During this episode of New York: A Documentary Film, filmmaker Ric Burns explores how the post-World War I economic boom, the rise of consumer culture, and the birth of the new mass media industries fueled the convergence of an incredible array of human and cultural energies, ending with the stock market crash of 1929 and the construction of the Empire State Building. In just over a decade, New York gave birth to its signature skyscrapers and to artistic...

In this episode of New York: A Documentary Film, filmmaker Ric Burns explores the turbulent and often harrowing years from 1945 to 2003. Emerging from the Depression and the Second World War as the most powerful metropolis on Earth, New York soon confronted urban woes of unprecedented proportions, and fought for its very existence. In exploring the social, economic, and physical forces that swept through the city in the post-war period, this program...

This episode of New York: A Documentary Film details New York's enormous growth as a booming commercial center and multi-ethnic port, and the mounting tensions that set the stage for the nation's bloodiest riot. Filmmaker Ric Burns examines how New York City swelled into the nation's greatest industrial metropolis as a massive wave of German and Irish immigration turned the city into one of the world's most complex urban environments, bringing with...

In this episode of New York: A Documentary Film, filmmaker Ric Burns follows the city into the 20th century in the wake of an extraordinary wave of immigration and the birth of the skyscraper. As New York spilled into the new century, the extraordinary interplay of capitalism, democracy and transformation surged to a climax. During a single generation, over 10 million immigrants arrived in New York. The city itself became an even more dramatic lure...