Watch Full Films | American Experience | Official Site

Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History

Aired February 20, 2023 | 53 min

Monopoly is America’s favorite board game, a love letter to unbridled capitalism and our free market society. But behind the myth of the game’s creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing.

Full Film Chapter 1 Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History: Trailer More

Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History (español)

Aired February 20, 2023 | 53 min

Monopoly es el juego de mesa favorito de Estados Unidos, una carta de amor al capitalismo desenfrenado y a nuestra sociedad de libre mercado. Pero detrás del mito de su creación hay una historia sin contar sobre un robo, una obsesión y un doble juego corporativo.

Full Film

Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space

Aired January 17, 2023 | 113 min

Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Also a trained anthropologist, Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean — reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms.

Full Film Chapter 1 More

Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space (español)

Aired January 17, 2023

Conozca a la influyente autora y figura clave del Renacimiento de Harlem. Hurston, quien también se había formado como antropóloga, recopiló el folclore del Sur de Estados Unidos y del Caribe, recuperando, honrando y celebrando la vida de la población negra en sus propios términos.

Full Film

The Lie Detector

Aired January 3, 2023 | 53 min

Discover the story of the polygraph, the controversial device that transformed modern police work, seized headlines and was extolled as an infallible crime-fighting tool. A tale of good intentions, twisted morals and unintended consequences.

Full Film Chapter 1 Trailer More

The Lie Detector (español)

Aired January 3, 2023 | 53 min

Descubra la historia del polígrafo, el controvertido aparato que transformó el trabajo policial moderno, capturó los titulares y fue elogiado como una herramienta infalible para combatir el crimen. Una historia de buenas intenciones, valores morales retorcidos y consecuencias imprevistas.

Full Film

Taken Hostage

Aired November 14, 2022 | 3 hrs 46 min

Revisit the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, when 52 Americans were held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Unfolding like a political thriller, the story is told through the eyewitness accounts of those who took part in the events.

Part One Part Two Taken Hostage, Part 1: Chapter 1 Taken Hostage, Part 2: Chapter 1 Trailer More

Taken Hostage (español)

Aired November 15, 2022 | 3 hrs 46 min

La crisis de los rehenes en Irán en 1979, cuando 52 estadounidenses fueron tomados como rehenes en Teherán, contada por aquellos cuyo calvario cautivó al mundo.

Part one Part two Trailer More

Plague at the Golden Gate

Aired July 15, 2023 | 113 min

Follow the gripping story of the race against time to save San Francisco and the nation from an outbreak of bubonic plague in 1900.

Plague at the Golden Gate: Chapter 1 Trailer More

Plague at the Golden Gate (Chinese)

Aired May 24, 2022 | 113 min

收看這段令人全神貫注的故事: 1900年，淋巴腺鼠疫驚現舊金山，為拯救全城甚至全國的人民，抗疫行動刻不容緩。

Trailer More

Plague at the Golden Gate (español)

Aired May 24, 2022 | 113 min

Siga la apasionante historia de la carrera contrarreloj para salvar a San Francisco y al país de un brote de la peste bubónica en 1900.

Trailer More

Flood in the Desert

Aired August 22, 2023 | 53 min

Explore the 1928 dam collapse, the second deadliest disaster in California history. A colossal engineering failure, the dam was built by William Mulholland, who had ensured the growth of Los Angeles by bringing water to the city via aqueduct.

Flood in the Desert: Chapter 1 Trailer More