US History

20th Century Overviews

1960's videography

1950's videography

1920's/30's videography

US Politics & Government (includes videos about the US Presidency)

Propaganda

African Americans

Asian Americans

Chicanos/Latinos

Indigenous Peoples of North America

Jewish Studies

Labor and Labor History

Peace and Conflict Studies (for World Wars and other US military involvements)

International Terrorism (for works dealing with 9.11)

Popular Culture

Women's Studies

The A.C.L.U.: A History

This program, with commentary from Oliver North, Dave Barry, and Molly Ivins, traces the tumultuous history of the ACLU from its inception by founder Roger Baldwin, through dozens of legal challenges over the past century, including the Scopes trial, the 1930s labor strikes, Japanese internment, the HUAC hearings and blacklisting, the Vietnam war crimes trials, the American Nazi Party's bid to march in Skokie, Illinois, and others. Baldwin's story is interwoven throughout. A film by Lawrence R. Hott and Diane Garey. Dist.: Films Media Group. 1998. 57 min. DVD 6495

America.

With Alistair Cooke. 52 min. each installment

The New Found Land.Explains how the white man got to North America and what he was seeking. Describes the arrival of the Spanish, the French, and the British in North America. Video/C 1415

Home Away From Home. Describes how merchant adventurers and social dissenters poured in from Elizabethan England to settle America's east coast. Explains that regional character evolved as Puritans, Pilgrims, and Quakers struggled with the rocky North while a landed gentry prospered in the highly productive feudal South. Video/C 1416

Making a Revolution. Explains that the diverse colonies in America drew together in common complaints against England. Traces the tradition of turning to arms in the face of trouble, from Concord Bridge and the antique long reifles, to the modern National Rifle Association. Video/C 1417

Inventing a Nation.Discusses the writing of the Constitution and the secret Independence Hall debates which set precedence for modern politics. Visits Jefferson's Virginia home, giving insight into the man who created our Bill of rights, and follows the westward surge across the Appalachians which expanded the character of the new Republic. Video/C 1418

Gone West.Deals with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, the exploration of the distant reaches of the waterways, the forcing of Indian nations west of the Mississippi, and the gold rush. Video/C 1419

A Firebell in the Night.Discusses the causes and miseries of the Civil War and the racial wounds that still trouble the United States. Video/C 1420

Domesticating a Wilderness.Discusses the Mormons' establishment in Utah, the first transcontinental rail link, the settlement of the midlands by European immigrants, and the Indians' last desperate struggles which exploded in the Custer massacre and the Battle of Wounded Knee. Video/C 1421

Money on the Land.Deals with the turn-of-the-century industrialization of the United States. Discusses early American inventors whose newly discovered methods and resources were exploited by the Rockefellers, Carnegies, and other industrialists for business purposes. Video/C 1422

The Huddled Masses.Visits ships' holds, Ellis Island, and the Lower East Side garment factory sweat shops in order to depict turn-of-the-century immigration. Uses old photographs of the poor immigrants in contrast with oil portraits of tycoons who became rich at their expense. Video/C 1423

The Promise fulfilled and the Promise Broken.Deals with the promise of unlimited prosperity after World War I, the boom of the 1920's, the Depression and the New Deal. Video/C 1424

The Arsenal. Deals with the American way of war from colonial Williamsburg to the modern sentimental traditions of the armed forces. Video/C 1425

The First Impact.Presents a record of Alistair Cooke's impressions of the people, places, institutions, and landscapes of America. Video/C 1426

The More Abundant Life. A potpourri of impressions of America: Hoover Dam from the confident 30's, neon Los Vegas in the glittering 79's, Los Angeles strangled with motor cars, Hawaii showing racial harmony amid pollution and overdevelopment. A summary of America's present status and prospects for the future. Video/C 1427

America at War. 1995. 45 min. each installment.

Our Troops Train for War. Two training films used to prepare the American soldier for the perils and dangers he faced when encountering the enemy. Baptism of fire: A drama designed to teach soldiers how to deal with their fears of going into battle for the first time. Jap Zero: An interesting film starring Ronald Reagan as a novice pilot trying to distinguish the Japanese Zero fighter plane from one of our own--with nearly disastrous results. Video/C 5701

Our Troops Under Fire. Four films containing graphic historical footage of land, air, and amphibious assaults on enemy strongholds. Cameramen at war: Documentary on the cameramen of the British military film units and the newsreel companies that documented battles of both World Wars. 957th day: Shows the Pacific Fifth Fleet engaged in combat action on the 957th day of WWII. Mission completed: A film about American bombers returning to the ship after a bombing run. Battle for the beaches: Documentary footage examining Allied machinery and methods used to attack the Axis powers on the beach fronts. Includes the Battle of Dunkirk and amphibious assaults on Sicily, Salerno, and Dieppe, France. Video/C 5702

Preparing for War. Contains an interesting, powerful look at various films produced to alert the American public about the looming threat of world war and to muster sentiment and support towards the effort. Hitler's ascent to power: Documents Hitler's chilling rise to power. Britain on guard: Shows how the British coped with German aerial attacks and the devastating VI rocket. All Hands: A British officer talks too much in a pub run by spies with disastrous results. Story of Corporal Jolley: A true first person account by an American soldier who survived a Japanese prison camp and the Bataan Death March. Video/C 5700

Show Business in War. Three films showing how Hollywood and the business community were involved in the war effort. War Bonds: Features Bette Davis selling war bonds. Hollywood Canteen: Dinah Shore takes the viewer on a tour of a typical war canteen where Hollywood stars mingled with the troops and special performances helpted lift morale. Strictly GI: Highlights the special radio show broadcast weekly for the enjoyment of troops worldwide. Video/C 5703

Victory. Victory focuses on the reaction of America to the end of the war. D-Day minus one: Presents the saga of the paratroopers who dropped into Europe behind enemy lines five hours before the D-Day invasion. Focus on 1945: Features the victory of Allied troops as they reclaim Europe, the liberation of POW camps, the trial of General Yamashita of Japan for high war crimes, and footage of a top ranking Nazi leader on trial at Nuremberg. Japan surrenders: Looks at the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan's unconditional surrender to General MacArthur. Video/C 5704

America in the '40s: A Sentimental Journey 1998. 3 segments, 57 min. each.

Part 1, On Borrowed Time. In this first segment the decade begins with optimism, but the attack on Pearl Harbor brings America into its second world war. Popular music and movies of the time are featured along with wartime footage, home movies, and original stories from Americans who lived through those momentous years. 57 min. Video/C 5807

Part 2, War Stories. This second segment focuses on riveting battle footage as the war accelerates, while veterans recount poignant tales of frontline terror and bonds of friendship that survive today. Includes archival footage of the war, of performances by USO troops, and of war plant workers at home, plus popular songs of the era. 57 min. Video/C 5808

Part 3, Coming Home. In this final segment join the crowds who celebrated the end of World War II, and watch as GIs adjust to civilian life, marriage, and babies. Then re-live America's introduction to the gadget that would change life forevermore: Television. Features archival footage and popular songs that helped define the era. 57 min. Video/C 5809

America and Lewis Hine

One of the most influential photographers in the world, Lewis Hine recorded the changing face of America in more than 10,000 images taken over 40 years. This documentary using historical photographs and footage, follows America's pioneer industrial photographer on his odyssey through the mines, mills, and factories of America in the first half of the twentieth century. An incredible collection of his photographs including many never seen before, presents the power of his work. c1996. 56 min. Video/C 8841.

America 1900

A 4-part series, on two videotapes, examining the turn of the century pivotal year: 1900. This program chronicles the forces of change which ultimately shaped the coming century. 1998.

Part 1: Spirit of the age (47 min.) -- Part 2: Change is in the air (27 min.). Parts one and two focus on technological innovations, the challenges faced by President McKinley, the advent of the Conservation Movement, early photojournalism, the War of Independence in the Philippines, the lives of immigrants, the Scofield Mine Disaster, and popular culture at the turn of the century. Video/C 5810

Part 3: Great civilized power (50 min.) -- Part 4: Anything seemed possible (42 min.). Part three and four examine the presidential campaign of Fall 1900, the 1900 Paris Exposition, the Boxer Rebellion in China, racism against Afro-Americans, the Galveston hurricane, labor unrest among coal miners resulting in the formation of the United Mine Workers Union, the developing music industry and popular culture at the turn of the century. Video/C 5811

America on the Road (A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers).

A history of the automobile and its profound effects on American society. 1984. 60 min. Video/C 805 60 min.

The American Gangster

With vintage film and photographs, this documentary chronicles the birth of organized crime in the United States and the most infamous deeds of gangsters such as Bugsy Siegel, Al Capone, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Lucky Luciano, from Prohibition to prostitution, gangland massacres to gambling empires. c2006. 48 min. DVD 5337

American Industrial Ballads (Pete Seeger)[SOUND RECORDING]

Contents: Peg and awl -- The blind fiddler -- The buffalo skinners -- Eight-hour day -- Hard times in the mill -- Roll down the line -- Hayseed like me -- The farmer is the man -- Come all you hardy miners -- He lies in the American land -- Casey Jones -- Let them wear their watches fine -- Cotton mill colic -- Seven cent cotton and forty cent meat -- Mill mother's lament -- Fare ye well, old Ely Branch -- Beans, bacon, and gravy -- The death of Harry Simms -- Winnsboro Cotton Mill blues -- Ballad of Barney Graham -- My children are seven in number -- Raggedy -- Pittsburgh Town -- Sixty per cent. Sound/D 69

The American Mind

A broad survey of American intellectual history ; a history of the ideas, the thinkers and the institutions that have mattered most to Americans. lecture 1. The intellectual geography of America -- lecture 2. The technology of Puritan thinking -- lecture 3.The enlightenment in America -- lecture 4. Jonathan Edwards and th great awakening -- lecture 5. The colonial colleges -- lecture 6. Republican fundamentals -- lecture 7. Nature's god and the American revolution -- lecture 8. Deism, science, and revolution -- lecture 9 --Hamilton and his money -- lecture 10. Jefferson and his debts -- lecture 11. The Edwardseans, from Hopkins to Finney -- lecture 12. The moral philosophers -- lecture 13. Whigs and democrats -- lecture 14. American romanticism -- -- lecture 15. Faith and reason at Princeton -- lecture 16. Romanticism in Mercersburg -- lecture 17. Slaveholders and abolitionists -- lecture 18. Lincoln and liberal democracy -- lecture 19. The failure of the general elite -- lecture 20. Darwin in America -- lecture 21. Liberalism and the social gospel -- lecture 22. The agony of William James -- lecture 23. Josiah Royce, the idealist dissenter -- lecture 24. John Dewey and social pragmatism -- lecture 25. Socialism in America -- lecture 26. Populists, progressives, and war -- lecture 27. Decade of the disenchanted -- lecture 28. The social science revolution -- lecture 29. The New South versus the new negro -- lecture 30. FDR and the intellectuals -- lecture 31. Science under the cloud -- lecture 32. Ironic judgments -- lecture 33. Mass culture and mass consumption -- lecture 34. Integration and separation -- lecture 35. The rebellion of the privileged -- lecture 36. The neo-conservatives. Lecturer: Allen C. Guelzo, Gettysburg College. 6 videodiscs (ca. 90 min. each) 2005. DVD 6437

American Potpourri

Contents: Immigration (1946, 10 min.) -- Our changing family life (1957, 20 min.) -- San Francisco iron workers strike (1917, 6 min.) -- So they tell me (1919, 5 min.) -- Civil War (1954, 15 min.) -- Powers of Congress (1947, 10 min.) -- United Railroad employees strike (1917, 2 min.).

Immigration: European immigrants are spotlighted here in a history which seeks to illustrate how so many people from so many different countries made their way through New York City and Ellis Island to take their places among the ranks of the old immigrant descendants. Our changing family life: Contrasts the nuclear families of the 1950s with those of the 1880s in order to underscore the great societal changes: Women's lib, the industrial revolution, progressive politics and the growth of cities -- that had taken place during the intervening 70 years. San Francisco iron workers strike: Newsreel footage of striking iron workers marching down the cobblestone streets of 1917 San Francisco. Great shots of trolly cars too ... too bad they destroy one. So they tell me: Cartoon produced immediately after WWI which takes stabs at the likes of Eugene Debs, the renaming of popular foods with ethnic combatant nomenclature, arms shipments, Prohibition, Irish republicanism, the Kaiser, the Bolsheviks, Blue Laws, bathing suit taxes and more. Civil War: Color film dramatizing the pivotal moments of the War Between the States with live action and animation. Powers of Congress: Famous Coronet Instruction Films presentation wherein a man dreams of a world without the interference of Congress ... and finds out that the world is awful without it. United Rairoad employees strike: Shot in San Francisco in 1917, this brief newsreel presents marching bands leading disgruntled striking San Francisco laborers. 68 min. DVD 2649

American Social History Project (Who Built America?)

Film series which explores the central role working men and women have played in the key events of American history. 30 min. each installment. 1987.

The Big H. Part one in a film series which explores the central role working men and women have played in the key events of American history. The Big H ("H" for history) is an introduction to the history of working people and the difficulties of understanding the past. Video/C 5826

Tea Party Etiquette This film depicts Boston Tea Party and other events of the American Revolution from the perspective of Boston shoemaker George Hewes. Video/C 5827

Daughters of Free Men This film presents working conditions during the 1830's of young girls at the Merrimack Textile Mill in Lowell, Massachusetts. Also depicts a strike by the girls because of poor working conditions and wages. Video/C 5828

Doing as They Can. In this segment a fugitive woman slave describes her life, work, and day-to-day resistance on a North Carolina planation during the 1840s and 1850s. Video/C 5829

Five Points. This film examines New York City in the 1850s as seen through the conflicting perspectives of a native-born reformer and an immigrant Irish family. Video/C 5830

Dr. Toer's Amazing Magic Lantern Show This film examines the struggle to realize the promise of freedom in the years following the Civil War, as depicted by ex-slave J.W. Toer and his traveling picture show. The show featured music and stories of the black people before, during and after the Civil War. Especially focuses on the misrepresentation by the North of the former slaves and the progress of Reconstruction. Video/C 5831

1877, The Grand Army of Starvation This film examines the summer of 1877, in which eighty thousand railroad workers went on strike, and were joined by hundreds of thousands of other Americans. The Great Uprising inaugurated a new era of conflict over the meaning of equality in the industrial age. Video/C 5832

Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl In this film photographs, motion pictures and words derived from interviews, memoirs, newspapers and other sources are presented to show the life of immigrant shirtwaist makers in New York City during the first decade of the 20th century. The film illustrates their working conditions, the strike movement and their arrests. Video/C 5833

Up South: African-American Migration in the Era of the Great War This film chronicles the migration of 500,000 African-Americans from the South to cities in the North between 1916 and 1921. Mississippians chose Chicago as their destination in the great migration. Their story is told through the recollections of migrants themselves and through letters, oral histories, songs, photographs and art. Video/C 5834

The Americas in the Revolutionary Era.

Lectures by Marshall C. Eakin. 120 min. each tape.

Lecture 1. Revolutions and wars for independence -- Lecture 2. Origins of revolution in the Atlantic world -- Lecture 3. Colonial empires on the eve of revolution -- Lecture 4. The North American revolution emerges. Revolutions and wars for independence: Sets the major themes of the video series, along with a discussion of the concepts of "revolution" and "wars for independence.". Origins of revolution in the Atlantic world: Looks at the most important transformations that shaped the Atlantic world by the mid-18th century, including the Enlightenment, developing commerce and trade, the industrial revolution and new political theories which ushered in an age of political revolutions. Colonial empires on the eve of revolution: Between 1492 and 1750, the Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English had carved out large colonial empires. This lecture surveys those colonial empires, their dimensions and characteristics in 1750. North American revolution emerges: In the dissimilar American colonies, a sense of unity emerged out of the colonial wars that the English fought, especially with the French in the 1750s and 1760s. These decades precipitated the emergence of a sense of an "American" identity among the English colonists, eventually resulting in a move towards independence in 1775 and 1776. Video/C MM283

Lecture 5. From Lexington and Concord to Yorktown -- Lecture 6. Radicalism of the American Revolution -- Lecture 7. Slave rebellion in St. Dominigue -- Lecture 8. Haitian Revolution. From Lexington and Concord to Yorktown: Covers the fighting during the American Revolution from Lexington and Concord to the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, an extraordinary story of a small group of colonials challenging and defeating the most powerful empire in the world. Radicalism of the American Revolution: Discusses the "meaning" of the American Revolution. For some, it was a conservative effort by planters to sieze power and control the development of a society already divided between slaves and free men, white and non-whites, and the landed and landless. For others, it represented a radical break with a monarchical past and a move towards a republic and democratic politics. Slave rebellion in St. Dominigue: The Haitain revolution is the only successful slave rebellion in the Americas. This section and the next analyze the only case of slaves rising up, taking power, and creating an independent nation. Also looks at the French revolution and its influence on Saint Domingue, a classic example of the sugar and slave plantation complex in the Americas. Haitian Revolution: In 1791, thousands of slaves rose up in St. Domingue, in a war for their freedom. Amidst the violence, a group of black leaders emerged, the most famous the former slave Toussaint L'Ouverture. Over more than a decade the slaves defeated invading armies from France, England, and Spain, but the black leadership eventually turned against itself in a struggle for control of the revolution. Video/C MM284

The Anarchist Guest: Emma Goldman

Depicts the life and philosopies of Emma Goldman, an anarchist nicknamed "Red Emma" for her radical political views. Follows her tumultuous life from Russia to the United States and her eventual deportation from the U.S. because of her politics. Traces Goldman's journey to the Canadian home where she found exile in her later years. 2000. 42 min. Video/C 7932

Arguing the World

Traces the lives of four of the 20th century's leading thinkers, Daniel Bell, Nathan Glazer, Irving Howe and Irving Kristol. They have been disagreeing with a vengeance since they studied together at New York City College in the 1930s. This film traces their early idealistic days, their controversial role in the McCarthy era, their battle with the New Left in the sixties, and their vastly differing political views today. 1997. 109 min. Video/C 5541

An American Ism, Joe McCarthy.

Uses archival film segments and interviews with friends, business associates, and politicians to provide a film biography of Joseph McCarthy. 84 min. Video/C 124

The Appalachians.

A 3-part series exploring the political, economic, musical, and spiritual history of the Appalachian region. Dist.: Films Media Group. c2006. 53 min. each installment

[Episode 1], The First Frontier. Examines the sophisticated culture of the Cherokee Indians, and the arrival of Europeans, focusing on the influx of Scots-Irish immigrants, their crucial role in the American Revolution and their equally defiant stance against the U.S. government during the Whiskey Rebellion. The Appalachian origins of country music from old world folk tunes are also examined, with attention to the influences of African-American and revivalist religious culture. DVD 6492

[Episode 2], The Fight for Land and Work. Opens with the forced exodus of the Cherokee, followed by examination of Appalachia's role in the racial and ideological tensions leading up to the Civil War. Discussions of race and class-related strife, including the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, are linked with the arrival of railroad, lumber and mining interests in the region -- culminating with the Coal Wars, accompanied by authentic folk songs from the period. DVD 6493

[Episode 3], A Culture of Survival. Examines the 20th century history of Appalachia through the prisms of economic hardship, spiritual perseverance, the region's rich musical heritage and the rise of modern country music by way of radio and phonograph. It also highlights the resonance of long-standing church traditions and documents the Appalachian experience in connection with major historical events : the Great depression, the New Deal, The WPA, the Tennessee Valley Authority, stip mining, the migration of mountain people to the mid-West and LBJ's war on poverty. DVD 6494

The Atlantic Charter: The End of Colonialism

Examines the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration by Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, that gave hope to nationalists living in embattled Europe and in colonial possessions around the world. Includes research asserting that the Charter accelerated Hitler's plans for the "final solution" and influenced Japan's decision to bomb Pearl Harbor. Includes commentary by Elliott Roosevelt, Douglas Brinkley and historians Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Richard Rathbone, Chandrika Kaul, Theodore Wilson, and Tobias Jersak. 2002. 57 min. DVD 2030

The Atomic Cafe.

A documentary exploration of the United States government's propaganda promoting the atomic bomb. Relies on film clips of the 1940's and 1950's, including musical hits and training films. 92 min. Video/C 1025 (See Also: Public Shelter CD-ROM)

Public Shelter web site

The Battle of Glorieta Pass.

Using commentary from diaries and journals of Civil War participants film reviews the military strategy and events surrounding the Battle of Glorieta Pass during the New Mexico Civil War campaign of 1862. Video/C 2868

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

This documentary juxtaposes newsreel footage, film clipsand period music in an eye-opening look at the GreatDepression. Many of the movies created in the 1930sfeatured strong social commentary, while othersoffered pure escapism and fed a fascination with adazzling world out of reach to the everyday American.Through a contrast between the fantasy of film and thereality of everyday life, a fascinating perspective onthe Great Depression and Hollywood's golden age ispresented. Also includes political speeches byFranklin D. Roosevelt and others.1975. 112 min. DVD 450

By-line Newsreel. (Tyler-Texas Black Film Collection: The Missing Link in Black Cinema)

Newsreels providing close-ups of black leaders in government and sports. Produced by Bill Alexander and Biddy Wood, 1956/1957.

Vol. 1: Opens with shots of black government officials in the Eisenhower Administration followed by footage of Marine Reservists departing for basic training. In sports, the Baltimore Colts with black star Lenny Moore, take on the Chicago Bears, with black star Bobby Watkins. Fashion models wearing "I like Ike" buttons are shown followed by an interview with Mrs. Carmel Carrington Marr, A U.N. official. Video/C 7176

Vol. 2: Opens with Afro-Americans celebrating in the "I'm an American Day" parade in Baltimore. At Altus Air Force Base, a black soldier comes to the aid of a white engineer who is disabled. Black officials of the Eisenhower Administration are shown including Samuel Pierce, Undersecretary of Labor. Concludes with a visit to the Savannah Club in New York's Greenwich Village. Video/C 7177

Vol. 3: Black members of the Eisenhower administration are interviewed including a top aide, the first black member of the White House staff, and Assistant Secretary of Labor, J. Ernest Wilkins. In sports, Air Force athletes are shown competing in Olympic track and field tryouts in Los Angeles. Video/C 7178

Vol. 4: The 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco is shown with interviews of leading Black Republicans. In sports, scenes from the Morgan State-North Carolina State football game are shown and at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, President Eisenhower opens the World Series by throwing out the first ball to Dodger catcher Roy Campanella. Video/C 7179

Breaking the Blacklist.[Audiorecording]

This documentary explores blacklisting in the entertainment industry in the U.S. in the 1940's and 1950's. 1998. 56 min. Sound/C 393

Can the Rosenberg Case Be Reopened?

A historical review of the Rosenberg treason case, followed by interviews with one of the Rosenberg's two sons and two civil rights attorneys about the legal possibility of re-opening the case. They discuss the complex legal issues involved and the continuing efforts to force the FBI to unseal their extensive files of the case. Videocassette release of a film originally televised in 1957. Interviewer: Robert Cohen. Robert Meeropol (Son of Rosenberg), Ben Margois (attorney), Luke McKissack (Attorney). 86 min. Video/C 6133

The Century: America's Time. (Decades of Change.)

With Peter Jennings; produced by ABC News in association with The History Channel.

Part 1: Seeds of Change. This program examines daily life in America during the early 1900s--when a loaf of bread cost only a few cents, horse-power really meant horsepower, flying to the moon was the stuff of dreams and the average life span was only 45 years--while looking ahead to the decades of changes yet to come. 46 min. Video/C 6354

Part 2: 1914-1919: Shell Shock. The psychological damage inflicted by the bombardments of World War I was called shell shock, a term that aptly described the feelings of the World War I world. This program illustrates America's reluctant emergence as a world power and analyzes the social impact of the wholesale loss of life, of husbands and fathers and of sacred ideals such as honor, patriotism and glory that sprang from "the war to end all wars." 45 min. Video/C 6355

Part 3: 1920-1929: Boom to Bust. In the aftermath of World War I, many modern-minded Americans, particularly women, were eager to do away with outdated traditions and claim new rights and freedoms. This program investigates the culture of the roaring twenties--women's suffrage, prohibition, the exploration of the Antarctic, the Scopes trial, the establishment of the Ku Klux Klan, the new music called "Jazz", technological innovations and finally the stock market crash and the subsequent economic depression. 45 min. Video/C 6356

Part 4: 1929-1936: Stormy Weather. America--a nation that claimed ever-increasing wealth as its birthright--was rudely awakened by the Great Depression, which caused 25% unemployment, the closing of 9,000 banks, and the loss of $2.5 billion in deposits. This program captures a people's struggle as they faced the collapse of prosperity and diminished hopes of being able to experience the American Dream. 45 min. Video/C 6357

Part 5: 1936-1941: Over the Edge. Safely watching Europe from across the Atlantic Ocean, many Americans observed the messianic popularity of Hitler and Mussolini and the subsequent outbreak of World War II with dismany. This program explores the six years preceding America's involvement in the war and explores the question: Could the U.S. have resisted involvement and why did American forces fight in another European war? 45 min. Video/C 6358

Part 6: 1941-1945: Civilians at War. World War II was the first war in history that killed more civilians than soldiers, as leaders on both sides accepted noncombatant casualties as inevitable--and to some, even desirable. This program studies the courage and strength necessary to face and survive starvation, bombing, torpedoing, massacre, and extermination in camps specifically designed for that purpose. 70 min. Video/C 6359

Part 7: 1941-1945: Homefront. The shock of Pearl Harbor awoke America from its dream of isolationism. As troops went overseas and industry ramped up to supply the urgent need for war materials, a new wave of Southern blacks migrated north and west to fill the workforce--along with millions of women. This program discusses the effects of World War II on the homefront, spotlighting the war's impact as a catalyst for economic, demographic and social change. 45 min. Video/C 6360

Part 8: 1946-1952: Best Years. Demobilization after World War II meant difficult changes as the U.S., geared up for war, resumed a peacetime existence. This program describes America's new status as a superpower, as the nation shouldered the responsibility for rebuilding Europe and Japan-- and for containing Soviet ambitions. The challenge faced by veterans and spouses to become reacquainted after years of separation and hardship is highlighted. 45 min. Video/C 6361

Part 9: 1953-1960: Happy Daze. The post-war baby boom, suburban living and Elvis Presley epitomize the contentment of the Eisenhower years. But these were also years marked by the Korean War, rabid McCarthyism, violent civil rights demonstrations, and a frightening escalation in the Cold War. This program probes the tensions between these crosscurrents in American history. 45 min. Video/C 6362

Part 10: 1960-1964: Poisoned Dreams. Beset by both international and domestic pressures, America during the Camelot years was swiftly approaching a political-cultural meltdown. This program documents U.S.-Soviet conflicts of interest in Cuba and Vietnam and the growing polarization at home between civil rights activists and segregationist hard-liners, which resulted in the Birmingham riots and the freedom march on Washington, D.C. 43 min. Video/C 6363

Part 11: 1965-1970: Unpinned. Riots and protests intensified in the U.S. as the war in Vietnam dragged on, with anti-war and civil rights activists seeking violent ways to agitate for peace and equality. This program presents the unrelenting rage that divided the nation during those perilous years, as the Watts race riots, the assissinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and the Kent State killings made headline news. 45 min. Video/C 6364

Part 12: 1971-1975: Approaching the Apocalypse. The one bright spot of the 1970's was Nixon's opening of China to the West while the riots at Attica prison and Kent State University, the trauma of the war in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal, left Americans exhausted, embittered and disillusioned. This program appraises the effects of those blights on the political landscape and their impact on the trust between the government and the governed, so vital to the well-being of a representative democracy such as the United States. 45 min. Video/C 6365

Part 13: 1976-1980: Starting Over. The women's and civil rights movements, begun decades earlier and as controversial as ever, continued to evolve during the nation's Bicentennial period. This program focuses on the changing momentum of these movements while also looking at the developing environmental movement spurred by the Love Canal disaster, the developing political power of Christians and gays, the controversies that arose over affirmative action and busing, the Iran Hostage Crisis and the development of OPEC. 45 min. Video/C 6366

Part 14: 1981-1989: New World. The Reagan era witnessed the unexpected end of the Cold War and a welcome return to a booming domestic economy--but did events unfold too quickly to control? This program takes a look at the details and aftershocks both of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and of the yuppie capitalism that threatened to push the limits of the American economy too far. 43 min. Video/C 6367

Part 15: Then and Now. This program examines key moments of the '90's including the Persian Gulf War, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Waco Branch Davidian disaster, the current status of Afro-Americans and the phenomenon of celebrities created by the media. Then the program, with the assistance of leading futurists, looks ahead to some of the possible events and innovations just over the horizon. 45 min. Video/C 6368

Century: Events that Shaped the World.

With Peter Jennings; ABC News.

Part 1: Heaven and Earth: Lindbergh's Journey. In the United States, the 1920s were characterized by a powerful tension that pitted the entrenched forces of tradition against the dynamic energy of modernity. This film seeks to understand that conflict through the story of celebrated aviator Charles Lindbergh. Belonging in spirit to a rapidly disappearing small-town America yet a strong believer in progress, Lucky Lindy captured the imagination of the country as he helped to move the world into a new era. 45 min. Video/C 6342

Part 2: Heaven and Earth: First Step. "The Eagle has landed!" With those words, a collective dream of humankind came true. This program observes the first landing on the lunar surface from the perspective of the visionary technicians, scientists, and researchers who, in control rooms and laboratories, made it possible for Neil Armstrong to take his "one small step." Their exploits paved the way for eventual landings in the 21st century--on Mars. 41 min. Video/C 6343

Part 3: Ultimate Power: Evil Rising. How did Adolf Hitler--an Austrian of little means and meager prospects--rise to absolute power in post-World War I Germany? Did the nation's economic and political situation make it inevitable? This program traces Hitler's amazing ascent from corporal in the Great War through his foray into politics, his imprisonment after the bungled Beer Hall Putsch, his bid for the presidency against Paul von Hindenburg, and his subsequent installment as Chancellor. In English and German with English subtitles. 42 min. Video/C 6344

Part 4: Ultimate Power: The Race. In a devastating instant at Hiroshima, the world was propelled into the age of nuclear armaments. This program, set against the backdrop of World War II, documents the race to invent the atomic bomb: the allied scientists who made it possible, the technological hurdles they overcame, the deep moral issues they confronted, and the responsibility they accepted knowingly or unknowingly for the fate of the free world. 42 min. Video/C 6345

Part 5: No Man's Land: The Great War. The optimism that fueled the early years of the 20th century vanished as America was drawn into "The war to end all wars." This program presents, through archival footage and first person accounts, the grim story of World War I--including the sinking of the Lusitania and the Bulshevik revolution, which led to Russia's withdrawal from the conflict--and the fruitless struggles of President Wilson, Who sought first to keep America out of the war and then, at its end, to forge a lasting and meaningful peace. 42 min. Video/C 6346

Part 6: No Man's Land: The Fall. During the Vietnam war the image of desperate people clinging to an evacuation helicopter atop the U.S. embassy, only hours before North Vietnamese troops arrived is seared into the American consciousness. This program uses the story of South Vietnam's last days as a prism through which the dark side of American foreign involvement can be seen. How did the White House and the Pentagon so completely misjudge America's ability to thwart a people's revolution in Southeast Asia? 42 min. Video/C 6347

Part 7: Memphis Dreams: Innocence and Rebellion. Elvis: Iconoclastic phenomenon, inciting hysteria in teenagers and indignation in parents. On his way to the top he combined the R&B of the Mississippi delta with rocka-billy and tapped into the turbulent forces of youth, sexuality, class, and race, transforming American culture. This program documents the astounding career of Elvis Presley, from his first hits with Sun Records to his final days at Graceland. In the words of John Lennon, "Before Elvis there was nothing." 43 min. Video/C 6348

Part 8: Memphis Dreams: Searching for the Promised Land. When Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in 1968 Memphis--like Dallas in 1963--became a symbol of hope extinguished. This program examines the Civil Rights Movement and the last few years of Martin Luther King's life with emphasis on the sanitation workers strike in Memphis, Tennessee and the killing of America's greatest civil rights leader, its impact on Afro-Americans and the nation. 46 min. Video/C 6349

Part 9: Coming Apart: Nothing to Fear. In the early 1930's mass unemployment, widespread hunger, and a mood of fearful pessimism and simmering unrest were Herbert Hoover's legacy to American's new chief executive. This program spotlights the early days of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, where he scrambled to transform the New Deal from a campaign slogan to nothing short of a social revolution--while staving off attacks by those who viewed him as a dictator and his reforms as a threatening turn to the left. 43 min. Video/C 6350

Part 10: Coming Apart: Picture This. In the late 1940's, while the Soviet Union and the U.S. eyed each other over the Iron Curtain, conservative Americans at all levels of society worried about communist infiltration--especially in the movie industry, since that medium plays a huge role in shaping public perceptions and attitudes. This program reveals a time of McCarthyism and career-ending blacklists, a time when freedom of speech itself became a casualty in the desperate fight to protect democracy from "The red menace." 43 min. Video/C 6351

Part 11: The Evolution of Revolution: Live from Tehran. During the Carter administration, Iranian students seized the American embassy in Tehran--and 53 American hostages--to begin a standoff that lasted until Ronald Reagan's inauguration 444 days later. What factors prompted that act of terrorism? This program examines the history of America's relations with Iran and the consequences of an American foreign policy shaped more by a desire to protect an oil-dependent standard of living and opposition to communist expansion than to promote democracy. 73 min. Video/C 6352

Part 12: The Evolution of Revolution: Facing the New Millennium. What can the costly yet valuable lessons of the past century suggest about the future of the United States, its partners in the Global Village, and planet Earth itself? What will be the long-term impact of the Internet and the Human Genome Project? Who will be the world's new movers and shakers? In this program, eminent visionaries share their observations on the last hundred years and offer their predictions regarding events and innovations yet to come. 14 min. Video/C 6353

A Century of Quilts: America in Cloth.

Celebrates the powerful stories behind quilt-making from three perspectives: records of history, symbols of family/community, and works of art. Features quilts from major American quilt shows in Paducah, Kentucky, and Houston. Produced, written and directed by Laurie A. Gorman. 2001. 77 min. DVD 5615

Chicago: City of the Century

Tells how in just 60 years Chicago grew from a remote, swampy frontier town into one of the most explosively alive cities in the world. It's the story of the wealthy and the indigent, the shop assistants and the millionaire retail barons who together created Chicago. It describes how through innovation, ingenuity and sheer ruthlessness, the captains of industry created empires in a marshy wasteland while millions of immigrants, mostly from Ireland and Northern Europe, helped a capitalist class reinvent the way America did business. The fourth disc: Chicago by 'L' is part travelogue, part history, and part tour of Chicago's neighborhoods by 'L', Chicago's elevated train. Based on the book City of the Century by Donald L. Miller (Moffitt F548.3.M55 1996; Environ Dsgn F548.3.M55 1997)

Disc 1. Mudhole to metropolis / (edited by Bill Lattanzi) -- Disc 2. The revolution has begun / (edited by Bill Lattanzi, Jon Neuburger) -- Disc 3. Battle for Chicago / (edited by Jon Neuburger). -- Disc 4. Chicago by 'L': touring the neighborhoods / (produced by Kelly Luchtman ; written by Geoffrey Baer) and additional interviews. c2003. 345 min. DVD 1554

The Civil War.

A film by Ken Burns. Times vary; consult GLADIS.

The Cause. Begins with an introduction to significant people and the events that led to the beginning of the Civil War. Discusses various battles and their impact on a divided country. Video/C 1810

Bloody Affair, 1862.Covers the development of war technology and its effect throughout the world. Discusses various battles and the Union victories. Explores the life of the soldier and the beginning of conscription. Video/C 1811

Forever Free, 1862.Discusses the events that led to emancipation. Covers various battles including the second battle at Bull Run and Antietem. Explores the changes in military leaders. Video/C 1812

Simply Murder, 1863.Covers the Union defeat at Fredericksburg and other hardships. Discusses life in the camps. Explores the reaction of the North to Lincoln's emancipation proclamation. Covers the role of music in the camps. Discusses further Union losses. Video/C 1813

The Universe of Battle, 1863.Covers the march of the confederates into Pennsylvania and the battle of Gettysburg. Discusses the role of women in the war. Explores the federal draft and the establishment of the first black troop. Video/C 1814

Valley of the Shadow of Death, 1864. Covers biographical information of Generals Grant and Lee. Explores the Union's plan of attack on the confederacy in Atlanta and Richmond. Video/C 1815

Most Hallowed Ground, 1864.Discusses Lincoln's needs to be re-elected and Union plans. Covers the use of spies in the war. Explores the events that led to the capture of Atlanta. Discusses Lincoln's re-election and the establishment of Arlington National Cemetery. Video/C 1816

War is All Hell, 1865. Covers Sherman's march through Georgia and South Carolina. Discusses Lincoln's position and attitudes. Explores John Wilkes Booth and his band of conspirators. Covers the events that led to the end of the war and the surrender of Lee to Grant. Video/C 1817

The Better Angels of Our Nature, 1865.Covers the reaction across the nation of Lee's surrender. Explores the assassination of President Lincoln and the fate of those responsible. Discusses the fate of Jefferson Davis and a look at the effects of the war on the country. Video/C 1818

Ken Burns: The Historical Narrative on Television. 85 min. Video/C 4658

ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries

Civil War Films of the Silent Era

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the American Civil War was a deluge of literature, drama and movies. The years 1911-1915 also marked the passage of movies from nickelodeon theaters to movie palaces showing carefully-prepared feature films. These silent films originally produced between 1913 and 1915 feature plots centered on the Civil War and include one feature film and two nickelodeon films by pioneering producer Thomas H. Ince. Contents: The Coward / director, Reginald Baker ; cast, Frank Keenan, Charles Ray, Margaret Gibson (i.e. Patricia Palmer), Gertrude Claire (1915, 77 min.) -- The Drummer of the 8th (1913, 24 min.) -- Granddad (1913, 29 min.). DVD 443

The Cold War. 1998. 47 min. each installment.

Comrades, 1917-1945. Though ideological enemies, the Soviet Union and the United States are allies against Hitler during WWII. At the end of the war, Europe is divided, and the one-time allies now confront each other knowing that the United States has the atomic bomb. Video/C 5735

Iron Curtain, 1945-1947. The Soviet Union dominates Eastern Europe. Churchill warns of the consequences. Stalin insists that the governments of the Soviet Union's client states be pro-communist. Impoverished after the war, Great Britain opts out as a world power. The United States assumes the mantle of world leadership. Video/C 5735

Marshall Plan, 1947-1952. The United States adopts the Truman doctrine, pledging to defend freedom worldwide. Secretary of State George Marshall plans to bolster economic recovery in Europe. Seeing this as a threat, Stalin forbids his satellites to participate. The world effectively divides. Video/C 5735

Berlin, 1948-1949 In Berlin, the American, British and French sectors form a Western enclave in the Soviet zone of divided Germany. In June 1948, the Soviets blockade the city, but the Western allies successfully airlift in supplies. In August 1949, Soviet scientists explode an atomic bomb, establishing nuclear parity between the two superpowers. Video/C 5736

Reds, 1947-1953. Following Stalin's domination of Eastern Europe and the loss of China, American democracy falls victim to anti-communist hysteria, but survives it. Eisenhower is elected President. In the Soviet Union, Stalin reinforces the climate of terror on which his rule is based. When he dies in 1953, the Soviet people mourn the end of an era. Video/C 5736

Korea, 1949-1953. In June 1950, North Korea invades the South, with Stalin's blessing. The United States, backed by the United Nations, defends South Korea, and then is confronted by communist China. In mid-1951, the war grinds to a bloody stalemate but eventually an armistice is signed. Aggression has been contained. Video/C 5736

After Stalin, 1953-1956. Thaw is conceivable with Stalin's death. Khrushchev outmaneuvers Malenkov for power and visits the West. Germans, Poles and Hungarians attempt to rise against Soviet rule. In 1956, an uprising in Hungary is ruthlessly crushed by Soviet tanks. The United States, pledged to contain rather than overthrow communism, does nothing. Video/C 5737

Sputnik, 1949-1961. In the mid-50s, the Soviet Union seems to be forging ahead. In October 1957, the first Soviet satellite Sputnik orbits the earth--to the dismay and fear of the United States, frustrated by its own ineffectual space program. In 1961, the Soviets launch Yuri Gargarin into space. America will have to meet the challenge. Video/C 5737

The Wall, 1958-1963. The fate of Germany remains unresolved. West Germany has been admitted to NATO. Within East Germany, Berlin is divided between East and West by an open border. Thousands seize the chance to flee the communist system. To keep their people in, the East Germans, with Soviet backing, build The Wall. Video/C 5737

Cuba, 1959-1962. Khruschev decides, with Castro's agreement, to install short-range and medium-range missiles in Cuba, only 90 miles from the U.S. The United States detects the missile sites and blockades the island. The superpowers confront each other; but rather than embark on nuclear war, they each step back. Video/C 5738

Vietnam, 1954-1968. Vietnam has been divided since the end of French colonial rule. The North is run by communists, the South by anti-communists. Ignoring warnings against involvement in a nationalist struggle, the United States commits its armed forces. American protests against the war mount as the U.S. begins to realize this is not a war it can win. Video/C 5738

MAD, 1960-1972. Throughout the 60s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union are locked in a nuclear stand-off; each realizes that bombing the enemy could provoke retaliation and self-destruction. Nuclear strategy evolves into Mutual Assured Destruction, or MAD, in which both sides are guaranteed certain annihilation in the event of nuclear war. Video/C 5738

Make Love Not War, The Sixties. Western economies grow and prosper, fueled partly by armaments production. Rejecting their parents' affluence and the Cold War, many of the young protest and rebel. There is racial violence in U.S. inner cities while rock music comes to express the mood of a disenchanted generation. Video/C 5739

Red Spring, The Sixties.In the Soviet bloc, communist rule stifles ambition and achievement. Soviet defense expenditure cripples economic growth. The young lust for totems of America's youth culture--blue jeans and rock-n-roll. In Czechoslovakia, Dubcek attempts limited reform, but in 1968, Soviet force crushes the Prague Spring. Video/C 5739

China, 1949-1972. Chinese communists win the longest civil war in 20th century history. Mao's land reforms are popular but in 1958, he embarks on a series of catastrophic changes. China maintains an increasingly uneasy relationship with the Soviet Union. In 1960 the Sino-Soviet split paves the way for President Nixon's historic visit to Beijing. Video/C 5739

Detente, 1969-1975. North Vietnam launches a new offensive against the South. The U.S. steps up its bombing campaign but seeks peace through diplomacy. Nixon and Brezhnev sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). The U.S. finally withdraws from Vietnam. Detente culminates in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975. Video/C 5740

Good Guys, Bad Guys, 1967-1978 The superpowers use surrogates to wage ideological and often physical conflict. In 1967 and 1973, American backed-Israel triumphs over Soviet-backed Egypt and Syria. In Africa, the Soviets exploit nationalist, anti-colonial struggles. The U.S. supports South Africa in its battle against communism. Video/C 5740

Backyard, 1954-1990. The U.S. has always regarded Latin America as its own backyard. Fearing the spread of communism, it seeks to destabilize leftist governments. In 1973, the CIA helps overthrow the Chilean President Salvador Allende; in the 1980s, it supports right-wing extremists in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Video/C 5740

Freeze, 1977-1981. Concern for human rights in the East grows; detente ebbs. The Soviets arm Eastern Europe. The U.S. threatens to site missiles in Western Europe. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ends detente. Promising tougher measures against Moscow, Reagan defeats Carter for the presidency. In Poland, martial law is imposed. Video/C 5741

Soldiers of God, 1975-1988. Afghanistan is a war that costs the lives of almost 15, 000 Soviet conscripts and an estimated one million Afghans. The U.S. supplies billions of dollars of weapons to unlikely allies--Islamic fundamentalists. The result is a Vietnam-style conflict which takes its toll on the Soviets and hastens the end of the Cold War. Video/C 5741

Spies, 1944-1994. Early CIA attempts to penetrate the Iron Curtain are thwarted. The U.S. reacts with increasingly sophisticated technological intelligence--the U-2 spy-plane, satellite reconnaissance and electronic eavesdropping. Yet human spies remain important. Sometimes betrayers, sometimes betrayed, many spies pay with their lives. Video/C 5741

Star Wars, 1980-1988. Reagan boosts U.S. defense spending and proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative, an anti-missile system in space. New premier Gorbachev knows the Soviets can't match the U.S., and wants to liberalize and reconstruct the Russian economy. After summits in Geneva, Reykjavik and Washington, the leaders agree to drastic arms cuts. Video/C 5742

The Wall Comes Down, 1989. Incredibly quickly, the Soviet bloc is breaking up, virtually without bloodshed. First Poland, then Hungary, then East Germany slip away from communist control. Gorbachev makes no effort to hold them back with force. Amid scenes of jubilation, the hated Berlin Wall comes down. Video/C 5742

Cold War. ConclusionsThe U.S. proves the stronger, the Soviet Union implodes. Germany is reunified. Shorn of its empire and communist domination, Russia faces its future with its economy in chaos. The balance of terror that has kept the peace for more than 40 years vanishes. The Cold War has ended without the use of nuclear weapons. Video/C 5742

Committee on Un-American Activities

The first film by a private citizen which criticizes a US government committee, includes 1930s footage of House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) Chairman Martin Dies (D) of Texas attacking "subversives" in labor unions; the Hollywood Witch Hunts; the Cold War blacklistings; and the 1960 San Francisco hearings. The film contains an analysis of how the HUAC subpoened the newsfilms of the City Hall protests from TV stations KRON & KPIX and used federal facilities to edit them into "Operation Abolition. Among the HUAC's critics shown: Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, civil rights leader Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, Congressmen James Roosevelt & Phillip Burton, and Frank Wilkinson. Freedom of Information Act files also reveal that the HUAC, in violation of the First Amendment, investigated Robert Carl Cohen for making this film. Archival sound reproductions supplied by KPFA-Radio (Berkekely, Cal.); archival images supplied by KRON-TV and KPIX-TV (San Francisco, Cal.). 45 min. DVD 8373 (digitally restored); vhs Video/C 65

Come to the Fairs (Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers)

A survey of America's World Fairs beginning with the first one held in Chicago in 1893. Discusses how fairs have changed in recent years. 1984. 58 min. Video/C 828

Coming of Age, 1924-1928 (American Diary Series)

Presents the history of the United States between 1924 and 1928 including the flapper era, the boom times after the war which brought peace, prosperity and Prohibition. Examines "Silent Cal" Coolidge as president, Lon Chaney's "Phantom of the Opera," the release of the first talking motion picture, Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris, Al Capone in Federal Court and other events of the mid-twenties. 25 min. Video/C 7397

Commanders.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Feneral of the Army. 62 min. Video/C 457

Erwin Rommel, Field Marshal German Army. Documentary about Rommel's life, focusing on his military victories in France and North Africa and his defeats at Alamein and Normandy. Presents facts concerning his involvement in a plot to kill Hitler and his untimely death. 55 min. Video/C 458

Douglas MacArthur, General of the Army U.S.A. Focuses on Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Pacific Theater, his successful operations against Japan, in Korea and his confrontation with President Truman later. 62 min. Video/C 459

Sir William Slim, Field Marshal, British Army.Focuses on Sir William Slim and his role as field marshal of the British Army during World War II in the China-Burma- India theater. His "forgotten army" fought, lost and won in the Burma jungles. 62 min. Video/C 460

Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, Marshal of the Royal Air Force. Focuses on Sir Arthur Harris and his role as marshal of the Royal Air Force during World War II. 52 min. Video/C 461

Georgi Zhukov, Marshal of the Soviet Union. 52 min. Video/C 462

Isoroku Yamamoto, Grand Admiral, Imperial Japanese Navy. Focuses on Isoroku Yamamoto and his role as admiral of the Japanese Navy during World War II. 62 min. Video/C 463

Confederacy Theory

Presents an unflinching portrait of the cultural war that has erupted around the confederate flag, filmed primarily in South Carolina, the last state to fly the flag on its capitol. Using never-before-seen archival footage and exclusive interviews with politicians, activists, and scholars, Confederacy theory traces the history of this symbol and its impact on Southern culture, history, and identity -- from the Civil War to the front lines of a modern-day secession movement. Produced and directed by Ryan Deussing. c2001. 56 min. Video/C 9739

Description from Berkeley Media catalog

Crucible of Empire: The Spanish-American War

Examines the colorful characters and historic events surrounding the Spanish-American war and its relevance through the 20th century. Using reenactments, interviews with noted authors and popular historians, and more than a dozen popular songs from the period, this documentary looks at the influence of race, economics, new technologies and the news media on America's decision to go to war. Filmed in Cuba and the Philippines it tells the story of the war from all perspectives, not just the American side. 1999 117 min. Video/C 6553

[Debs, Eugene V.] Eugene Debs and the American Movement.

A biographical sketch of Eugene V. Debs, labor leader, industrial unionist, and American Socialist, in Deb's own words, narrated from his speeches and writings. From after the Civil War until his death in 1926, Debs was part of U.S. history at a time when the foundations of modern industrial and corporate America were established. In this fifty year period, Debs was influenced by events as diverse as the massive railroad strike of 1877, the rapid growth of monopolies in the 1890s, World War I during which he was jailed for opposing the war, and the Russian Revolution. 1977. 44 min. Video/C 7298

Demon Rum.(The American Experience)

Portrays Detroit, Michigan before, during and after Prohibition. Includes segments about Henry Ford's influence and recollections of Detroitians. 58 min. Video/C 1543

Destiny of Empires: the Spanish-American War of 1898

1998. 52 min. each installment

Remember the Maine: The Roots of the Spanish-American War Using archival footage, newspaper excerpts, and historical documents, this program traces the roots of the Spanish-American War to Spain's quest to preserve its flagging empire, American imperialism, and the genuine desire on the part of Cubans to shake off the yoke of Spanish domination. It closely examines the role of Cuba's poet/patriot Jose Marti, exposes Roosevelt's expansionist policies and the efforts of William Randolph Hearst that contributed to the decision to enter the war and reveals Spanish attempts to thwart open conflict. DVD 1969

The Spanish-American War: A Conflict in Progress. Using archival footage, newspaper excerpts, and historical documents, this program examines the conduct of the Spanish-American War from Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, to the defeatist attitude of Spanish commander Admiral Cervera to Cuban General Gomez and his decision to side with the Americans. Archival news footage of battles and photos and firsthand accounts of the war by William Randolph Hearst track the precise sequence of events leading to the Spanish defeat and the Treaty of Paris. DVD 1970

The Diary of Sacco and Vanzetti

A docu-drama about the 1927 Massachusetts trial and execution of two Italian-American immigrant anarchists based on Vanzetti's own letters and speeches. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants to America were executed after they were convicted of killing two people during a robbery in South Braintree. Their controversial trial became a political firestorm fueled by anti-immigration and "Red Scare" hysteria that gripped post-World War I America. This unique docu-drama, shot on location around Boston where the case took place, tells the events from the point of view of Vanzetti. Written and directed by David Rothauser. 2004. 57 min. DVD 6909

[Dillinger, John]Public Enemy #1

Chronicles the life of John Dillinger, from his first youthful brush with the law to his death a decade later in a hail of bullets. It explores how, at a time of great hardship, Americans felt more admiration for a daring criminal than their seemingly ineffectual institutions of government. c2002. 60 min. Video/C MM1038

Do You Mean There Are Still Real Cowboys?(The American Experience)

Life on the range is observed in Big Piney, Wyoming, where the romantic image is contrasted to the hard life and harder hours of reality. 58 min. Video/C 1530

The Donner Party.(The American Experience)

Chronicles the tale of the pioneer group that set out for California in the spring of 1846 and ended in disaster in the snows of the Sierra Nevada Mountains the following winter. 58 min. Video/C 2847

ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries

Don't Mourn, Organize!: Songs of Labor (Joe Hill)[SOUND RECORDING]

Contents: Joe Hill / Phil Ochs (Billy Bragg) -- Joe Hill's last will / Joe Hill (Utah Phillips) -- Joe Hill's ashes / Mark Levy (Mark Levy) -- The preacher and the slave / Joe Hill ("Haywire Mac" McClintock) -- Joe Hill / Alfred Hayes, Earl Robinson (Paul Robeson) -- Paper heart / Si Kahn, Charlotte Brody (Si Kahn) -- Casey Jones, the union scab / Joe Hill (Pete Seeger and the Song Swappers) -- Mr. Block / Joe Hill (Mats Paulson) -- Joe Hill listens to the praying / Kenneth Patchen (Joe Glazer) -- The tramp / Joe Hill (Cisco Houston) -- Joe Hill / Afred Hayes, Earl Robinson (Earl Robinson) -- The white slave / Joe Hill (Alfred Esteban Cortez) -- Narrative (Elizabeth Gurley Flynn) -- The rebel girl / Joe Hill ; arr. and adapted with original material by Hazel Dickens (Hazel Dickens) -- There is power in a union / Joe Hill (Entertainment Workers IU 630, I.W.W.). Sound/D 71

Dust Bowl Ballads (Woody Guthrie)[SOUND RECORDING]

Contents: The great dust storm (Dust storm disaster) -- Talking dust bowl blues -- Pretty Boy Floyd -- Dusty old dust (so long it's been good to know yuh) -- Dust bowl blues -- Blowin' down the road (I ain't going to be treated this way) -- Tom Joad, Part 1 -- Tom Joad, Part 2 -- Do re mi -- Dust bowl refugee -- I ain't got no home -- Vigilante man -- Dust can't kill me -- Dust pneumonia blues -- Talking dust bowl blues (alternate version). Recorded in New York City, Apr. 26, 1940 and May, 3, 1940. SOUND/D 72

Edward R. Murrow Collection: The McCarthy Years.

Narrated by Walter Cronkite, this documentary turns back the clock to the 1950s, a time when the country lurched into a murky period of blacklists and witch-hunts for alleged communists, all led by a young Senator named Joseph McCarthy. Murrow made a controversial series of broadcasts that challenge McCarthy's abuses of power, which -- as this program investigates -- signaled the emergence of television news as a highly influential force in American life. DVD 4009; also VHS Video/C 3167

Transcript of Murrow's "A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy." [See it Now CBS-TV, March 9, 1954)]

Transcript of McCarthy's rebuttal to Murrow [See it Now (CBS-TV, April 6, 1954)]

Short audio clip of Murrow on McCarthy (from Radio Days web site)

See It Now website (Museum of Broadcast Communications)

Edward R. Murrow information (Museum of Broadcast Communications)

This is Edward R. Murrow

This Reporter

45/85: America and the World Since World War II

v. 1. From the jubilation of V-J day to the shocking Rosenberg Trial, 1945-1952 -- v. 2. From the invention of television to the first steps in space, 1953-1960 -- v. 3. From the Kennedy era to the final U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, 1961-1975 -- v. 4. From America's bicentennial celebration to the Geneva summit, 1976-1985. 213 min. Video/C 963

Freedom!

A documentary series chronicling the epic journey of America's commitment to liberty and the idea of freedom. Based on the book series A History of US by Joy Hakim. c2003. 52 min. each installment

Episode 1: The colonists in America decide to stake everything on an armed struggle for freedom and a chance to build a new kind of nation. DVD 2196

Episode 2: Episode 2: 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. DVD 2196

Episode 3: America was founded as a free land in which people could live out their own destiny but at what cost to Native Americans? DVD 2196

Episode 4: The Industrial Revolution brings Americans new leisure and personal freedom, but also mounting problems to factory workers, including children. DVD 2196

Episode 5: The Declaration of Independence declares, "All men are created equal," but there is a glaring exception -- America's slaves. DVD 2196

Episode 6: The most terrible war in America's history is fought over the future of slavery in our nation. Looks at the issue of slavery, the abolition movement and the Civil War. DVD 2196

Episode 7: After the Civil War political turmoil takes place in Washington D.C. and a new age of segregation begins. DVD 2196

Episode 8: White settlers and soldiers massacre western Indians, while U.S. immigrants become targets of increasing prejudice. DVD 2196

Episode 9: As the split widens between the rich and the poor, a new labor movement arises fighting for the rights of workers. DVD 2196

Episode 10: 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. DVD 2196

Episode 11: 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. DVD 2196

Episode 12: America enters into an economic depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt initiates the New Deal and the United States enters World War II. DVD 2196

Episode 13: America becomes the acknowledged leader of the free world and embarks on a course of rebuilding democracies abroad. DVD 2196

Episode 14: 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. DVD 2196

Episode 15: Looks at Lyndon B. Johnson, his presidency and the Vietnam War, during a decade that threatened to tear the country apart. DVD 2196

Episode 16: Continues to explore advances made in the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation and looks at the ensuing presidencies. Concludes with the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 and at what may become the next issues in America's freedom struggle. DVD 2196

[Franklin, Benjamin]Benjamin Franklin

Pt. 1 (episodes 1 & 2). Let the experiment be made ; The making of a revolutionary -- Pt. 2 (episode 3). The chess master. 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. Produced & directed by Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer. Originally presented on PBS. c2002. 210 min. Video/C MM475

[Goldman, Emma] Emma Goldman: An Exceedingly Dangerous Woman

Presents the story of Emma Goldman, the Russian immigrant whose activism in the name of free speech, free thought, and free love and whose virulent attacks on government, big business, and American participation in the First World War earned her sainthood among the Left and, ultimately, deportation. 2003. 88 min. DVD 2595

[Goldman, Emma] The Anarchist Guest: Emma Goldman

Depicts the life and philosopies of Emma Goldman, an anarchist nicknamed "Red Emma" for her radical political views. Follows her tumultuous life from Russia to the United States and her eventual deportation from the U.S. because of her politics. Traces Goldman's journey to the Canadian home where she found exile in her later years. 2000. 42 min. Video/C 7932

Great Depression. 60 min. each.p

A Job at Ford's. Just before the advent of the Great Depression, Henry Ford controlled the most important company in the most important industry in the booming American economy. His offer of high wages in exchange for hard work attracted workers to Detroit, but it began to come apart when Ford hired a private police force to speed up production and spy on employees. After the depression hit in 1929, these workers faced a new, grim reality as unemployment skyrocketed. Video/C 3171

The Road to Rock Bottom. As the Great Depression progressed economic collapse took its toll on rural America. Crops went unsold, farm mortgages were called in by banks, hungry farmers protested, and robberies increased dramatically. The U.S. Army was called in to defend the nation's capital from veterans who were demanding that President Hoover and Congress pay a bonus for their services in World War I. The film ends with Franklin Roosevelt's landslide election to the presidency. Video/C 3172

New Deal/New York. In his first one hundred days in office, in a effort to stem the effects of the Great Depression, President Roosevelt created many new federal agencies giving jobs and relief to people and transforming the American landscape with public works projects. Nowhere was this transformation more apparent than in Mayor Fiorello La Guardia's New York City. Together Roosevelt and La Guardia expanded and redefined the role of government in the lives of the American people. Video/C 3173

We Have a Plan. By 1934, as the nation grappled with the Great Depression, challenges to the New Deal from both sides of the political spectrum began to appear. Despite new government programs unrest was increasing especially in California, where the socialist, Upton Sinclair, ran for governor promising to turn idle land and factories into self-governing cooperatives. Sinclair's campaign ended in defeat, but one year later President Roosevelt's signing of the Social Security Act signaled America's emergence as a modern welfare state. Video/C 3174

Mean Things Happening. In the American democracy of the 1930's two visions of liberty collided as working men and women battled landowners and factory managers for the right to join a union. On the tenant farms and in the steel factories working people asserted their citizenship in the midst of great economic turmoil and a tide of government reform. Video/C 3175

To Be Somebody. Many Americans, struggling to survive the Great Depression, were determined to help build a better America through direct action in the courts, in the Congress and in everyday life. At a time when lynchings, segregation, and anti-semitism were commonplace, black heavy-weight champion, Joe Louis became a symbol of national strength. In very different ways Louis and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt challenged America to live up to its promise of justice and opportunity for people of every race and faith. Video/C 3176

Arsenal of Democracy. By 1939 Americans were still struggling to end the Great Depression. Their dreams of peace and prosperity were celebrated at World's Fairs in New York and San Francisco, but prosperity did not come in peacetime. Millions fled the "dust bowl" states to finally find work in new defense industries. While the New Deal changed America forever, it was war that ended the Great Depression. Video/C 3177

ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries

Cole, Lewis. "The Great Depression." (television program reviews) Nation v257, n18 (Nov 29, 1993):668 (5 pages).

Goodman, Walter. "The Great Depression." (television program reviews) New York Times v143 (Mon, Oct 25, 1993):B3(N), pC18(L), col 1

Leonard, John."The Great Depression." (television program reviews) New York v26, n42 (Oct 25, 1993):97 (2 pages).

Ward, Geoffrey C. "The Great Depression." (television program reviews) American Heritage v44, n7 (Nov, 1993):16 (2 pages).

Great Moments of the 20th Century [Sound Recording]

Disc 1. 1900-1953: The new century, the World wars and fragile peace -- Disc 2. 1953-1969: The Atomic era, the Cold War and the '60s -- Disc 3. 1970-1999: Equal rights, Watergate and Glasnost.

A three CD collection that includes nearly 200 audio clips from the people and events that shaped the turbulent 20th century. Each disc combines newsworthy political, social and economic events with insightful pop-culture developments to provide an educational and entertaining view of the last 100 years. Accompanied by a 100 page book which includes track-by-track commentary, decade-by-decade essays, hundreds of historic photos, and a comprehensive time line. SOUND/D 89

The Great San Francisco Earthquake.(The American Experience)

The amazing resources of the human spirit in the face of adversity were demonstrated by the diverse population of San Francisco during and after the April 18, 1906 earthquake and fire which struck with 12,000 times the force of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Although 3000 lives were lost and 6 1/2 billion bricks were dumped after the earthquake, the indomitable pioneer spirit prevailed as the city was rebuilt in three years. Four years later San Francisco hosted the 1915 World's Fair with a sense of triumph and invincibility. 58 min. Video/C 1526

Great American Speeches [Sound Recordings]

Read by Melvyn Douglas, Vincent Price, Ed Begley, Carl Sandburg. Liberty or death (March 28, 1775) / Patrick Henry (7:57) -- Inaugural address (April 30, 1789) / George Washington (7:24) -- First inaugural address (March 4, 1801) / Thomas Jefferson (13:21) -- On the admission of Louisiana (January 14, 1811) / Josiah Quincy (20:21) -- On the War of 1812 (January 8, 1813) / Henry Clay (7:45) -- The "house divided" speech (June 17, 1858) / Abraham Lincoln (2:47) -- The crime against Kansas (May 19-20, 1856) / Charles Sumner (10:15) -- The Cooper Union speech (February 27, 1860) / Abraham Lincoln (2:40) -- On secession (January 7, 1861) / Robert Toombs (14:10) -- The Gettysburg address (November 19, 1863) / Abraham Lincoln (2:53) -- Farewell to his troops (General order no. 9) (April 9, 1865) / Robert E. Lee (1:50) -- The "cross of gold" speech (June 8, 1896) / William Jennings Bryan (21:45). 114 min. Sound/C 88:1

Speeches recited by Ed Begley, George Grizzard, and E. G. Marshall. Naboth's vineyard, 1898 / by W. J. Bryan -- The march of the flag, Sept. 16, 1898 / by A. J. Beveridge -- Public education, Nov. 23, 1900 / by Mark Twain -- The man with the muck rake, April 14, 1906 / by Theodore Roosevelt -- To the jury: self-defense, Aug. 14-15, 1912 / by Clarence Darrow -- Soldier's pay, Sept. 10, 1917 / by Robert La Follette -- Fourteen points, Jan. Sound/C 88:2

Original recordings. Morgenthau's plan, April 28, 1935 / Will Rogers -- War comes to Europe, Sept. 1, 1939 / Herbert Hoover -- Declaration of war, Dec. 8, 1941 / Franklin D. Roosevelt -- On his ninetieth birthday, Mar. 7, 1931 / Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr -- First inaugural address, Mar. 4, 1933 / Franklin D. Roosevelt -- The Truman Doctrine, Mar. 12, 1947 / Harry Truman -- The Marshall Plan, June 5, 1947 / George C. Marshall -- Loyal opposition, Nov. 11, 1940 / Wendell Wilkie -- Order of the day, June 6, 1944 / Dwight D. Eisenhower. Sound/C 88:3

Nobel Prize speech, Dec. 10, 1950 / William Faulkener (3:00) -- Address before Congress, April 19, 1951 / Douglas MacArthur (36:30) -- Acceptance of nomination, July 26, 1952 / Adlai Stevenson (15:05) -- Abraham Lincoln, Feb. 12, 1959 / C. Sandburg (19:50) -- Kennedy-Nixon opening statements: The fourth debate,

Great American Speeches

Read by Melvyn Douglas, Vincent Price, Ed Begley, and Carl Sandburg; directed by Howard Sackler. "Liberty or death" speech, by Patrick Henry.--First inaugural address, by George Washington.--First inaugural address, by Thomas Jefferson.--On the admission of Louisiana, by Josiah Quincy.--On the War of 1812, by Henry Clay.--The "House divided" speech, by Abraham Lincoln.--The crime against Kansas, by Charles Sumner.--The Cooper Union speech, by Abraham Lincoln.--On secession, by Robert Toombs.--The Gettysburg Address, by Abraham Lincoln.--Farewell to his troops (General order no.9), by Robert E. Lee.-- "Cross of gold" speech, by William Jennings Bryan. Sound/C 887

Great Speeches.

See US Politics and Government

The Great War--1918.(American Experience)

Chronicles the story of United States soldiers in the closing battle of World War I as it was told through the letters and diaries of men including General John J. (Blackjack) Pershing, Sergeant Alvin York, and Sergeant Harry S. Truman. 58 min. Video/C 1537

Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century. 58 min. each

Explosion. The World War of 1914 to 1918, the Great War, was the first of the major catastrophes of the 20th century. This episode, the first of eight, examines the causes of World War I. The program affords coverage of the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the turbulent political climate throughout Europe as factors which led to the outbreak of war. Video/C 5256

Stalemate. This program examines the military operations of 1914, with emphasis on the Western Front. Almost from the outset, World War I became a stalemate with a line of trenches stretching from the Swiss Alps to the English Channel. This episode, the second of eight, explores why the war devolved into one of trench warfare. Video/C 5256

Total War. This episode of the Great War, the third of eight, examines the evolution of World War I from a conflict fought across the landscape of Europe to a global war. Coverage is afforded events in Great Britain and Turkey. The use of terror in modern war and the evolution of "total war" -- especially regarding aerial and chemical weapons -- is explored in this program. Video/C 5257

Slaughter. This episode, the fourth of eight, examines the military operations of the Western Front through the eyes of the soldiers who manned the trenches and fought the battles. Through study of the battles of Verdun, the Somme and Passchendaele, a social portrait of the common soldier is developed and analyzed. Video/C 5257

Mutiny. This episode of the Great War, the fifth of an eight part series, examines the toll that the war was taking on the soldiers and civilians by 1917. Unrest on the homefront and mutiny on the Western Front posed vexing problems for political leaders and military planners. On the Eastern Front, resentment toward the war effort would turn into rebellion and then revolution. Video/C 5258

Collapse. Episode six of the Great War examines the critical year of 1918. After the mutiny within the French Army and revolution in Russia, the Germans were still firmly entrenched on the Western Front. The arrival of the United States forces in Europe would determine the outcome of the war. This program probes the issue of American involvement as the deciding factor in Germany's defeat. Video/C 5258

Hatred and Hunger. Episode seven of the Great War examines the end of World War I with emphasis on unresolved issues from the Balkans to the Middle East. World War I brought the collapse of four empires, the death of nine million soldiers and the ruin of much of Europe. The struggle to rebuild lives, countries and governments would set the stage for an even greater catastrophe a generation later. Video/C 5259

War Without End. The final episode of the Great War explores the aftermath of World War I and the failed peace. For the "lost generation," the war would be without end as they struggled with broken hopes, broken families and broken lives. In Germany, the sense of betrayal and dishonor prompted some Germans to seek revenge. The man who rose up to lead them was Adolph Hitler. Video/C 5259

Gideon's Trumpet: The Poor Man and the Law [CBS Reports]

When Clarence Earl Gideon was tried, "justice for all" did not include providing an attorney for an impoverished defendant. The convict boldly appealed to the Supreme Court, seeking redress ... and won. This program documents the case of Gideon vs. Wainwright, that established the right of the accused to be represented by a lawyer even if he or she can't afford to pay for legal counsel. Includes interviews with Gideon, Justice Arthur Goldberg, defense attorney Abe Fortas and state and federal prosecutors. Reporter, Martin Agronsky. Based on the book of the same title by Anthony Lewis. Originally aired on CBS News documentary program CBS reports on October 7, 1964. 51 min. DVD 2058

Heaven and Earth: Lindbergh's Journey. (Century: Events that Shaped the World; 1.)

In the United States, the 1920s were characterized by a powerful tension that pitted the entrenched forces of tradition against the dynamic energy of modernity. This film seeks to understand that conflict through the story of celebrated aviator Charles Lindbergh. Belonging in spirit to a rapidly disappearing small-town America yet a strong believer in progress, Lucky Lindy captured the imagination of the country as he helped to move the world into a new era. 45 min. Video/C 6342

The Helping Hand.( A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers)

Looks at how the New Deal helped to create jobs during the Depression. Interviews former Civilian Conservation Corps workder who benefited from these programs. 1984. 58 min. Video/C 854

Historical Travel U.S.: New York a Century Ago

Welcome to New York! In this compilation of turn of the century documentary shorts witness the thrilling events and scenes that gave The City its vibrant image a century ago. Includes early films of the Statue of Liberty, the New York Police and the Harbor Police at work, Buffalo Bill's Wild West parade, construction workers in peril, the demolition of the Star Theatre, the elevated railroad, the Brooklyn Bridge and New York subway and the arrival of immigrants at Ellis Island. Statue of Liberty / Thomas A. Edison (1898, 1 min.) -- New York Police parade / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1899, 3 min.) -- Pilot boat in the harbor / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1899, 1 min.) -- Buffalo Bill's Wild West parade / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1902, 2 min.) -- A perilous proceeding / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1902, 2 min.) -- Star Theatre / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1902, 2 min.) -- New York Harbor police boat patrol capturing pirates / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1903, 2 min.) -- Sky scrapers of New York City / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1903, 4 min.) -- Broadway and Union Square / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1903, 1 min.) -- Elevated railroad, New York / by American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1903, 1 min.) -- Lower Broadway / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1903, 2 min) -- Move on / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (1903, 2 min.) -- Panorama from tower of Brooklyn Bridge / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1903, 1 min.) --New York subway / American mutoscope and Biograph Company (1905, 4 min.) -- Arrival of emigrants [at Ellis Island] / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1906, 4 min.)

The History Machine

Fifty single concept films featuring authentic, contemporary film of the most important events and people of twentieth century American history. 1970. 8 videocassettes. NRLF Video/C 749 pt. 1-pt. 8

The Iron Road.(American Experience)

Relates the saga of the building of the transcontinental railroad by the Central Pacific Railroad Company and the Union Pacific Railroad Company with special emphasis on the personal experiences and living conditions of the laborers who built the railroad. 59 min. Video/C 1926

Jesse James.

The story of Jesse James remains one of the most cherished and wrong-headed American myths. Less heroic than brutal, he was the product of the American Civil War. Ambitious and cunning, he ran from redemption instead of seeking it -- a Confederate partisan of expansive ambition who gladly helped invent his own valient legend. Directed by Mark Zwonitzer. 2006. 60 min. DVD 5576

Journey to America.(American Experience)

A tribute to over 12 million men, women and children who made the torturous journey from the old world to the new between 1890-1920. 58 min. Video/C 2141

Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist.

Examines the long-term effects of the investigation of alleged communists activities in Hollywood by the HUAC. Also includes interviews with women whose husbands were blacklisted actors, writers, producers and directors. 60 min. Video/C 2149

Bibiliography of materials on Hollywood and the Movies in the 1950's

Hollywood Ten page (UCB)

Web resources on the Hollywood blacklist

The Literature & Culture of the American 1950s (Professor Al Filreis, University of Pennsylvania)

Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery

A film by Ken Burns. Tells the story of the most important expedition in American history, led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Includes the stories of the young army men, French-Canadian boatmen, Clark's African-American slave, and the Shoshone woman named Sacagawea who went with them. Originally broadcast on PBS, Nov. 10, 1997. 2 cassettes; 240 min. Video/C 5996

Liberty!1997. 60 min. each installment.

The Reluctant Revolutionaries. In 1763 American colonists were happily British, and proud to be subjects of King George. With the end of the French and Indian war, America became a land of opportunity, and the future founding fathers were poised to take advantage of it. Then the British imposed a seemingly routine tax--the Stamp Act. It created a firestorm throughout the colonies as Americans saw their liberties and power threatened. Benjamin Franklin found himself in the center of controversy as relations between England and America unravelled. Video/C 5411

Blows Must Decide. By the fall of 1774 British troops occupied Boston, and the thirteen colonies took faltering steps to unite in reaction to British aggression. Thomas Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense, turned the tide toward independence. It questioned the very nature of monarchy, stating that it was the right of men to govern themselves. On July 2, 1776, independence was declared, and two days later Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence. Video/C 5411

The Times That Try Men's Souls. Days after the Declaration of Independence was signed an immense British force dropped anchor in New York harbor, pitting the largest professional army in the world against George Washington's army of untrained volunteers. Washington wanted to conduct the war in proper 18th cent. style, but after an early string of defeats he realized he had to avoid fighting at all costs and keep his army on the run. On Dec. 26, 1776, Washington led his army across the Delaware River, surprising a garrison of Hessian soldiers at Trenton. Video/C 5412

Oh Fatal Ambition! All of Europe, and especially France, Britain's rival in Europe and the New World, is interested in the outcome of the American Revolution. In an attempt to capitalize on the rivalry, Congress dispatched Franklin to Versaillles in late 1776 to seek financial and military support. When British Gen. Burgoyne was defeated at Saratoga, France entered the war, and a world war began. Video/C 5412

The World Turned Upside Down. How do Americans, fighting in the name of liberty, justify the institution of slavery? The British hoped to exploit the contradictions posed by slavery and enlist the support of loyalists in the South, but they failed. The convergence of Washington's army and the French fleet at Yorktown trapped a weary British army led by Lord Cornwallis. Two years later, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending eight years of fighting. Video/C 5413

Are We To Be a Nation?Following the war, the nation faced a new set of challenges: bankruptcy, no common currency, no national army, states acting like sovereign nations, and no strong government capable of dealing with these problems. In 1776 a constitutional convention met in Philadelphia which ratified a new system of government and included the Bill of Rights. The revolutionary idea that power should flow upward from the people instead of downward from a king heralded the birth of modern politics. Video/C 5413

The Living Past: Commitments for the Future

Professor Bernard Bailyn speaks on the historical connections between the country's past and its present. Among the connections with continuing historical relevance are the Federalist Papers, slavery and racism, Puritanism and evangelical Protestantism, and the ideas contained in the writings of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Includes remarks by President Clinton and questions from the audience. 1998. 67 min. Video/C 9767

Long Shadows.

Through interviews this film explores the ways in which the Civil War can still be felt in American society. 89 min. Video/C 1232

Longine-Wittnauer Television Interviews: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and Dr. Ralph E. Lapp

Two separate interviews with Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and nuclear physicist Dr. Ralph E. Lapp which dwell respectively on the term "McCarthyism" and the U.S. anti-communist movement and Lapp's view of the rationale behind the development of the hydrogen bomb. 26 min. Video/C 5120

The Made for TV Election.

90 min. Video/C 1821

The Main Stream

Humorist Roy Blount, Jr. takes an offbeat journey down the Mississippi River. Navigating this great liquid divide on an assortment of canoes, rafts, steamboats, towboats and fishing vessels, Blount explores what holds this wildly diverse country together. Blount's unpredictable odyssey celebrates the full range of American diversity and eccentricity-- from a wedding ceremony at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, to a rodeo at America's toughest prison in Angola, Louisiana. 2002. 56 min. Video/C MM709

The March of the Bonus Army

In 1932, in the darkest days of the Depression, unemployed World War I veterans marched on Washington, D.C., looking for an advance on the bonus compensation promised to them years earlier. After camping throughout Washington for two months, the veterans were driven out by force. Under the command of General Douglas MacArthur and his officers Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton, they drove the veterans from Washington and burned their camps. The Bonus Army became a political liability for President Herbert Hoover. In 1936, Congress finally agreed to pay the Bonus and nearly four million veterans benefited. The epic march set in motion a string of events that influenced the rights of veterans, including WWII's GI bill, plus the rights of citizens to assemble and petition the government. Based on the book "The Bonus army, an American epic" by Thomas B. Allen and Paul Dickson. c2006. 30 min. DVD 5654

March of Time
Selected news stories from The March of Time newsreel series, originally produced by Time magazine.

| American Lifestyles, 1939-1950 | Great Depression | Trouble Abroad | War Breaks Out |
| America at War | Postwar Problems & Solutions | Cold War, 1946-1951 |

American Lifestyles, 1939-1950

March of Time: The American Family. The War Years, 1941-1945 -- The Postwar Years, 1946-1948. Stories feature the concerns of U.S. families during and after World War II, such as rationing, the "baby boom," marriage and divorce. In two parts (2 tapes, 89 min. each): Part 1: Contents: Americans all -- Mr. and Mrs. America -- America's food crisis -- Americans all -- Where's the meat?; Part 2: Contents: Life with baby -- Nobody's children -- Life with junior -- Life with grandpa -- Marriage and divorce. Video/C 1112: 1-2

March of Time: The American Family. American Fashion and Leisure, 1945-1950.

Selected newsreels examine fashion, beauty and leisure time in the U.S. Contents: American beauty -- Tomorrow's Mexico -- Fashion means business -- The fight game -- Wish you were here -- The male look. 105 min. Video/C 1113

March of Time: The American Family. America's Youth, 1940-1950. Stories examine the effects of war on the young men and women of America, their dreams and desires, and the conditions of U.S. schools and education. Contents: America's youth -- Youth in crisis -- Teenage girls -- The fight for better schools -- Schools march on. 90 min. Video/C 1114

March of Time: The American Family. Show Business. Present various aspects of the U.S. entertainment industry, including motion pictures, popular music, theater and nightclubs. In two parts (2 tapes, 92 min. each): Part 1: Contents: The movie marches on -- Show business at war -- Upbeat in music -- Challenge to Hollywood; Part 2: Contents: The nightclub boom -- Is everybody listening -- On stage -- It's in the groove -- Beauty at work. Video/C 1115: 1-2

March of Time: The Great Depression

March of Time: Great Depression: Time Marches in 1935

The events, people and places that made the news in 1935-1936. Contents: Saionji (Okitsu, Japan) -- Speakeasy Street (N.Y. City) -- Belisha Beacons (London) -- Buchsbaum (Evieux, France) -- Fred Perkins (York, PA) -- Metropolitan opera (N.Y. City) -- Huey Long (New Orleans) -- Germany (Bavaria) -- New York Daily News (N.Y. City) -- Speed camera (Cambridge, Mass.) -- Mohawk disaster (N.Y. harbor) -- Leadbelly (Angola, CA) -- Trans-Pacific munitions (Europe) -- Mexico, Navy war games (Pacific Ocean) -- Russia (Moscow) -- Washington news (Wash. D. C.). 88 min. Video/C 2905:1

March of Time: Great Depression: Economy Blues, 1935-1936

The events, people and plans that made the news in 1935-36. Contents: Army (U.S.A.) -- Croix de Feu (France) -- Ethiopia (Lake Tana, Africa) -- Bootleg coal (Pennsylvania) -- CCC (Elmsford, N.Y.) -- G.O.P. (U.S.A.) -- Father Coughlin (Royal Oak, Michigan) -- Palestine (East of the Suez) -- Neutrality (Tokyo) -- Summer theaters (New England) -- Safety (Pleasantville, N.Y.) -- Wild ducks (The Northwest) -- Strikebreaking (New York City). 88 min. Video/C 2905:2

March of Time: Great Depression: Trouble Beyond our Shores, 1935-1936

The events, people and places that made the news in 1935-36. Contents: Japan-China -- Narcotics (Central America) -- Townsend Plan (U.S.A.) -- Pacific Islands (South Pacific) -- TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) -- Diebler (France) -- Moscow -- Hartman discovery (U.S.A.) -- Father Divine (Harlem) -- Tokyo Japan (Japan) -- Devil's Island (French Guiana) -- Fisheries (New England). 82 min. Video/C 2905:3

March of Time: Great Depression: War and Labor Woes, 1936

The evens, people and places that made the news in 1936. Contents: Veterans of future wars (Princeton, N.J.) -- Arson squads in action (U.S.A.) -- Florida canal (Florida) -- Field trials (U.S.A.) -- League of Nations Union (Geneva) -- Railroads (U.S.A.) -- Albania's King Zog (Zog of Albania) -- Relief (U.S.A.) -- Otto of Hapsburg -- Texas Centennial (Battle of a Centennial) -- Crime School (Biggest crime drive) -- Revolt in France -- An American dictator -- Jockey club -- Highway homes -- King Cotton's slaves. 111 min. Video/C 2905:4

March of Time: Great Depression: Prosperity Ahead, 1936

The events, people and places that made the news in 1936. Contents: The "Lunatic" fringe -- Passamquoddy -- U.S. milky way -- Labor versus labor (Labor's civil war) -- England's tithe war (Queen Anne's bounty) -- The football business -- The Presidency (Washington, D.C.) -- New Schools for old -- A soldier king's son -- St. Lawrence seaway -- "An Uncle Sam production" -- China's dictator kidnapped (New life in China) -- Business girls in the big city (Girls in business). 106 min. Video/C 2905:5

March of Time: Great Depression: Reality and America's Dreams, 1937

The events, people and places that made the news in 1937. Contents: Conquering cancer -- Mormonism 1937 (The Mormon church) -- Midwinter vacations (Vacations in winter) -- Father of all Turks -- Birth of swing -- Enemies of alcohol -- Child labor -- Coronation crisis -- Harlem's black magic -- Britain's food defense -- The Supreme Court -- Amateur sleuths -- Irish Republic, 1937 (Irish Republic) -- U.S. unemployment -- Puzzle prizes. 97 min. Video/C 2905:6

March of Time: Trouble Abroad

March of Time: Trouble Abroad: War Abroad: Depression at Home 1937

Stories document the concerns of U.S. citizens directly before America's involvement in World War II. Includes films on the political situation in Poland, the dust bowl, the key role of Hawaii in national defense, orphans and adoption in the U.S., the Rockefeller Foundation and other issues. Contents: Poland and war -- Dogs for sale -- Dust Bowl -- Rockefeller millions -- Babies wanted -- The 49th state -- The spoils system -- Youth in camps -- Rehearsal for war -- Pests in 1937 -- War in China. 71 min. Video/C 4815

March of Time: Trouble Abroad: Tensions Increase 1937

Stories document concerns of U.S. citizens directly before America's involvement in World War II. Includes films on the recycling of scrap metal for weapons, England's problems with prohibition and gambling, the success story of the Amoskeag cotton mills, Alaska's problems with offshore Japanese fishing fleets, techniques used by the U.S. Secret Service to fight counterfeiters, the prevention of heart disease, problems in the merchant marine and more. Contents: Junk and war -- England's D.O.R.A. -- Fiorello LaGuardia -- U.S. Secret Service -- Amoskeag: success story -- Crisis in Algeria -- Britain's gambling fever -- Human heart -- Alaska's salmon war -- Finland's 20th birthday -- Laugh industry -- Ships, strikes and seamen. 76 min. Video/C 4816

March of Time: Troubles Abroad: Germany and Other Problems, 1938

Stories document the concerns of U.S. citizens directly before America's involvement in World War II. Includes films on Nazi Germany, the flight of White Russians to Europe and the U.S., the pine industry in Southern U.S., the work of N.Y.'s Missing Person's Bureau, the development of Key West, the rehabilitation of U.S. criminals, the League of Nations and more. Contents: Inside Nazi Germany -- One million missing -- Russians in exile -- Old Dixie's new bloom -- Brain Trust Island (Key West) -- Arms and the League -- Crime and prisons -- Nazi conquest, no.1 -- Racketeers vs. housewives -- Friend of the people (U.S. electioneering) -- England's bankrupt peers. 93 min. Video/C 4817

March of Time: Troubles Abroad: Spotlight on War 1938

Stories document the concerns of U.S. citizens directly before America's involvement in World War II. Includes films on a proposed national health care system, the work of the U.S. Coast Guard, England's support of Gibraltar, attempts to engineer safer roads, Hitler's strategy to invade Czechoslovakia, Father Divine's Peace Mission Movement, Britain's struggle for neutrality before World War II and more. Contents: Men of medicine -- G-men of the sea -- Man at the wheel -- Threat to Gibraltar -- Prelude to conquest -- Father Divine's deal -- U.S. fire fighters -- British dilemma. 91 min. Video/C 4818

March of Time: Troubles Abroad: Uncle Sam: The Observer 1938-1939.

Stories document the concerns of U.S. citizens directly before America's involvement in World War II. Includes films on the building of the Maginot Line by the French, the millions of homeless refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, public opinion polls of American attitudes in 1938, the role of the U.S. Diplomatic Corps, the expropriation of industries and land by Mexico, the Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts and more. Contents: Inside the Maginot Line -- The foreign service -- The refugee, 1939 -- U.S.A. -- Mexico's new crisis -- Young America. 91 min. Video/C 4819

March of Time: Troubles Abroad: War, Peace and America, 1939.

Stories document the concerns of U.S. citizens directly before America's involvement in World War II. Includes films on the political situations in North Africa and Japan, the depressed economic conditions in the Southern U.S., England's presence in the 1939 World's Fair, and social conditions which police must deal with in 1939 New York City. Contents: North Africa, 1939 -- Tokyo, 1939 -- 1939 (Southern U.S.A.) -- War, peace and propaganda -- Metropolis. 91 min. 91 min. Video/C 4820

March of Time: War Breaks Out

March of Time: War Breaks Out: Americans Prepare. Part 1.

Stories document the effect of the early World War II years on American life. The first film examines the problems created for U.S. farmers during and after World War I and seeks to find constructive means to increase production for World War II needs. The second film is a propaganda piece designed to explain why the U.S. went to war in 1917 and to encourage U.S. involvement in World War II. Includes actual newsreel footage, and clips from the Nazi film Feuertafe, an account of the German invasion of Poland. Contents: Uncle Sam: the farmer (1939, 18 min.) -- "The ramparts we watch" (1940, 100 min.). 118 min. Video/C 4821

March of Time: War Breaks Out: Americans Prepare. Part 2.

Stories document the effect of the early World War II years on American life. Includes films on America's preparations for war, how captured German films motivated A