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African Americans History Immigrants United States Imperialism United States History Industries United States History Labor United States History Reconstruction (US history, 1865-1877) Sports United States United States Economic conditions United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 United States History Study and teachingSummary: Covering the years 1900 to 1910, this program introduces some of baseball's most celebrated and colorful characters-including Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, and Ty Cobb. The film spotlights Cobb's reputation as perhaps the most aggressive and least likeable player in the history of the game (a standing reflected in the episode's title, drawn from one of the outfielder's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: In 1869, the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of America became linked through a massive implementation of rail technology. The Transcontinental Railroad connected Americans in new ways and altered the entire ecology of the continent. The vast Plains, where buffalo and Native Americans had once roamed, were remade by land speculators and industrialists. In less than a quarter of a century, the West...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: Henry Ford's Model T and assembly line, together with the discovery of abundant oil reserves, opened up a new way of life for Americans in the early decades of the twentieth century. This episode looks at those developments and traces the significance of World War I, prohibition, African-American migration from the South to northern cities, and the origin and growth of the Hollywood film industry.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: No sport is more American than baseball, but, contrary to popular opinion, the game likely predates the birth of our nation and has substantial roots overseas. This program explores baseball's origins as a folk pastime and depicts the early phases of its complex evolution. Refuting the myth that Civil War general Abner Doubleday single-handedly invented the game, the film looks at parallels in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: The War Between the States rages. In 1863, the Confederate Army seems poised for victory. Following the bloody battle of Antietam, President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. Former slaves join the Union army in droves. With superior transportation (railroads), communication (telegraph lines), and battlefield technology, the Union prevails and America is on track to become a global...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: Comparing sports with religion only goes so far, but in early-20th-century America, the reverence accorded baseball and its players resembled the trust and respect a priest might elicit from his parishioners. This program examines the life of the game between 1910 and 1920-the decade in which a godlike figure named Babe Ruth first appeared and the Black Sox scandal threatened, in the words of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: America became a nation just as a revolution in commerce and industry swept the Western world. This program explores the economic growth of the United States in the context of rising friction between the North and South-over the moral issue of slavery, but also over the differences between industrial power and an agricultural economy focused on cotton. With the election of Abraham Lincoln,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: A battle over a dry-goods monopoly in Lincoln County, New Mexico, exposes corrupt politicians, cattle rustling, and cold-blooded murder in 1876. Erupting into a full-blown range war involving numerous Western legends, such as Billy the Kid and John Chisum, the conflict ultimately accomplishes very little.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: American inventor, scientist, and businessman, this episode of A&E Classroom profiles Thomas Alva Edison, dubbed 'The Wizard of Menlo Park' for his creation of the long-lasting electric light bulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the sound recording. Edison originated more than 1,000 U.S. and international patents for devices that greatly influenced communication around the world.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: In 1871, Chicago burned to the ground, and from the ashes of the old city a new kind of metropolis rose up. This program shows the restless spirit embodied in the skyscrapers of American cities (as well as in the Statue of Liberty) but it also addresses new social problems, such as poverty and organized crime, that came with growing urbanization. Worker uprisings, immigration, and the expansion...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: From the Czarist persecutions to those of Hitler, America provided a haven for Jews. Their influx made New York the world's most densely populated city. They went on to become one of the most influential immigrant groups in America.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: The story of 35 million Europeans who left their troubled homelands for the promise of freedom and opportunity, and the hardships of the transatlantic voyage they endured to reach America.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: More than 10% of Americans have German blood in their veins. Their ancestors came as religious and political refugees, but their dream of building a German society within America was largely shattered by the two world wars.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: As industrial progress continues and the gap between the rich and poor widens, a new labor movement emerges to advocate for workers' rights. The strike at Lawrence, Massachusetts, is a victory for workers; and Susan B. Anthony paves the way for women's right to vote.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2002
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Summary: As with many historic American figures of the 19th century, Sojourner Truth's story is incomplete and somewhat mythical, a fact compounded by her having been born a slave. This detailed program traces the lifelong odyssey of a woman who literally walked out of bondage, changed her name in 1843, and traveled the country as an abolitionist and women's rights advocate. Along the way she would meet...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Polish immigrants were the driving force behind Chicago's remarkable industrial growth. But they never achieved political cohesiveness, and while a million Poles now live in Chicago, their political power is not commensurate with the number of votes they cast.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: The British had it the easiest of all. As long ago as the settlement in Jamestown, they came not to escape poverty but to find prosperity. As a group, they found it the easiest to reap the material rewards of an expanding America.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: The U.S. Constitution is the world's oldest written charter of government in continuous effect. Much of the success of this document can be attributed to the way the Constitution has changed to meet the needs of the American people. The framers of the Constitution wisely anticipated the need to make changes to the Constitution as the world itself changed. Between 1787, when the Constitution was...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Green, Hardy.
Summary: Examines how towns across the United States have grown thanks to the existence of one large business being run from the community, discusses how those single-business communities have influenced the American economy, and explores the benefits and consequences of these towns.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Basic Books 2010
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 307.76 GRESummary: This poignant collage features members of the Oglala Lakota Sioux living on and off the Pine Ridge reservation who present their unself-pitying yet pointed observations on Lakota history and modern-day Lakota life. Their creation myth and their attitudes toward Mother Earth and the concept of time contribute insights into their worldview, while footage of a major powwow and a tepee-raising...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Get set for an adventure that marked a new era in America! Filmmaker Ken Burns presents the hilarious 1903 saga of the first transcontinental automobile trip. On a visionary whim and a
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2003
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Josephson, Matthew
Contents: Part one. The national scene: the national character -- What the young men dream -- Of empire-builders -- The winning of the west -- Two captains of industry -- The fight for Erie -- Grandeurs and miseries of empire-building -- Part two. Rising from the ruins -- Mephistopheles -- Caesar Borgia in California -- Giants of the northwest -- Certain industrialists arose -- Morgan and the railways --...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Harcourt 1995
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 332.0973 JODSummary: In the early 20th century, blacks moved north in hope of a better life with little more than a prayer and the shirts on their backs. In this program, poet Maya Angelou, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, and a host of other African-Americans recount the story of the migration, of separated families, and of the hardships, prejudice, and struggle for acceptance in the North that resulted in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This episode of American Stories by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns presents the history of one of our greatest icons. For over a century, she has stood on Liberty Island, a gift from France created by sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi. Torch eternally aloft, Lady Liberty has been the symbol of hope for generations of immigrants. Interviews with ordinary Americans reveal the statue’s great...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1985