What is an American? During the 2008 presidential campaign, Simon Schama traveled through America to dig deep into the conflicts of its history to understand what was at stake.Simon looks at the bitter conflict over immigration in American history. Who should be allowed to enter America and call themselves an American has always been one of the nation’s most divisive issues, and it continues
December 16, 1944-January 28, 1945 In December 1944, in an all-out gamble to compel the Allies to sue for peace, Adolf Hitler ordered the only major German counteroffensive of the war in northwest Europe. Its objective was to split the Allied armies by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp, marking a repeat of what the Germans had done three times previously--in Sep
After Libya, will Syria be the next Arab dictatorship to fall to people power? For months, a popular uprising has been fighting an unseen and bloody battle against the Syrian regime.Panorama has been filming inside Syria, and can now tell the full story of those struggling against President Assad and the truth about his brutal crackdown against his own people.
"Water is the driving force of all nature." - Leonardo da VinciWater makes most of earths surface and most of our human bodies ... but do we really know the secrets of this amazing element.From agriculture, to factories and hydropower, we put water to work in a million different ways every day. And yet water acts outside all known physical laws of nature.At a time of global climate cha
Billions of years ago the Earth passed through an exploding star and was showered in molten gold. The Inca's called gold the sweat of the Sun and told their stories with it. The Egyptians saw it as the breath of God and buried their Pharaohs in it. In India the golden temple of Amritsar is secrete destination a reminder of how most of the great religions celebrate the precious metal gold. In all o
Martin Shaw takes a fresh look at one of the most famous war stories of them all. The actor, himself a pilot, takes to the skies to retrace the route of the 1943 raid by 617 Squadron which used bouncing bombs to destroy German dams. He sheds new light on the story as he separates the fact from the myth behind this tale of courage and ingenuity.Using the 1955 movie The Dam Busters as a vehicle
Claude Lanzmann directed this 9 and a half hour documentary about the Holocaust without using a single frame of archive footage.He interviews survivors, witnesses, and ex-Nazis (whom he had to film secretly since though only agreed to be interviewed by audio). His style of interviewing by asking for the most minute details is effective at adding up these details to give a horrifying portrait of
Join “Bonk” author Mary Roach as she delves into obscure scientific research, some of it centuries old, to make 10 surprising claims about sexual climax. Her discoveries range from the bizarre to the hilarious but are highly entertaining and educational at the same time.Scientists have been studying orgasms for years. Long before sex became an acceptable household topic, people have been tryin
This documentary focuses on the Yukon River Quest, the world’s longest annual canoe and kayak race. Athletes come from around the world to test their endurance, racing day and night along 740 kilometres of rugged river shoreline. The film chronicles the experiences of the all-female 2006 Paddlers Abreast team. By following them from the moment they climb into their boat in Whitehorse to the cheers