Episode guide
American Experience: Season 14
14 episodes · first aired Sep 9, 2001
TMDB has no overview for this season.
- 1 New York (6): The City of Tomorrow Sep 10, 2001 · 55m "City of Tomorrow (1929-45)" focuses on Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who used his close ties to FDR to make the city "a gigantic laboratory of civic reconstruction"; and master builder Robert…
- 2 New York (7): The City and the World Sep 17, 2001 · 55m Conclusion. "The City and the World" begins in 1945, with New York "at the pinnacle," says historian David McCullough. By 1975 it was: "Ford to City: Drop Dead," as a Daily News headline…
- 3 War Letters Nov 1, 2001 · 55m War letters from the American Revolution to the Gulf War are read by 15 actors (including Joan Allen, Edward Norton, Kevin Spacey and Courtney B. Vance). Accompanied by clips, home movies…
- 4 Woodrow Wilson (1): A Passionate Man Jan 6, 2002 · 55m A two-part profile of Woodrow Wilson in which news clips, atmospheric re-creations and readings (Rene Auberjonois and Blair Brown provide the voices of Wilson and his first wife, Ellen)…
- 5 Woodrow Wilson (2): The Redemption of the World Jan 13, 2002 · 55m Woodrow Wilson reluctantly enters World War I in an effort to "make the world safe for democracy" as this two-part profile concludes. He wins the war but loses the peace, as he's…
- 6 Mount Rushmore Jan 20, 2002 · 55m Chronicling the 16-year struggle (1925-41) to fashion Mount Rushmore in South Dakota's Black Hills, and profiling sculptor Gutzon Borglum, its creator. Borglum was 60 when plans for…
- 7 Miss America Jan 27, 2002 · 55m Recalling the 80-year history of the Miss America Pageant and what narrator Cherry Jones calls "a barometer of America's shifting ideas of American womanhood." Included: eight former Miss…
- 8 Zoot Suit Riots Mar 1, 2002 · 55m "Zoot Suit Riots" recalls a week of violence that rocked Los Angeles in June 1943, pitting Mexican-Americans against Anglos, many of them servicemen. Hector Elizondo narrates the hour…
- 9 Monkey Trial Feb 23, 2002 · 55m Recalling the "epic battle" over evolution waged in 1925 by fundamentalist titan William Jennings Bryan and freethinking Clarence Darrow. This chronicle also explores trial oddities. It…
- 10 Public Enemy #1 Feb 17, 2002 · 55m John Dillinger may have been "Public Enemy No. 1" in 1933 and '34, but Americans didn't reflexively hate him, and this hour explores reasons why as it chronicles his 14-month bank-robbing…
- 11 Ansel Adams Apr 21, 2002 · 55m Ric Burns' profile of the photographer whose connection to Yosemite is such that a mountain near the park is named for him. Adams (1902-84) first visited Yosemite at age 14. "It completely…
- 12 A Brilliant Madness Apr 28, 2002 · 55m Mathematics genius John Nash recalls his bout with schizophrenia (the subject dramatized in the Oscar-winning film "A Beautiful Mind"). Nash is joined by his wife, Alicia; son John Stier…
- 13 Ulysses S. Grant (1): The Warrior Apr 1, 2002 · 55m A moody two-part biography of Ulysses S. Grant (1822-85). Part 1, "Warrior," quickly sketches his largely unsuccessful pre-Civil War life and ends on Good Friday 1865, when his wife told…
- 14 Ulysses S. Grant (2): The President Apr 2, 2002 · 55m The conclusion of this biography of Ulysses S. Grant (1822-85) covers the last 20 years of the life of "the most popular man of the 19th century," as historian Donald Miller calls him…