A rare opportunity to fly in some of the world's most fascinating airplanes. Aircraft Carrier! reveals the grueling, yet suddenly thrilling, life aboard the USS Independence. Daredevils of the Sky lets you strap in for a ride with America's greatest stunt pilots. Stunning in-air photography puts you in the pilot's seat with the U. S. Aerobatic Team. B-29 Frozen in Time joins a grueling expedition to recover this rare plane from the North Pole after 50 years—a trip which tests team members in ways they never imagined. Includes: Aircraft Carrier: "Montana," "Crash," "Rat" and "Conan"—they're four of the "top guns" aboard the USS Independence, a floating airport with 5000 men and one misson: to provide a safe home base for American fighter planes during the Gulf War. By coincidence, NOVA cameras happened to be on board when the Independence was called to military action. What you'll see in this special film captures the intensity, anger and adrenaline of battle like no cameras have ever before. [+]

Some were masters of military strategy or were daring battlefield commanders. Others made blunders which left their reputations in ruins. All had a date with destiny and would write their names into the pages of history. This informative and entertaining series breathes new life into some of the most famous commanders in history. Each program features full-scale historically accurate filmed reconstructions of the events which gave each general his place in history. Includes Julius Caesar, Oliver Cromwell, The Duke of Marlborough, and Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson.

With six episodes spread out over four discs and a running time of well over six hours (in addition to an interactive CD-ROM filled with extra features), director-producer Jack Leustig's sprawling 500 Nations, a history of Indians in North America, is likely the most comprehensive effort of its kind ever undertaken. Mention the word "Indian," and most will conjure up images inspired by myths and movies: teepees, headdresses, and war paint; Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Crazy Horse, and their battles (like Little Big Horn) with the U. S. Cavalry. Those stories of the so-called "horse nations" of the Great Plains are all here, but so is a great deal more. Using impressive computer imaging, photos, location film footage and breathtaking cinematography, interviews with present-day Indians, books and manuscripts, museum artifacts, and more, Leustig and his crew go back more than a millennium to present an fascinating account of Indians, including those (like the Maya and Aztecs in Mexico and the Anasazi in the Southwest) who were here long before white men ever reached these shores. It was the arrival of Europeans like Columbus, Cortez, and DeSoto that marked the beginning of the end for the Indians. Considering the participation of host Kevin Costner, whose film Dances with Wolves was highly sympathetic to the Indians, it's no bulletin that 500 Nations also takes a compassionate view of the multitude of calamities-from alcohol and disease to the corruption of their culture and the depletion of their vast natural resources-visited on them by the white man in his quest for land and money, eventually leading to such horrific events as the Trail of Tears "forced march," the massacre at Wounded Knee, and other consequences of the effort to "relocate" Indians to the reservations where many of them still live. Along the way, we learn about the Indians' participation in such events as the American Revolution and the War of 1812, as well as popular legends like the first Thanksgiving (it really happened) and the rescue of Captain John Smith by Pocahontas (it probably didn't). With its sometimes New Age-y music and many beauty shots of the great outdoors, 500 Nations has a rather different vibe than the average Ken Burns documentary. [+]

This spellbinding PBS series chronicles the story of man's bold voyages into space from the earliest attempts to the incredible achievements of recent Space Shuttle flights. Using previously classified NASA footage plus rare footage from the Russian space program, the series explores the historical and political as well as the technological milestones in the epic quest to conquer space. Follow America's pioneering efforts that led to Chuck Yeager's triumph in breaking the sound barrier. U. S. leadership is challenged when the Russians launch the space vehicle Sputnik, and send the first man into space. But during the '60s America regained the initiative through the amazing accomplishments of the Apollo missions, climaxing in the first moon landing. You'll witness these breathtaking events and many more. Titles are: "Thunder in the Skies," "The Wings of Mercury," "One Giant Leap," and "The Territory Ahead. ".

Baby Boomers: The Generation That Changed the World is a set of five hour-long tapes from WGBH's 26-hour epic documentary People's Century. This portion of the series explores issues skirting the boomer generation's concerns and ideologies. Boomtime examines the era following World War II, when boomers were just being born, while Skin Deep and Half the People examine the struggles for racial and gender equality and Picture Power looks at the profound influence of television (only one American TV pop phenomenon is mentioned: Dallas). So, really, only Young Blood actually focuses on the generation in question. Sure, there's mild cynicism behind the packaging-the box's title is insincerely congratulatory, and boomers are a purely American concoction, although the series takes a global perspective. Yet there's plenty of solidly informative and entertaining material here (albeit with some overlap-civil rights are covered in four of the tapes). Cheers to the research team, who must've gone through months of archival footage and unearthed some downright amazing footage. Some of the most jaw dropping: French propaganda depicting an American capitalist foisting Coca Cola on wine connoisseurs, a South African movie in which black musicians get white policemen tapping their toes to a peppy rendition of "Don't Fence Me In," and Chicago mayor Richard Daley's hilarious malapropism: "The policeman isn't there to create disorder-the policeman is there to preserve disorder. " -David Kronke Educational public performance rights are now available! This fascinating 5-volume collection tells the story of a generation that challenged society's rules and changed the world—for the better. From their childhood in the relatively innocent 1950s to burning bras and draft cards and struggling for racial freedom and gender equality in the 1960s, rare archival footage, thought-provoking interviews and first-person accounts offer a vivid look at a revolutionary era. [+]

This series explores the startling new map of the brain that has emerged from the past decade of neuroscience and shares a revelatory view of this most complicated organ, which now contradicts much of what we previously believed. Narrated by actress Blair Brown, the series tells stories through a mix of personal histories, expert commentary and cutting-edge animation.

This boxed set of three programs from the PBS Nova series presents innovative looks at the great reptiles that fascinate us so as well as a peek at how interest in them has lead to human drama. T. Rex Exposed examines the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, the most notorious dinosaur ever. The evolution of thought about how T. rex must have lived is presented in fascinating detail. Case of the Flying Dinosaur is something of a detective story that seeks to answer the question of whether birds are descendants of dinosaurs or just creatures with similar body types. And a dinosaur find that led to a federal prosecution and legal wrangling that seemed to go on for eons is the subject of Curse of T. Rex. The world's most complete T. rex skeleton, named Sue for the fossil hunter who found it in South Dakota, involved a cast of unlikely characters in a ruckus that shook the little-known world of commercial fossil hunters, scientists, and even the Sioux Native American tribe. [+]