This eight-part, 16½-hour television event explores New York City's rich history as the premier laboratory of modern life. A sweeping narrative covering nearly 400 years and 400 square miles, it reveals a complex and dynamic city that has played an unparalleled role in shaping the nation and reflecting its ideals.

The American Experience looks at the history of American whaling from its off-shore origins in the 17th century to the golden age of deep water whaling and the eventual decline in the decades after the Civil War.

The riveting life and times of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) and his soaring masterpiece "The Divine Comedy" – one of the greatest achievements in the history of Western literature.

The riveting life and times of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) and his soaring masterpiece "The Divine Comedy" – one of the greatest achievements in the history of Western literature.

1992 film by Ric Burns

Delve into the rich, 75-year history of one of the world's preeminent ballet companies. Ric Burns' documentary combines intimate rehearsal footage, virtuoso performances and interviews with American Ballet Theatre's key figures. Combined with hundreds of carefully curated stills and rare footage of ballet icons Alonso, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Antony Tudor, Nora Kaye and Mikhail Baryshnikov, the film provides a comprehensive inside look at American Ballet Theatre and the world of professional ballet for both seasoned aficionados and those who never have seen a ballet.

In the early 17th century, a small group of religious radicals embarked from England to establish a separatist religious community across the Atlantic Ocean in the New World. William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth Plantation for more than 30 years, wrote the definitive history of the early colony, from the early formation of a separatist Protestant sect in England to a colony in the New World whose hard-fought success after a decade would trigger a massive influx of colonists throughout New England.
In the months after their arrival in the New World in 1620, the Pilgrims would face rampant starvation, disease, and death; their relationship with the indigenous population was complex. Living in a former Wampanoag village, whose inhabitants had been killed years earlier when European settlers brought disease to the region, the Pilgrims' first months were marked by a skirmish with the native Wampanoag people. But in their first spring, out of mutual desperation, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags agreed to support each other. Tisquantum, the sole survivor of the former Wampanoag village the Pilgrims now inhabited, lived with them to act as an interpreter and help them plant their crops.
In the fall of 1621, under Tisquantum’s supervision, the Pilgrims’ crops yielded a considerable harvest. To celebrate the bounty and an end to the hardships that had nearly killed them off, they held a three-day celebration of games and food. Wampanoag leader Massasoit and 90 of his men joined the Pilgrims, contributing five deer they had killed. Although they didn't call it such at the time, this event would later inspire the national holiday of Thanksgiving.
Despite their peace pact with the Wampanoags, the Pilgrims’ relationship with other native tribes remained tense. Nonetheless, after years of struggle, the Pilgrims eventually found a way to turn a profit in the new world, sending valuables such as beaver pelts back to Europe, and thus encouraging more and more colonists to venture to New England. By the early 1670s, approximately 70,000 English settlers had arrived in New England, overwhelming the Native population of fewer than 20,000.
In 1675, Metacom, the son of Wampanoag chief Massasoit, led an armed effort to drive out the colonists from Wampanoag land. In the end, more than 600 colonists and approximately 3,000 Native Americans, including Metacom, were killed.
William Bradford's Of Plymoth Plantation, despite being lost for nearly a century following the Revolutionary War, would eventually be returned to Massachusetts, and implant the Pilgrims' story firmly into America’s origin narrative. Today, it is considered one of the great books of American literature and history.

Chronological look at the life and career of Johnny Carson (1925-2005), with commentary from an ex-wife and more than 30 fellow comedians, friends, employees, and biographers. The biography defines why Carson was an enduring star (his cool, his timing, his genuine laugh, his breadth of knowledge) and pursues his motivations and inner self (a loner with a drinking problem, a decent Midwesterner whose mother withheld approval, a quiet person who loved to entertain). The key to understanding him, argues the biography, is his love of magic.

Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West and primarily Yosemite National Park.
For his images, he developed the zone system of photography, a way to calculate the proper exposure of a photograph. The resulting clarity and depth were characteristic of his photographs. His crystal clear images were also the result of his using the large format 8×10” film camera, which provided a maximum resolution, although it was among the most difficult cameras to use due to its large size, weight, set-up time, and film cost. However, it was typical of the lengths he would go to achieve his vision of perfection.
He founded the Group f/64 along with fellow photographers Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham, which was responsible for the founding of the Museum of Modern Art's department of photography. Adams' timeless and visually stunning photographs are constantly reproduced on calendars, posters, and in books, making his photographs widely recognizable. And as a result, his images are among the most significant and familiar contributions to the history of photography.

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life explores the life and work of the legendary neurologist and storyteller, as he shares intimate details of his battles with drug addiction, homophobia, and a medical establishment that accepted his work only decades after the fact. Sacks was a fearless explorer of unknown mental worlds who helped redefine our understanding of the brain and mind, the diversity of human experience, and our shared humanity.

Ric Burns (brother of the famed documentarian Ken Burns) presents an exhaustive history of New York City from the settling of the area by the Dutch to the attack by terrorists nearly 400 years later. Told in a sentimental tone, Burns weaves a lyrical tale of the great metropolis that encompasses not only the city's streets, but also that of the history of America. Though around fourteen hours in length, this epic documentary presents a thoughtful, entertaining look at our relatively young country.
Written by Chris Bogner

"He was the most American of artists and the most artistic of Americans," one man later said – "so American in fact that he is almost invisible to us." ANDY WARHOL – a riveting and often deeply moving film portrait of the most famous and famously controversial artist of the second half of the twentieth century – is the first to explore the complete spectrum of Warhol's astonishing artistic output, stretching across five decades from the late 1940's to his untimely death in 1987. Combining powerful on-camera interviews and rare still and motion picture footage, it is also the first to put Warhol himself – his humble family background and formative experiences in Pittsburgh, and his crucial apprenticeship as a commercial artist in New York – back into the presentation of his life.

美籍华裔导演Li-Shin Yu联手Ric Burns经过6年打造，以大量资料和采访，详述“不为很多人所知的一段美国历史”——1882-1943年，美国禁止中国工人移民到美国，是该国首次颁布法令禁掉一个特定族群进入。