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American History  & Culture
A Future Reborn: 1918-1945 During the 20th century, post-World War I prosperity gave way to massive droughts, the Great Depression, and the Second World War. This program describes how the U.S. went from boom to bust and the ensuing political and economic adversities that followed, by focusing on several families who lived through those years: the Manoffs, Russian immigrants who settled in New York City; the Blankenships and the Wolfords, who survived the Oklahoma Dust Bowl by migrating to California; Malta-born Joe Mifsud and Georgia sharecropper Dave Moore, who found their separate ways to Detroit to work at and later reform the mighty Ford Motor Company; and the Peabodys, direct descendents of the original New England colonists. From this kaleidoscope of personal stories, the variety of experiences during this era reveals an America that did not always live up to its promise of peace and prosperity. Not available in French-speaking Canada. A Discovery Channel Production. (50 minutes, color) (C)1998 VHS8648
DVD8648
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
A Southern Town: 40 Years in Jackson, Mississippi In this program, black and white civil rights activists from Jackson, Mississippi, reunite at Tougaloo Chapel to discuss the changes in race relations brought about over four decades. Archival footage sets the scene as the Reverend Ed King, SNCC’s Bob Moses, and others share, for the first time on film, exclusive personal accounts of the bloody Woolworth sit-in, the murder of Medgar Evers, the Freedom Summer Project, the revocation of TV station WLBT’s broadcasting license, and other pivotal events. They lived the struggle in the ’60s, and it lives in them today. A powerful addition to any library of civil rights materials. A Discovery Channel Production. (46 minutes, color) (C)2003 VHS33280
DVD33280
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
American Stories: The American Dream America has been a land of hope for millions of immigrants, in good times and bad. This five-part series, produced by Atlantic Productions and narrated by Peter Fonda, follows the fortunes of ten families over three generations in their quest for the "American Dream." By setting personal experiences in a historical context, these programs create a dramatic and controversial account of life in the U.S. between the end of World War I and the Clinton administration. Not available in French-speaking Canada. A Discovery Channel Production. 5-part series, 50 minutes each. The Series Includes:
A Future Reborn: 1918 - 1945   Great Expectations: 1946 - Late 1950s   Tears of Rage: Late 1950s - Mid-1970s   The Bottom Line: Mid-1970s - 1980   Never Give Up: 1980s - Early 1990s  (C)1998
VHS8647
DVD8647
399.95
399.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Ancient Warriors: The Sioux Forced onto the sprawling prairies by woodland tribes in the east, the Sioux Indians did more than adapt: they ousted rival tribes, seized the best hunting grounds, and became known as fearsome fighters. Using photographs, daguerreotypes, reenactments, and scholarly commentary, this program homes in on the training and tactics of the Sioux warriors, tracing the history of the tribes up to the massacre at Wounded Knee, which ended the Sioux nation. A Discovery Channel Production. (23 minutes, color) (C)1995 VHS33103
DVD33103
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Attack on the Pentagon The 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon—a self-contained community of some 23,000 military and civilian workers—was a direct strike at the heart of America’s armed forces. Using extensive footage of the tragic event, this program takes a deeply moving look at the effects of the attack and its aftermath through the first-person accounts of Brigadier General Montague Winfield, of the National Military Command Center; John Jester, of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency; first responders; search-and-rescue personnel; and others who were on the scene. In addition, interviews and lengthy counseling sessions involving survivors provide a window into the minds of those who, in an instant, lost colleagues and family members on the ground and on Flight 77. A Discovery Channel Production. (51 minutes, color) (C)2002 VHS33273
DVD33273
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Battle of the Alamo "The doomed garrison has stood its ground… Now, alone, they face the inevitable hour and rush headlong into the crucible of history." This program—narrated by Hal Holbrook and filmed in part at the Alamo itself—travels back in time to the pivotal winter of 1836, when William Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and fewer than 200 Texians, as they called themselves, were engaged by the forces of General Antonio López de Santa Anna. The 13-day siege and the climactic battle, which lasted less than an hour, are thoroughly examined. Reenactments based on original journal entries bring the epic confrontation to life. A Discovery Channel Production. (55 minutes, color) (C)1995 VHS29038
DVD2903
129.95
129.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Commander in Chief Series What is it like to control the mightiest military power in the world? This 3-part series presents the dramatic stories of American presidents in times of crisis, taking viewers inside the Oval Office and the war room. The videos use internal White House documents, personal diaries, archival footage, and interviews with advisers to show how each President made his crucial decisions. A Discovery Channel Production. 3-part series, 52 minutes each.

The Series Includes:
Commander in Chief: Nixon   Commander in Chief: Bush   Commander in Chief: Clinton  

VHS29078
DVD29078
349.95
349.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Commander in Chief: Bush  When President H. George Bush set in motion Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, he was confronting not only a dictator’s aggression but the ghosts of Vietnam. This program examines the decision-making process former President Bush used in conducting the Gulf War. Readings from his journal entries reveal the commander in chief’s hopes and fears over sending Americans to fight the fourth-largest army in the world. Former Secretary of State, James Baker, III; former Secretary of Defense, Richard B. Cheney; former White House chief of staff, John Sununu; and others provide insightful commentary. A Discovery Channel Production. (52 minutes, color) (C)2000 VHS29080
DVD29080
129.95
129.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Commander in Chief: Clinton  Elected to fix the economy, President Clinton sent troops to more global hot spots than any commander in chief in the past fifty years—from Somalia to Iraq to Haiti to the Balkans. This program goes behind the events and press conferences to examine how a leader made fateful decisions. Clinton’s commitment to send peacekeeping troops to Bosnia, for example, when over 70 percent of the American public opposed it shows the difficulty of those choices. Archival footage and readings from the President’s diary complement interviews with former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Richard C. Holbrooke; former Secretary of State, Lawrence S. Eagleburger; and Leon E. Panetta, Former White House chief of staff. A Discovery Channel Production. (52 minutes, color) (C)2000 VHS29081
DVD29081
129.95
129.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Commander in Chief: Nixon  President Richard Nixon was the first commander in chief elected to stop a war; to secure an honorable peace, he used brute force: a massive secret bombing campaign that brought Hanoi to the negotiating table. This program goes inside the moments of decision, the meetings and the memoranda that shaped Nixon’s approach to ending the war. Along with newsreel footage, letters, and Nixon’s own journal entries, the video contains interviews with former Secretary of Defense, Melvin Laird; journalist Bob Woodward; and former U.S. Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissinger. A Discovery Channel Production. (52 minutes, color) (C)2000 VHS29079
DVD29079
129.95
129.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
DEFCON 2: The Cuban Missile Crisis As Kennedy and Khrushchev squared off over the issue of offensive missiles in the Western hemisphere, the full strength of the U.S. Strategic Air Command was placed on DEFCON 2—the highest level of military readiness short of all-out war. This riveting program, hosted by Tom Clancy and shot on location in the U.S., the former Soviet Union, and Castro’s Cuba, scrutinizes the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Eyewitness testimony and expert analysis by key participants, reinforced by recently declassified audio tapes of secret meetings with JFK, previously secret film and photos, and powerful dramatizations, shed new light on a time when the fate of the world truly hung in the balance. A Discovery Channel Production. (52 minutes, color) (C)2002 VHS31400
DVD31400
129.95
129.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Famine to Freedom: The Irish Journey In this program, an archaeological dig in Ireland and a genealogical investigation in America are linked by family ties to the Neary family, 19th-century tenant farmers in Ballykilcline. Senator Ted Kennedy, archaeologist Charles Orser, and others sift through Ireland’s history to shed light on the catastrophic potato famine; provide an unvarnished account of the mass exodus through which America ultimately gained so much; and break, at last, the "great silence" surrounding the Neary rent strike that put a match to the powder keg of Irish unrest under English rule. A Discovery Channel Production. (52 minutes, color) (C)2003 VHS33142
DVD33142
129.95
129.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Gettysburg: Pickett’s Charge with VIDEO CLIP At the height of the Civil War’s most decisive battle, did a picket fence foil Pickett’s Charge? This fascinating program analyzes many of the key tactical considerations at the battle of Gettysburg using ballistics demonstrations, select reenactments, terrain evaluation, original photographs, and casualty assessments based on a recently discovered map of the initial burials. A timeline of the campaign and commentary are provided by military historians, battlefield guides, and experts, including John Michael Priest, author of Into the Fight, and Dr. Gary Gallagher, Professor of History at the University of Virginia. A Discovery Channel Production. (50 minutes, color) (C)2002

Click here to view a clip from Gettysburg: Pickett’s Charge
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VHS32664
DVD32664
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Great Expectations: 1946- Late 1950s As the material and social expectations of America grew during the halcyon days of the Eisenhower administration, blacks, displaced farmers, and impoverished Hispanics were fighting for equality and their slice of the American Dream. Against a backdrop of middle-class prosperity and the birth of the Civil Rights Movement, this program traces the continuing stories of advertising mogul Dick Manoff, sharecropper Jim Wolford, union activist Joe Mifsud, aspiring politician "Chub" Peabody, and their families. In addition, the Bakers, Detroit auto workers; the Veas, migrant laborers; and the Gages, a typical suburban family, are introduced, to underscore the variety of and disparity between America’s diverse populations. Not available in French-speaking Canada. A Discovery Channel Production. (50 minutes, color) VHS8649
DVD8649
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Making the Message: The Fight for the Presidency What does it take to win the White House? Produced by award-winning filmmaker Theodore Bogosian, this unprecedented behind-the-scenes account of the 2004 Republican and Democratic national conventions examines how candidates build their platforms and generate momentum. Interviewees include the convention chairmen, campaign strategists, members of special interest groups, and New York Times staffers such as columnists Maureen Dowd and David Brooks, chief political correspondent Adam Nagourney, political reporter Jim Rutenberg, and chief correspondent R. W. Apple, Jr. A Discovery Channel Production. (93 minutes, color) (C)2004 VHS33855
DVD33855
149.95
149.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Never Give Up:  1980s-Early 1990s During the 1980s, the myth of struggle crowned by success was revived. This program explores the societal impact of Reaganomics, which was beneficial to some and detrimental to others. While John Gage helped pioneer the Internet as director of Sun Microsystems and Gregg Manoff found peace in a medical practice serving the poor, times got harder for the Wolfords, who made a fortune and then went bankrupt when the oil industry bottomed out; the Bakers, who had five children to support in Detroit, the automotive Rust Bowl; and the Kims, whose search for prosperity led them to L.A., where their store was looted and destroyed in the Rodney King riots. But in good times and bad, their uniquely American faith in the future has endured. Not available in French-speaking Canada. A Discovery Channel Production. (50 minutes, color) (C)1998 VHS8652
DVD8652
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Raising the Flag In little more than a century, the U.S. has fought eight major wars overseas: raising the flag in victory has always meant something different. This timely program surveys in detail the American occupations of the Philippines, Japan, Germany, Afghanistan, and Iraq, assessing their achievements and failures. Documentary footage, photos, and reenactments are combined with analysis from a variety of diplomats and scholars, including Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz; Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. Ambassador to the UN; and Dr. Michael Ignatieff of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. A Discovery Channel Production. (46 minutes, color) (C)2003 VHS33094
DVD33094
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Slave Ship Over 150 documented mutinies occurred aboard slave ships between 1699 and 1845; only once, in the case of the Amistad, did slaves successfully return to Africa. Using that remarkable and anomalous incident as a focus, this program takes an in-depth look at the slave trade. Scholars point out how Europe’s unprecedented demands for human chattel subsumed a well-established slave trade between African kingdoms, a ruthless industry summed up by one African ruler as "powder, ball, and brandy for men, women, and children." The program weaves the developments of the Amistad case—argued and won in the U.S. Supreme Court by former President John Quincy Adams—into the overall fabric of slavery in America. A Discovery Channel Production. (52 minutes, color) (C)1997 VHS12106
DVD12106
129.95
129.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Tears of Rage: Late 1950s - Mid 1970s The 1960s were marred by violent protests, massive race riots, and devastating political assassinations as the issues of racial equality, freedom of speech, and the Vietnam War caused Americans to vent their anger. In this program, assumptions about "the good life" in America are challenged as the Baby Boomers—the beneficiaries of the American Dream—become its most ruthless critics. Gregg Manoff, Harvard student, evaded the draft; John Gage, champion swimmer, became a protester at Berkeley; General Baker, Jr., labor activist, landed in prison; Marion Kramer joined the Civil Rights Movement; and Alfredo Vea served as a combat infantryman in Vietnam. Each narrative relates a different experience and perspective of one of America’s most turbulent eras. Not available in French-speaking Canada. A Discovery Channel Production. (50 minutes, color) (C)1998 VHS8650
DVD8650
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
The Bottom Line: Mid 1970s - 1980  Although America’s exit from southeast Asia helped mend the rifts dividing the nation after the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, economic recession, and growing unemployment forced the U.S. to examine the gap between the American Dream and reality. In this program, the challenges of the Nixon and Carter years are recounted by a cross-section of people who experienced them firsthand—like John Gage, a radical on Nixon’s "enemies" list who burned out and became a bookstore clerk before becoming a technology mogul; Gregg Manoff, son of a successful advertising man, who headed west to find himself; Gerald Wolford, who made a living driving trucks and repairing oil wells; ex-infantryman Alfredo Vea, who used the GI Bill to go to law school; and Jae-Yul Kim, a Korean who immigrated to America in search of opportunity but discovered instead the hardships of making ends meet in New York City. Not available in French-speaking Canada. A Discovery Channel Production. (50 minutes, color) (C)1998 VHS8651
DVD8651
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
The Real Story of Jamestown In the spring of 1607, the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery landed a group of settlers in Virginia to build what became America’s first permanent English colony—a place dogged by misfortune and tragedy. In this program, noted archaeologist William Kelso and a team of experts turn the long-accepted story of Jamestown upside down as they uncover clues to what really happened on James Island nearly 400 years ago. Dramatizations of key events are interwoven with details of the excavation that is bringing to light a tale of political infighting and assassination that had lain buried for centuries. A Discovery Channel Production. (26 minutes, color) (C)2000 VHS29037
DVD29037
129.95
129.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
The Rosenberg File: Case Closed Decades after Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiring to pass the secret of the atom bomb to the Soviet Union, their case still remains open in the court of public opinion. Were they innocent or guilty? And if they were guilty, what exactly were they guilty of? In this program, a retired KGB colonel claiming to know the truth breaks his 50-year silence as he and other experts analyze the Rosenberg case. Newsreel footage, archival photos, and other documentation re-create the mood of Cold War intrigue surrounding one of the greatest peacetime spy dramas in America’s history. A Discovery Channel Production. (53 minutes, color) (C) 1997 VHS29029
DVD29029
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
The White House at War Ranging from Woodrow Wilson to George W. Bush, this program paints a composite picture of how U.S. presidents have discharged their duties as commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces. Topics covered include building and maintaining popular support; winning Congressional and UN declarations—or deciding to wage war without them; gaining or forgoing international support; setting strategic, operational, and even tactical military goals; and mobilizing or muzzling the press corps. Interviews with presidential historian Michael Beschloss; military historian Eliot Cohen; members of The New York Times White House staff; Louis Fisher, author of Presidential War Power; and others are featured. A Discovery Channel Production. (51 minutes, color) (C) 2003 VHS33279
DVD33279
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order
Valley Forge: The Crucible Events at Valley Forge transformed the Continental Army—and the Battle of Monmouth transformed public opinion of what that army could do. This program uses archaeological findings at Valley Forge and Monmouth Battlefield as well as primary source and scholarly documents to reveal how General Washington and his troops achieved the seemingly impossible. Dramatizations and reenactments bring this pivotal period of the Revolutionary War to life as historian Thomas Fleming and other experts explain the significance of American counterespionage, training provided by Baron von Steuben, and alliance with France. A Discovery Channel Production. (51 minutes, color) (C)2003 VHS32073
DVD32073
89.95
89.95
Please call us at 800-776-8093 to order

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