How does the brain work, why does it break down, and how can it be healed? In section one of this intriguing program, doctors from Harvard Medical School and other eminent institutions study the chronic psychological stress of modern living in light of the innate fight-or-flight mechanism. In section two, a pioneer in brain imaging technology and experts from Massachusetts General Hospital and MIT describe revolutionary imaging techniques and their...

This program explores a variety of life-and-death situations to illustrate the spectrum of highly controversial ethical decisions made on a daily basis in modern American medicine. Hosted by ABC News medical correspondent George Strait, and featuring noted authorities such as health-care economist Uwe Reinhardt, the program takes an in-depth look at the decisions that underlie the use of health-care dollars. When is life support provided and stopped?...

Chronicles America's complicated perceptions of race and crime through the story of the "Central Park 5"--A group of minority teenagers wrongfully convicted and jailed for brutally raping a white woman in New York.

Examines the issues and strategies involved in successfully running for political office in the United States. Different segments look at how street organizations got out the vote in Chicago, a California gubernatorial candidate on a 29 hour bus-trip photo-op marathon, a consultant crafting a negative ad campaign, a revealing story of changing ethnic coalitions, a look at the wide-open Texas legislature and a portrait of a Texas state senator as he...

Presents the history of women's suffrage in the United States through the dramatic, often turbulent friendship of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan Anthony. Part 1 covers the years from their youth up to the establishment of the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1868. Part 2 spans the period from 1868 to the passage in 1919 of the 19th amendment to the Constitution which gave women the vote.

Latino Americans chronicles the rich and varied history and experiences of Latinos, who have for the past 500-plus years helped shape what is today the United States. It is a story of people, politics, and culture, intersecting with much that is central to the history of the United States while also going to places where standard U.S. histories do not tend to tread.

The painter Frida Kahlo's life and art reflected the maelstrom of revolution and culture that defined the first half of the 20th century in her native Mexico and around the world. She was at times a socialist, a communist, and a revolutionary. This program presents her life as a reflection of her cultural history, her art, and the times in which she lived. The film combines her artwork with photographs, archival films, and interviews.

This videodisc explores the extraordinary story of what happens when a freedom-loving nation outlaws the sale of intoxicating liquor, and the disastrous unintended consequences that follow. The utterly relevant cautionary tale raises profound questions about the proper role of government and the limits of legislating morality. When the country goes dry in 1920, after a century of debate, millions of law-abiding Americans become lawbreakers overnight....

An epic documentary bringing life to America's most destructive - and defining - conflict. Here is the saga of celebrated generals and the ordinary soldiers. A heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one again.

Biography of the African American labor leader, journalist, and civil rights activist, A. Philip Randolph. Randolph won the first national labor agreement for a black union, The Sleeping Car porters. His threat of a protest march on Washington forced President Roosevelt to ban segregation in the federal government and defense industries at the onset of WWII and again he forced Truman to integrate the military. Finally with the 1963 March on Washington,...