Pioneers! O Pioneers!
Both westward expansion and 19th-century immigration affected the development of a uniquely American English. This classic PBS program tells the story of that burgeoning dialect, from the Revolutionary War to the 1920s. Beginning with the Declaratio...
The “Muvver” Tongue
In the 19th century, English spread throughout the British Empire—but which English? This classic PBS program traces the roots of white Commonwealth English to Cockney, the language of London’s working class. Explaining the influence of Cockney ...
The pipeline
This ambitious documentary follows the circuitous route of the 1,100-mile BTC Pipeline, a string of 150,000 steel pipes that links the cities of Baku, in Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, in Georgia; and Ceyhan, in Turkey. The pipeline will transport the rich, p...
The wilderness
As the industrialized world's desire for oil grows larger, so does the opposition from environmental groups intent on protecting the land. As demand increases, what restraints should be put on where oil companies drill? This documentary journey head...
Loaded Weapon
The Irish experience reflects two language traditions, English and Gaelic. This classic PBS program shows how English was first established in Ireland in the 17th century and how, in cases of violent cultural conflict, language can function as a wea...
The Guid Scots Tongue
The Scottish tongue is one of the oldest in Britain, a Northern variety of English that, but for the accidents of history, might have become a separate language. This classic PBS program deals with the influence of the Scots in spreading the languag...
The Empire Strikes Back
Will standard English, as it was known in the 20th century, disappear? Will English continue as the global tongue, or will its numerous varieties become, as offshoots of Latin did, a host of mutually unintelligible languages? This classic PBS progra...
The Battle of Ideas
The social and economic catastrophe left in the ashes of World War I ignited an intellectual and political struggle that would last most of the 20th century. This program tells the story of how, for half a century, the world moved toward more govern...
A Muse of Fire
As the landscape of the New World awakened England’s imagination, so did a new landscape of words—in the English of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible. This classic PBS program describes the spread of English to North America and expla...
The Agony of Reform
In the 20th century, most of the world's nations tried to create prosperity through government control of their economies—from the totalitarian central planning of the communist world to more democratic nations that tried to develop their economie...