Crash Course US History

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

Join Dave Stotts on an adventure through early American history as he tells the stories of the people, places, and events that shaped the founding of the United States of America. Dave travels to five countries in Europe and most of the original 13 colonies, tell stories of faith and freedom, inspiring families with a renewed appreciation for the heritage of our country.

Sister Wendy Beckett, a cloistered nun and Oxford-educated art scholar, takes an art appreciation tour across America, visiting six major art museums in this 6-hours documentary series from PBS.

What does the Ground Zero flag from 9/11 have in common with the original Wright Brothers flying machine patent? Both are historically important items for the United States… and both are missing. Best-selling author Brad Meltzer enlists America’s help to find these and other missing treasures.

Out of the ashes of World War I, a new generation of titan rises…Pierre Du Pont, Walter Chrysler, J.P. Morgan Jr., Henry Ford, and William Boeing. Their fight to reach the top will transform America as they compete to dominate new industries—from the highways to the skyways. After years of fighting each other, and FDR, these rivals must unite during World War II to defeat a greater enemy and save the world.

"Once upon a time ... the Americas" tells us the story of this vast continent, from the very first inhabitants to the present day, including the Aztecs and the Incas, the conquistadors, the war of independence or the gold Rush. Through our usual sympathetic heroes (Maestro, Pierrot, Petit Gros, le Teigneux, le Nabot, etc.), we travel from time to time, always with the aim of teaching us something.

An unprecedented look at the decade-long odyssey to land a man on the moon. This documentary pulls back the curtain on the familiar narrative of the moonshot, revealing a fascinating stew of scientific innovation, political calculation, media spectacle, visionary impulses and personal drama.

Terra X - Zeitreise

Historian Patrick Boucheron revisits the most important dates in history through the prisms of memory and collective imagination.

Examines six moments when the collision and collusions of Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Adams, Madison and Burr left an indelible imprint on the nation.

This five-part series traces the story of Asian Americans, spanning 150 years of immigration, racial politics, international relations, and cultural innovation. It is a timely, clear-eyed look at the vital role that Asian Americans have played in defining who we are as a nation. Their stories are a celebration of the grit and resilience of a people that reflects the experience of all Americans.

The history of the rise, rule and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the entire era it encompassed (1920-33). After nearly a century of activism, Prohibition was intended to improve the lives of all citizens by protecting individuals, families and society at large from the devastating effects of alcohol abuse; but paradoxically it made millions of people rethink their definition of morality.

In keeping with the original project, this series seeks to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

A group of researchers help people to find answers to various historical questions they have, usually centering around a family heirloom, an old house or other historic object or structure. It devotes itself "to exploring the complexities of historical mysteries, searching out the facts, myths and conundrums that connect local folklore, family legends and interesting objects."

Dramatic documentary about the birth of the American Republic and the struggle of a loosely connected group of states to become a nation.

Mafia Connection

Chronicles the lives of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of the most prominent and influential family in American politics. It is the first time in a major documentary television series that their individual stories have been interwoven into a single narrative. This seven-part, fourteen hour film follows the Roosevelts for more than a century, from Theodore’s birth in 1858 to Eleanor’s death in 1962.

Explore the Kennedy family's rise to power and how personal relationships within the Kennedy dynasty shaped national and global events from the Cold War to the Wall Street crash.

Since its birth in 1865, in the wake of the American Civil War, the history of the Ku Klux Klan has been inseparable from that of the United States. The debates over slavery, the populism in the roaring twenties, the struggle for civil rights in the sixties, the rise of the far-right in the early 21st century; the Klan seems to have always embodied the dark side of the nation, with its gray areas and blind spots.

Everything you thought you knew about slavery is about to be challenged. Africans in America: America’s Journey Through Slavery is the groundbreaking series that makes history by sharing it from a new perspective. Nearly ten years in the making, this landmark six-hour set exposes the truth through surprising revelations, dramatic recreations, rare archival photography and riveting first-person accounts.