Donna E. Lusitana

"George Washington is central to understanding America's founding. He was the crucial figure in winning the American Revolution, in creating the Constitution, and in establishing the precedents for effective self-government as our first president." Newt and Callista Gingrich with the Gingrich Foundation present this life and legacy.

The tale had been kept alive for generations but the intriguing story of Vinland seemed more legendary than true. But a landmark discovery rewrote the history of human exploration and showed he had indeed visited North America. Five hundred years before Christopher Columbus Leif Ericson and the Vikings sailed from Greenland to a new land sighted further west. For centuries their story was shrouded in mystery. But a remarkable discovery by archeologist Anne Ingstad uncovered the site of the legendary Vinland a Viking settlement in Newfoundland. BIOGRAPHY journeys to the Dark Ages to tell the story of one of the greatest explorers of all time and the extraordinary journey that made him a legend. Tour the site where Ericson set foot on the New World and learn what is known of his life from the world's leading scholars. Set sail for history in this unique program which re-creates one of the most important journeys in human history and introduces the legendary explorer at its heart.

Dinosaurs roamed and ruled earth for more than 150-million years, then suddenly vanished leaving only fossils to fascinate and befuddle us. In a feature-length unique approach to historical analysis of these creatures, we don't focus on the latest technology or the most controversial theory. Instead, we look chronologically at what we've gotten wrong about dinosaurs throughout the short history of scientific study of these magnificent, misunderstood creatures, and see where paleontologists are digging today.

Made famous by the 1957 Hollywood movie, the bridges of the River Kwai emblematize one of the most misunderstood events in history. Contrary to the romanticized film version, the structures represent a period of terror, desperation, and death for over 16,000 POWs and 100,00 local slaves. The Thailand - Burma Railway was the vision of the Japanese Imperial Army: a 250-mile track cut through dense jungle that would connect Bangkok and Rangoon. To accomplish this nearly impossible feat, the fanatical and ruthless Japanese engineers used POWs and local slaves as manpower. Candid interviews with men who lived through the atrocity - including Dutch, Australian, British, and American POWs - illuminate the violence and horror of their three-and-a-half-year internment. From Britain's surrender of Singapore the enduring force of friendship, The True Story Of The Bridge On The River Kwai narrates a moving and unforgettable account of a period in history that must be remembered.

Born in 1829, Geronimo was a peaceful young Apache. However, that ail changed one night when his mother, wife, and three children were killed by Mexican soldiers. On that fateful night he became one of the boldest warriors of all time. Originally, Goyathlay, "One Who Yawns", Geronimo became the most famous Apache for standing against the U.S. government and for holding out the longest. In 1876, Federal authorities captured and forced Geronimo and his band onto a U.S. reservation at San Carlos, Arizona. It was described as "Hell's Forty Acres". He soon escaped to roam Arizona and New Mexico. He was pursued relentlessly by more than five thousand U.S. troops. Exhausted and hopelessly outnumbered, Geronimo surrendered in 1886 to live out the rest of his life imprisoned in Oklahoma.

Detailed and fascinating documentary telling the history of the famous German battleship of World War II. The urgent British hunt and the German ship's efforts to escape are described through vintage film and recollections of both British and German veterans of the battles.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were the last of the bandit riders - the most famous outlaws in America. Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch robbed banks and trains throughout the West following an outlaw trail that led from Wyoming to Colorado to Southern Utah. While most outlaws bragged about being the toughest, meanest and fastest, Butch Cassidy claimed he was the smartest, funniest and most popular. With the Pinkertons hot on their trail, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fled to South America in 1901 in an attempt to go straight. Their deaths are hotly debated, but it is believed that they were eventually trapped by Bolivian officers in the Andes mining town of San Vicente where they both died in a bloody gunfight.

A history of the supernatural at Gettysburg.

The "unsinkable" Titanic was a dream come true: four city blocks long and a passenger list worth 250 million dollars. But on her maiden voyage in April 1912, that dream became a nightmare when the giant ship struck an iceberg and sunk in the cold North Atlantic. More than 1,500 lives were lost in one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century. Now, using newsreels, stills, diaries, and exclusive interviews with survivors, Titanic: The Complete Story recounts the sensational history of the premier liner. In Part I: Death of a Dream, the largest ship ever built is christened in Ireland before a cheering crowd of 100,000. Witness the disaster this trek becomes as numerous iceberg warnings go unheeded and the ship sinks in the icy North Atlantic. In Part II: The Legend Lives On, over-packed lifeboats edge away from the crippled liner as a futile SOS signals flare into the night--leaving 1,500 passengers to a watery grave.

Davy Crockett, the celebrated hero, warrior and backwoods statesman was born in 1786 in a small cabin on the banks of the romantic Nolichucky River, Tennessee. He was more than a simple woodsman in coonskin cap. He enjoyed political success when elected on the United States' Congress and where he championed the rights of squatters. However, when he failed to be re-elected in 1835, he set off for Texas to find wealth and prosperity. He soon joined a company of American volunteers to fight the despot Santa Anna and his Mexican army at San Antonio. In March, 1836, all of the 189 brave Americans, including Davy Crockett, lay dead on the ground, but with them also lay over one thousand five hundred Mexicans who had died at their hands.

Descend into the dark world and tragic life of the melancholy author who is the uncontested master of the macabre, and hear excerpts from his famous works.

Crazy Horse - the young, mystical leader of the Sioux has come to symbolise Indian resistance to the white advance westward. His leadership in the 1876 defeat of Custer's 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn made him the most famous Indian warrior in America, a reputation he holds to this day. Ironically, like many revered soldiers, Crazy Horse was a controversial and often despised figure among his own people and the white world. His demise was a sad one. Betrayed by his own people he was eventually bayoneted in the back whilst being held by his former friend Little Big Man. However, he will forever be remembered for leading the Sioux to their greatest victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

James Butler Hickok - lawman, scout, frontiersman, gunslinger and professional gambler. His contemporaries called him "Wild Bill" and Elizabeth Bacon Custer called him "physical perfection". Who was the man who became a legend in his own time? Hero or hooligan, lawman or outlaw, man or myth? Follow in the steps of the man who lived the legend, from his humble beginnings in Homer, Kansas, to the gold rush fields of Deadwood, South Dakota, and the fateful day in 1876 when he drew the infamous "dead man's hand".