Monthly Archives: April 2019

This series tells the story of early settlement, conquest and immigration; of tradition and reinvention; of anguish and celebration;and of the gradual construction of a new American identity from diverse sources that connects and empowers millions of people today. The series covers the 1500s to the present day.

Airs Wednesdays at 2 a.m. beginning 5/1.

• #1 – Survey the history and people from 1565-1880, as the first Spanish explorers enter North America, the U.S. expands into territories in the Southwest that had been home to Native Americans and English and Spanish colonies, and as the Mexican-American War strips Mexico of half its territories by 1848.
• #2 – See how the American population is reshaped by Latino immigration starting in 1880 and continuing into the 1940s: Cubans, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans begin arriving in the U.S. and start to build communities in South Florida, Los Angeles and New York.
• #3 – Trace the World War II years and those that follow, as Latino Americans serve their new country by the hundreds of thousands – yet still face discrimination and a fight for civil rights in the United States.
• #4 – Review the decades after World War II through the early 1960s, as swelling numbers of immigrants from Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic seek economic opportunities.
• #5 – Witness the creation of the proud “Chicano” identity as labor leaders organize farm workers in California, and as activists push for better education opportunities for Latinos, the inclusion of Latino studies and empowerment in the political process.
• #6 – Examine the past 30 years, as a second wave of Cubans and hundreds of thousands Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and Guatemalans flee to the U.S., creating a debate over undocumented immigrants that leads to calls for tightened borders, English-only laws and efforts to brand the undocumented as a drain on public resources. Simultaneously, the Latino influence is booming in business, sports, media, politics and entertainment. Latino Americans become the largest and youngest growing sector of the American population.

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An array of groundbreaking and distinctive perspectives on contemporary life as chronicled by some of America’ s and Europe’s most visionary non-fiction filmmakers.

• #3109 “Still Tomorrow” – https://www.pbs.org/pov/stilltomorrow/ – A village woman without a high school diploma has become China’s most famous poet. Meet the breakout writer Yu Xihua, a woman with cerebral palsy, poignantly weaving her personal story with that of an ascendant, urbanizing China.

Airs 5/7 at 9 p.m.; 5/8 at 1 a.m.; 5/8 at 9 a.m.; 5/8 at 3 p.m.; 5/11 at 1 p.m.; 5/11 at 11 p.m.; 5/12 at 10 a.m.; 5/12 at 6 p.m.

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October 14th 2013 was the 70th anniversary of an event that shook the Nazi party to its core. In east Poland, at the remote Nazi death camp of Sobibor, 300 Jewish prisoners staged a bloody break out. To mark the anniversary, this film travels back Sobibor with the last remaining survivors to reveal their extraordinary story of courage, desperation and determination. The film uses brutally honest drama-reconstruction and first hand testimony to reveal the incredible escape story. The multi-layered plot unfolds like a Hollywood blockbuster — from the last-minute change to the escape plan forced by an unexpected arrival of a train load of SS soldiers, to the systematic luring of individual camp guards to separate locations and different, highly creative deaths, yet every terrible and inspiring moment of this story is absolutely true.

Airs 5/1 at 4 a.m. (repeats 5/22 at 4 a.m.)

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The incredible true story of an Auschwitz survivor’s journey to forgiveness and healing. At the age of 10, Eva Mozes Kor fought to stay alive inside the concentration camp where she and her sister Miriam were being experimented on as one of “Mengele’s twins.” After decades of torment and pain following her liberation, she came to the epiphany that she needed to forgive the Nazis to move forward with her life. She has since emerged as arguably the best-known and most-active Holocaust survivor in the world. Despite her body failing her, the 4-foot-9, 83-year-old, who lives in Terre Haute, Indiana, circles the globe delivering her messages of healing and self-empowerment. Her lessons go far beyond her own experience, addressing current global atrocities and two of the biggest problems facing today’s youth – bullying and discrimination. EVA: A-7063 documents Eva’s journey and captures this remarkable Hoosier’s legacy as she carries her critically important messages to future generations highlighting the power for good a single dedicated person can have. The documentary serves as a tool for discussing difficult history, discovering shared values and encouraging peace and kindness. Narrated by actor Ed Asner, the film weaves Eva’s story through with footage in Poland, Germany, Israel, Romania, England and the United States, along with interviews from CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, whose grandparents died in the Holocaust; actor Elliott Gould; and former pro basketball star Ray Allen (a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council). The film also includes interviews with Holocaust Historians Dr. Michael Berenbaum and Dr. Stephen D. Smith; Lucette Lagnado, a Wall Street Journal reporter and author of Children of the Flames, which details Dr. Mengele’s (Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death”) life in counterpoint to the lives of the surviving twins; and Emmanuel Habiman, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who saw his parents murdered when he was 9-years-old.

Airs 5/6 at 9 p.m.

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The acclaimed mini-series ELIZABETH I chronicles the life of England’s Greatest queen. Historians Suzannah Lipscomb and Dan Jones tell the heady tale of jealousy, treachery, ambition and tragedy alongside the lavish dramatizations that transport audiences back to the key clashes that shaped Elizabeth and England.

• #101 – Battle of the Throne – A look at Elizabeth’s turbulent early years from age three when her mother was executed and she was declared illegitimate and banished from court, to the start of her reign. Airs 5/5 at 7 p.m.
• #102 – The Enemy Within – For the first 25 years of her reign, Elizabeth never feels secure. Catholic plots abound at home and abroad, and there is the problem about what to do with Mary Queen of Scots. Meanwhile, her councilors want her to marry.  Airs 5/12 at 7 p.m.
• #103 – Death of a Dynasty – As the Spanish Armada approaches, Elizabeth rallies her troops with a famous speech at Tilbury. However, even Elizabeth is powerless against the march of time. 

Airs 5/19 at 7 p.m.

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Still Dreaming documents a unique take on Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” as performed by a group of retired actors, dancers and musicians at the Lillian Booth Actors Home, an assisted living facility, just outside New York City. These former Broadway stars (Charlotte Fairchild, Aideen O’Kelly, Robert A. Evans, Joan Stein, and Dimo Condos) embark on a journey as they stage the magical play at the urging of the Home’s administrators, who see this as an opportunity to boost quality of life for the residents. As the rehearsal process unfolds, the actors find themselves experiencing both the pain and exhilaration of re-immersion in their life’s work amidst the difficulties of old age.

Airs 5/4 at 4:30 p.m.

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In this one-hour special, Rick Steves travels back a century to learn how fascism rose and then fell in Europe – taking millions of people with it. He traces fascism’s history from its roots in the turbulent aftermath of World War I, when masses of angry people rose up, to the rise of charismatic leaders who manipulated that anger, and the totalitarian societies they built. In addition, Rick chronicles the brutal measures the leaders used to enforce their ideologies, and discusses the horrific consequences of genocide and total war. And yet despite all this, inspiration can be found by those who resisted. Along the way, Rick visits poignant sights throughout Europe relating to fascism, and talks with Europeans whose families lived through those times. The goal of the RICK STEVES SPECIAL: THE STORY OF FASCISM IN EUROPE is to learn from the hard lessons of 20th-century Europe, and to recognize that ideology in the 21st century.

Airs 5/4 at 3:30 p.m.

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Take a mind-blowing journey through human history, told through six iconic objects that modern people take for granted, and see how science, invention and technology built on one another to change everything.

• #101 – The Telescope – Meet the brilliant minds throughout history, from Galileo to Edwin Hubble, responsible for creating the telescope. Today, their invention allows humanity to reach the furthest limits of seeing 13 billion light-years out. Aired 4/17 at 10 p.m.
• #102 – The Plane – Take to the sky with the dreamers whose work gave humans the ability to fly. From Leonardo da Vinci’s “flying machines” to the modern commercial plane, without these inventions, we may have never left the ground. Aired 4/24 at 10 p.m.
• #103 The Robot – Learn how robots were first conceptualized in ancient Rome and see how their use has evolved over the centuries, from the calculator to the Roomba. Then, take a sneak peek at what future robots will be able to do. Airs 5/1 at 10 p.m.
• #104 – The Car – Go for a ride through the 9,000-year history of the car, from its roots in dogsleds to Henry Ford’s affordable and assembly line-built Model T, and meet the scientists working on the next generation of self-driving automobiles. Airs 5/8 at 10 p.m.
• #105 – The Rocket – Learn the explosive history of the rocket, from its origin in ancient China, to its use as a weapon of war, to how adding hydrogen allowed it to carry astronauts all the way to the moon. Airs 5/15 at 10 p.m.
• #106 – The Smartphone Dial in to the fascinating history of the smartphone, from its roots in Morse Code to 2007, when Apple unveiled the first-ever iPhone. Plus, see how the next generation of smartphones will allow us to communicate through them just by thinking. Airs 5/22 at 10 p.m.

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