Amanda Pollak

By the time he died in 1931, Thomas Alva Edison was one of the most famous men in the world. The holder of more patents than any other inventor in history, Edison had achieved glory as the genius behind such revolutionary inventions as sound recording, motion pictures, and electric light. Born on the threshold of America's burgeoning industrial empire, Edison's curiosity led him to its cutting edge.

After taking control of the San Francisco Examiner in 1887, William Randolph Hearst was eager to try his luck in New York. Hearst bought the failing Journal in 1895 and turned it into a sensation. He earned the loyalty of the city's population of newly arrived immigrants by railing against monopolistic businesses and championing the working class, using the medium to increase his influence.

This program tells the untold story of the first-ever war on cancer and the coalition of people who fought tirelessly to save women from cervical cancer: a Greek immigrant, Dr. George Papanicolau; his intrepid wife, Mary; Japanese-born artist, Hashime Murayama; Dr. Helen Dickens, an African American OBGYN in Philadelphia and an entirely new class of female scientists.

How one of the most impactful, lifesaving tests for women was created and popularized by a Greek immigrant and his wife, a famous Japanese-American illustrator who was detained in a WW2 internment camp, and a groundbreaking Black female surgeon. In the 1950's, survival rates from cancer of any kind were low. Damaging surgery and unsophisticated radiotherapy were the main treatments, assuming the disease was detected in time for anything to be done....

In the 1930s, William Randolph Hearst's media empire included 28 newspapers, a movie studio, a syndicated wire service, radio stations and 13 magazines. Nearly one in four American families read a Hearst publication. His newspapers were so influential that Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Winston Churchill all wrote for him. The first practitioner of what is now known as 'synergy,' Hearst used his media stronghold to achieve unprecedented political...

American Experience, TV's most-watched history series, brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today. The collection includes a number of great episodes from the series, including American Experience The Poisonor's Handbook. In the early 20th century, the average American medicine cabinet was a would-be poisoner's treasure chest, with radioactive radium, thallium, and morphine in everyday products....

Documentary about Thomas Edison that explores the complex alchemy that accounts for the enduring celebrity of America's most famous inventor. It offers new perspectives on the man and his milieu, and illuminates not only the true nature of invention, but its role in turn-of-the-century America's rush into the future.

Chart America's entry into the conflict, examining the breathtaking speed of mobilization and the profound transformations required if America was to play a central role in the Great War. In 1917, the U.S. was deeply divided about going to war. Wilson hired former journalist George Creel to lead an unprecedented propaganda campaign to support the war. But for those who resisted the patriotic fervor, the consequences could be severe. Repressive legislation...

Sealab tells the little-known story of the daring program that tested the limits of human endurance and revolutionized undersea exploration.