American Experience Season 29

Mark Seen

Tesla Oct 19, 2016 Meet Nikola Tesla, the genius engineer and tireless inventor whose technology revolutionized the electrical age of the 20th century. Although eclipsed in fame by Edison and Marconi, it was Tesla's vision that paved the way for today's wireless world. His fertile but undisciplined imagination was the source of his genius but also his downfall, as the image of Tesla as a mad scientist came to overshadow his reputation as a brilliant innovator.

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The Battle of Chosin Nov 2, 2016 The harrowing 1950 Korean War battle at Chosin Reservoir, in which a surprise attack by 120,000 Chinese troops led to far-outnumbered UN forces being surrounded, is recalled. Veterans of the brutal 17-day engagement share their memories of the conflict, which occurred during subarctic temperatures.

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Command and Control Jan 11, 2017 An account of an incident at a Titan II missile complex in Damascus, Ark., in 1980 that almost caused the explosion of a ballistic missile carrying a nuclear warhead 600 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The near-calamity was kicked off when a socket fell from the wrench of an airman performing maintenance in a Titan II silo and punctured the missile, releasing a stream of highly explosive rocket fuel.

Mark Seen

Rachel Carson Jan 25, 2017 She set out to save a species...us. An intimate portrait of the woman whose groundbreaking books revolutionized our relationship to the natural world.

Mark Seen

The Race Underground Feb 1, 2017 The dramatic story of the country's first subway.

Mark Seen

Oklahoma City Feb 8, 2017 On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh, a former soldier deeply influenced by literature and ideas of the radical right, killed 168, and injured 675 others.

Mark Seen

Ruby Ridge Feb 15, 2017 A riveting account of the event that helped give rise to the modern American militia movement.

Mark Seen

The Great War: Part 1 Apr 11, 2017 Part 1 of 3. President Woodrow Wilson vowed to keep the U.S. out of World War I after hostilities erupted in Europe in August 1914. It was a promise he kept until 1917, when the Germans resumed "unrestricted submarine warfare"— a policy it had started and then stopped in 1915 — and began sinking U.S. ships. An intercepted telegram also showed Germany trying to convince Japan and Mexico to declare war on America.

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The Great War: Part 2 Apr 12, 2017 Part 2 of 3. America's entry into World War I is recalled, including the breathtaking speed of mobilization and the profound transformations required for America to play a central role in the conflict.

Mark Seen

The Great War: Part 3 Apr 13, 2017 Part 3 of 3. In the fall of 1918: a major American offensive that could bring a swift end to the war, a lost U.S. battalion surrounded by German forces, a deadly flu epidemic on the homefront.

Mark Seen

Summer of Love Jul 26, 2017 In January 1967, San Francisco youth descended on Golden Gate Park for a Human Be-In. The media flocked to the event, offering a window into the world of Haight-Ashbury and inspiring even more young people to join. Summer of Love is a striking picture of the summer of 1967 — from the utopian beginnings, when peace and love prevailed, to the chaos and drug use that ultimately signaled the end.

Mark Seen

Summer of Love Jul 26, 2017 In January 1967, San Francisco youth descended on Golden Gate Park for a Human Be-In. The media flocked to the event, offering a window into the world of Haight-Ashbury and inspiring even more young people to join. Summer of Love is a striking picture of the summer of 1967 — from the utopian beginnings, when peace and love prevailed, to the chaos and drug use that ultimately signaled the end.