Year: 1984
  • Production Company: Susan Cohen Regele
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Susan Cohen Regele; Ronald Bayly; Nancy Landgren
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 29 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Korean War Stories
  • Description: The Korean conflict is often called "The Forgotten War," but it has never been forgotten by the men and women who experienced it. Veterans share their extraordinary experiences and memories. Viewers hear from notable personalities as well as the soldiers in the trenches. Some of the veterans interviewed include Senator John S. Warner, Senator John Glenn, baseball player Ted Williams, astronaut Wally Schirra, former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, Rep. Charles Rangel, performer Willie Nelson, nationally syndicated writer David Hackworth, NBC News correspondent in Korea, Irving R. Levine and Medal of Honor recipients General Ray Davis and Colonel Carl Sitter.
  • Year: 2001
  • Production Company: New Voyage Communications
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Robert Uth; Phylis Geller; Walter Cronkite
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 57 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Last One Picked�First One Picked On
  • Description: Children with learning disabilities often find themselves isolated from this valued world of friendship. Their impulsive, immature and unpredictable behavior often results in social isolation and rejection. Their behavior is often misunderstood and misinterpreted by peers and adults. Although they often receive assistance and empathy for their 'academic' problems, their lack of 'social competence' is viewed as willful and negative.
  • Year: 1994
  • Production Company: Greater Washington Educational Television Association, Inc.
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Richard Lavoie; Joseph Camp; Noel Gunther; Jeff Bieber
  • Program website: N/A
  • Runtime: 75 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Lewis and Clark (part 1)
  • Description: In 1801, the United States ended at the Mississippi River, and almost all Americans lived 50 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean. When President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon, he doubled the country's size. Jefferson commissioned Meriweather Lewis and William Clark to reveal the West. Leaving Illinois in May, 1804 the expedition crossed the Mississippi River and traveled to the Missouri River which they followed through what is now Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. They saw plants and animals previously unknown to the white man and spent the winter of 1805 with the Mandan Tribe on the upper Missouri. Lewis, using his minimal medical skills, helped deliver the baby of Sacagawea, a Shosoni woman, captured by the Hidatasas Indians and sold to a French-Canadian trapper Carbonneau. Sacagawea and Carbonneau joined the expedition. Leaving Fort Mandan the expedition discovered the Great Falls of the Missouri. Thomas Jefferson received his first shipments from the expedition and was overjoyed. As the expedition approached the Continental Divide, instead of an easy passage to the Pacific, they found a huge range of mountains.
  • Year: 1997
  • Production Company: Florentine Films; WETA
  • Writer/Director/Producer: Ken Burns
  • Program website: http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/
  • Runtime: 116 mins
  • Rights statement: Accessible to VIVA community only under license from PBS Video.
  • Play video
• Lewis and Clark (part 2)
  • Description: As Meriweather Lewis, William Clark and the Corps of Discovery passed the Missouri River and approached the Bitterroot Mountain Range, they grew desperate for horses provisions to get through the seemingly endless, snow- covered peaks. The Shoshone Indians provided them with horses for their journey. Moving west they befriended the Nez Perce Indians and entered the Columbia River. On November 18, 1995, William Clark set out from their campsite in the Columbia River Gorge, climbed a hill and saw what no white man had ever seen from the Northwest: The Pacific Ocean. In March 1806 the expedition began their return trip to the East. On their return they retrace their steps and spent several weeks with the Nez Perce, Shoshoni and Mandan, said good-bye to Sacagawea and her family and arrived at the Mississippi River in September 1806. Shortly after their return, Clark mar