At the dawn of the nineteenth century, the size of the United States doubles with the Louisiana Purchase. The Appalachians are no longer the barrier to American migration west; the Mississippi River becomes the country's central artery; and Jefferson's vision of an Empire of Liberty begins to take shape. American historian Stephen Ambrose joins Professors Maier and Miller in examining the consequences of the Louisiana Purchase, for the North, the...

This is a timeline of the life of the Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus. An admiral, and navigator, he set sail westwards from Spain in 1492 with the aim of arriving in the Far East, but instead, landed in the Americas, then unknown to Europeans. Seen as a hero and pioneer by some, by others he is seen as someone whose arrival brought suffering to people living in the Americas.

Dixieland, swing, bebop, modal, free, avant-garde, these were some of the terms critics used during the 1960s to categorize the diverse manifestations of jazz music. As for the artists themselves, many were desperate for work and headed for Europe, including bebop saxophone master Dexter Gordon. At home, jazz sought relevance. During the Civil Rights struggle it became a voice of protest, while avant-garde explorer John Coltrane reached for a higher...

Ukraine, April 26, 1986. The nuclear power plant near Chernobyl is due for routine tests. The tests are to check if it can be restarted independently after a total outage of the electricity network. Foreman Anatoli Diatlov is supervising tests on reactor number 4. Confident in his equipment, Diatlov decides, against the advice of his engineers, to push the reactor tests to the limit and disables several security measures. When the team notices the...

"Marc Favreau documents the Great Depression--a time when Americans from all walks of life fell victim to poverty, insecurity, and fear--and tells the incredible story of how they survived and, ultimately, thrived. This is the story of the Great Depression in the United States, from the sweeping consequences of the market collapse to the more personal stories of individuals and communities caught up in the aftermath. Packed with photographs,...

Publisher Anno: Forget everything you think you know about George Washington. The father of our country remains a mystery to too many of us. Now TIME tells the full, fascinating story of the Virginia planter who fought for Britain in the French and Indian War, led a rag-tag colonial army to victory over the British Empire, and was elected the first President of the United States. Young adult readers ready to look beyond the “Who Was” series deserve...

Beginning with a searing indictment of slavery, this program dramatically evokes the causes of the war. Here are the burning questions of union and states' rights, John Brown at Harper's Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln, the firing on Fort Sumter, and the jubilant rush to arms on both sides. Along the way the war's major figures are introduced: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and a host of lesser-known but...

Live theatre production that brings one of the most important periods of our country's history to life. Howard Egger-Bovet is an educator, a children's performing artist, published author, songwriter, and puppeteer. He performs his highly entertaining theater, through song and skit, to teach children a deeper understanding of the events that shaped our country.

This Program from the Combat Studies Institute is designed to give military instructors ideas on presenting "Nuclear Weapons and the Cold War," lesson 12 in "Evolution of Modern Warfare." It offers suggestions for how to present the Cold War context, thinking on nuclear strategy and deterrence, and the post-WWII reorganization of the military and national security apparatus. Panelists show how the existence of nuclear weapons led to questions of whether...

Researchers begina slow and cumbersome descent, deep into the Grootboom Cave, hindered by head-to-toe protective suits, but those suits are the only things standing between safety and exposure. Thousands of bats live inside this cave, and not far from the cave's entrance is the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, a heavily populated area. Any number of these bats could potentially be carrying a deadly pathogen. Known as zoonotic, these are diseases...