Bill Moyers
Language
English
Description
Innovation enabled the United States to take on the mantle of world leadership-most importantly, innovation in military technology. But among the great minds that drove American innovation, using science to make war sometimes led to questions, dilemmas, and even second thoughts. In this program, Bill Moyers presents a profile of I. I. Rabi, winner of the 1944 Nobel Prize in physics and an early developer of radar for use in World War II. Rabi also...
Language
English
Description
For African-Americans, the 20th century was fraught with contrasts. There was the glowing promise of equality in the nation's charters and there was the actual bigotry that shadowed and shrank that promise. In this program, Bill Moyers is joined by a distinguished couple who have long spoken for black aspirations-Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Together they re-create, in dramatic dialogue and often in original settings, the world of 20th-century black...
23) The Twenties
Language
English
Description
Conventional wisdom enshrines the 1920s as the decade that roared-a time in which Americans kicked up their heels to the Charleston and went for one long joyride before the Wall Street crash of 1929. As this Bill Moyers program illustrates, those things did happen, but so did many others-not all of them fondly remembered. Nineteen Americans who lived through those years talk about their lives in the 1920s. From labor strikes to the Scopes trial to...
Language
English
Description
Danger has always surrounded the coal miner's profession, but in the early years of the Colorado coal fields, it was almost as risky for a worker to stay above ground and face the wrath of the company as it was to toil in the tunnels below. This Bill Moyers program presents the memories of the people who worked those mines, freeing the rocks, metals, and minerals on which much of 20th-century American industry was founded. The depths of their struggles...
25) The Image Makers
Language
English
Description
The growth of mass communication provided a new understanding of ways to manipulate images and influence popular opinion, giving birth to the concept of public relations. In this program, Bill Moyers examines the public-relations campaign designed by Ivy Lee in 1914 to improve the image of John D. Rockefeller. He also talks with Edward Bernays-the man who helped immortalize Thomas Edison and actually coined the term "public relations"-about the science...
Language
English
Description
In 1911, the first newsreels flickered in America's nickelodeons. In the mid-1960s, they vanished from movie theaters as nightly television newscasts came to dominate visual journalism. In between, newsreels grew into a unique 20th-century institution that informed and entertained whole generations. In this program, Bill Moyers conducts a tour of the cultural and political landscape so dramatically rendered by the American newsreel. Accompanied by...
Language
English
Description
This program with Bill Moyers explores the uses and abuses of political language and how the democratic conversation has been frustrated and trivialized by the new jargon of politics. Appearing in the program are Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Dean of the Annenberg School for Communications; noted media commentator Edwin Diamond; E. J. Dionne, author of Why Americans Hate Politics; and U.S. representatives Barney Frank, Dave Obey, Susan Molinari, and Ileana...
Language
English
Description
This program with Bill Moyers examines the status of black Americans, particularly in light of the rioting in Los Angeles that followed the Rodney King verdict. Featured in the program are rapper Sister Souljah; Robert Woodson, Chairman of the Council for a Black Economic Agenda; and Michael Cross, Director of the Male Responsibility Program of the Detroit Urban League. They are joined by Charles Hamilton (Columbia University), Jennifer Hochschild...
Language
English
Description
This program with Bill Moyers explores the delicate balance between corporate productivity and environmental responsibility, looking at the growing number of corporate "green" ads and asking: what is image? what is reality? Featured in the program are industry representatives and grassroots environmentalists who examine corporate America's willingness to protect the public's health and safety. The program travels to a rural Louisiana area known as...
30) Stanley Kunitz
Language
English
Description
The recipient of virtually every honor that can be bestowed upon a poet, Stanley Kunitz has been a source of encouragement for a century of budding talent and a tireless promoter of the arts. In this program, Bill Moyers and Mr. Kunitz discuss topics such as his love of life and the recurring theme of renewal in his work. Readings by Mr. Kunitz spotlight "The Flight of Apollo," "The Lincoln Relics," "The Quarrel," "Vita Nuova," "The Round," "The Portrait,"...
Language
English
Description
The groundbreaking book by sociologist Robert Bellah, The Good Society, forms the backbone for this two-part program with Bill Moyers, which looks at two American cities uniquely struggling to make a better society. The first program looks at Atlanta. Often cited as America's most livable city, it is also one of the poorest cities in the nation. In spite of the divisions within the city-rich and poor, black and white-Atlanta is a place where people...
Language
English
Description
This program with Bill Moyers focuses on what we can do to repair the U.S. economy. A business executive explains why his company closed its factories in the U.S. and moved manufacturing operations to Mexico. Among those who discuss potential solutions to problems facing the American economy are Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect; Henry Nau, author of The Myth of America's Decline; and Patricia Saiki, head of the Small Business Administration....
33) Changing lives
Language
English
Description
While addiction may cause similar changes in the brains of different people, recovery is a very individual solution. Changing behavior is the aim of treatment, but no single treatment program will work for all addicts. This program visits the Ridgeview Institute near Atlanta to interview recovering addicts and sit in on a group therapy session. Mr. Moyers also visits Project SAFE, an innovative treatment program that reaches out to disadvantaged mothers...
34) Learning to Hate
Language
English
Description
In the second program, Moyers focuses on how children learn to hate, and how attitudes toward hatred differ from culture to culture. A youth of Arab-Israeli descent becomes friends with a young Orthodox Jew at an international training center that teaches youngsters the tools for dialogue and understanding. High school students in Bensonhurst analyze the origins of hatred against gays. In Washington, D.C., a Holocaust survivor teaches children how...
Language
English
Description
Because we are removed from spirituality today, Smith believes we find it difficult to understand the true meaning of Christianity. Smith explains that Christianity wouldn't have existed if its "spirit had not been real and dense and palpable and evident to everyone around. Smith finds the intimate relationship between the Jews and their God "a living conversation between the human and the divine that goes on generation after generation. Through his...
Language
English
Description
Lorna Dee Cervantes began writing poetry at the age of eight and founded her own press to publish the works of Mexican-Americans. Dr. Shirley Geok-lin Lim, an English professor and Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer, uses her Chinese/Malaysian roots to bring a unique Asian-American perspective to her writing. In this program, Bill Moyers and the two poets discuss topics that revolve around the theme of otherness. Readings by Ms. Cervantes feature "Summer...
37) Families matter
Language
English
Description
This program with Bill Moyers examines why America has become an unfriendly culture for families and children, and explores ways to rebuild a web of support for families. Among those featured on the program are Rosalie Streett, Exec. Director of Parent Action (Baltimore, MD); Jill Bradley, Director of Child Care Services, Chicago Housing Authority; and Richard Louv, author of the book Childhood's Future. They discuss some of the practical steps needed...
38) Robert Pinsky
Language
English
Description
Robert Pinsky, Poet Laureate of the United States for an unprecedented third term, finds his inspiration in common things, transforming the culturally unpoetic into masterpieces of verbal expression. In this program, Bill Moyers and Mr. Pinsky discuss topics including his love of the English language, the pervasive influence of history, and the flourishing of poetry on the Internet. Readings by Mr. Pinsky feature "ABC," "Ginza Samba," "Poem with Refrains,"...
Language
English
Description
The story of how our society meets the challenge of translating what scientists, doctors, counselors, and recovering addicts have learned into rational public policy is complex and sometimes contradictory. This program looks at Arizona's struggle to find an alternative to established drug-related policies. Proposition 200 proposed a reassessment of the status of nonviolent drug addicts now serving time, and emphasized treatment over incarceration....
Language
English
Description
This program with Bill Moyers examines both the disenchantment of American voters and the frustrations of members of Congress as they try to work within the system. Voters say they have heard too many promises, and have seen too few results; politicians say that a sensational press and uninformed voters make it hard to govern. The program features five politicians (former Senator Warren Rudman and representatives Barney Frank, Dave Obey, Susan Molinari,...