American Experience 1988
TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
Episodes
Tap an episode to rate & review it.
1S1·E1 The Great San Francisco EarthquakeFrom Enrico Caruso to the ordinary San Franciscan, this film presents vivid memories of those trapped in the terrifying event of 1906. Four hundred eighty square blocks…
S1·E2 Radio BikiniWhile the U.N. debated strategies for control of atomic energy, the U.S. Navy was preparing two highly-publicized nuclear tests. Seven hundred fifty cameras were shipped…3S1·E3 Indians, Outlaws and Angie DeboAs a child in 1899, Angie Debo was taken to Oklahoma in a covered wagon. She would become her state's most controversial historian -- her career threatened when she…4S1·E4 Eric Sevareid's Not So Wild A DreamA touching memoir beginning with life in a small Minnesota town and taking us through a young man's early days as pacifist. Reporting on the rise of fascism in Europe,…5S1·E5 The Life and Times of Rosie the RiveterAn original look through newsreels, war department films, posters and interviews with five, real-life "Rosies" about the reality of working in the defense plants during…6S1·E6 Do You Mean There Are Still Real Cowboys?A year in the life of Wyoming cowboys and the ranching families who have lived in Big Piney for six generations. Although very much the same as it was one hundred years…7S1·E7 Kennedy vs. Wallace: A Crisis Up CloseAn intimate portrait of the Kennedy brothers and their confrontation with Alabama Governor George Wallace when he defied the courts by refusing to integrate the…
S1·E8 Geronimo and the Apache ResistanceThe story of a tragic collision of two civilizations, each with startlingly different views of one another. In 1886, 5,000 U.S. troops mobilized to capture this one man…9S1·E9 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: RevisitedAn updated look at the Alabama tenant families that Walker Evans and James Agee documented in their 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, an American classic.10S1·E10 That Rhythm, Those BluesThe evolution of rhythm and blues through the careers of singers Ruth Brown and Charles Brown, from the 1940s into the 50s, with contemporary performances by both.11S1·E11 The Radio PriestFather Charles Coughlin, a Roman Catholic priest from Michigan, uses the new power of radio to become one of the first media stars; every Sunday he would broadcast his…12S1·E12 Hearts and HandsThe design and art of quilting yields intimate clues about the lives of 19th century women, who stitched their personal and political stories into these artifacts of…13S1·E13 Views of a Vanishing FrontierThe journey of Prince Maximilian, German naturalist, and artist Karl Bodmer, who explored the Mississippi River area from 1832-34, meticulously documenting in paintings…14S1·E14 Eudora Welty: One Writer's BeginningsPulitzer Prize-winning writer Eudora Welty narrates the story of her own Southern childhood and early artistic development in Jackson, Mississippi. Based on her…15S1·E15 The World That Moses BuiltFrom the late 1920s through the 1960s, Robert Moses held almost total power over the landscape of New York. He built bridges, highways, Jones Beach, Lincoln Center and…16S1·E16 Sins of Our MothersA Gothic tale of sin and redemption in 19th century New England. A small town in Maine reacts to the unconventional behavior of one of its young residents, a woman named…
S1·E2 Radio BikiniWhile the U.N. debated strategies for control of atomic energy, the U.S. Navy was preparing two highly-publicized nuclear tests. Seven hundred fifty cameras were shipped…3S1·E3 Indians, Outlaws and Angie DeboAs a child in 1899, Angie Debo was taken to Oklahoma in a covered wagon. She would become her state's most controversial historian -- her career threatened when she…4S1·E4 Eric Sevareid's Not So Wild A DreamA touching memoir beginning with life in a small Minnesota town and taking us through a young man's early days as pacifist. Reporting on the rise of fascism in Europe,…5S1·E5 The Life and Times of Rosie the RiveterAn original look through newsreels, war department films, posters and interviews with five, real-life "Rosies" about the reality of working in the defense plants during…6S1·E6 Do You Mean There Are Still Real Cowboys?A year in the life of Wyoming cowboys and the ranching families who have lived in Big Piney for six generations. Although very much the same as it was one hundred years…7S1·E7 Kennedy vs. Wallace: A Crisis Up CloseAn intimate portrait of the Kennedy brothers and their confrontation with Alabama Governor George Wallace when he defied the courts by refusing to integrate the…S1·E8 Geronimo and the Apache ResistanceThe story of a tragic collision of two civilizations, each with startlingly different views of one another. In 1886, 5,000 U.S. troops mobilized to capture this one man…9S1·E9 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: RevisitedAn updated look at the Alabama tenant families that Walker Evans and James Agee documented in their 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, an American classic.10S1·E10 That Rhythm, Those BluesThe evolution of rhythm and blues through the careers of singers Ruth Brown and Charles Brown, from the 1940s into the 50s, with contemporary performances by both.11S1·E11 The Radio PriestFather Charles Coughlin, a Roman Catholic priest from Michigan, uses the new power of radio to become one of the first media stars; every Sunday he would broadcast his…12S1·E12 Hearts and HandsThe design and art of quilting yields intimate clues about the lives of 19th century women, who stitched their personal and political stories into these artifacts of…13S1·E13 Views of a Vanishing FrontierThe journey of Prince Maximilian, German naturalist, and artist Karl Bodmer, who explored the Mississippi River area from 1832-34, meticulously documenting in paintings…14S1·E14 Eudora Welty: One Writer's BeginningsPulitzer Prize-winning writer Eudora Welty narrates the story of her own Southern childhood and early artistic development in Jackson, Mississippi. Based on her…15S1·E15 The World That Moses BuiltFrom the late 1920s through the 1960s, Robert Moses held almost total power over the landscape of New York. He built bridges, highways, Jones Beach, Lincoln Center and…16S1·E16 Sins of Our MothersA Gothic tale of sin and redemption in 19th century New England. A small town in Maine reacts to the unconventional behavior of one of its young residents, a woman named…Cast
R
Russell Baker
Narrator (voice)
R
Robert Dallek
Self
R
Richard Ben Cramer
Narrator (voice)
I
Irv Drasnin
Narrator (voice)
R
Ronnie Dugger
Self
T
Tim Naftali
Self
D
Don Lusk
Self
R
Ruthie Tompson
Self
N
Neal Gabler
Self
E
Eric Smoodin
Self
Details
- First air date
- Oct 4, 1988
- Last air date
- Jan 6, 2026
- Seasons
- 37
- Episodes
- 396
- Episode runtime
- 55 min
- Network
- PBS
- Status
- Returning Series
- Studios
- GBH
- Country
- United States of America
- Language
- English
Reviews
No ratings yet - be the first.
Watched: 0
0
0
You might also like
American Masters
1986
Mysteries at the Museum
2010
The Circus
2016
Superpowered: The DC Story
2023
The Movies
2019
Who Do You Think You Are?
2004
Finding Your Roots
2012
Top Gear
1978
Marvel Studios Legends
2021
Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers
2022
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
The American Revolution
2025