DVD

How did the universe, our planet, and life begin?

Who would have predicted that a hot spot left over from the Big Bang would eventually lead to our galaxy, the solar system, the Earth—and to us? Origins explores how the universe and our planet began amid chaos and eventually gave birth to the first stirrings of life.

World War II, we have been told all our lives, was our greatest triumph, the moment when the forces of light—the Western democracies and the U.S.S.R.—prevailed over the forces of darkness—the Nazis and the other Axis powers. It was a conflict that began in Europe in September 1939 and ended with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan in August 1945. Or did it?

THE WAR, a seven-part documentary series directed and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, explores the history and horror of the Second World War from an American perspective by following the fortunes of so-called ordinary men and women who become caught up in one of the greatest cataclysms in human history.

Every line on the U.S. map tells a story. Every border reflects our history -- our struggles for independence, our internal conflicts over states rights and slavery, our westward expansion, and the mastery of our natural resources. We are so familiar with the map of United States, but do we know why our states look the way they do? Every shape on the map tells a great story about our past.

Finding Community is a 60-minute video module that highlights the complex emotions and sociopolitical forces propelling three families to leave their homelands in Mexico, Nigeria, and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and put down roots in rural and urban America.

This episode establishes the course themes of American identity, freedom, and equality at the end of Reconstruction, then examines the reasons behind the large scale industrialization in the late 19th century.

An integral part of the changing American landscape in the late 19th century was the transformation of the West. The causes of the changes occurring in the West are explored, and the consequences for people living and moving there are assessed.

Millions of immigrants, as well as thousands already in America, moved to the city in the decades following Reconstruction. The living and social conditions of the huddled masses during this era are examined, using the cities of New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

While millions pursued the American Dream in the late 19th century, women of all ethnic minorities encountered special obstacles in their paths. Why did this happen? How did they respond? What did it mean?

Industrialization changed the nature of work, working conditions and the composition of the American workforce. Labor's struggle to organize, management's fierce resistance to their efforts, and the status of the American worker at this time are analyzed.

Farmers became more productive and marginalized in economic and political life, responding by organizing significant challenges to the established political powers of the era. The meaning and legacy of the Populists is assessed.

The 19th century ends with the internal transformations of the U.S. propelling the nation to look outward. Causes and consequences of the Spanish American War, the decision for empire, the resulting war in the Philippines, and the use of the Big Stick in Latin America are discussed and analyzed.

After examining how and why American identity, freedom, and equality had changed since 1876, the Progressives and the causes they pursued are profiled. The meaning of progressive reform and the paradox of segregation is assessed.

By the early 1920s, America was changing into a society that begins to look quite familiar to us. Radios, automobiles, sports, and consumerism often overshadowed the cultural tensions surrounding race, religion, and immigration. This new era is examined and its meaning is assessed.

Roosevelt's new deal to Americans delivered some of the most important political and economic reforms in the 20th century. How America was transformed in the 1930s is examined and the legacy of these changes is assessed.