A Big History of America
Broadcaster: Channel 5
1 x 120 episodes
Distributor: Passion Distribution
A Big History of America is a documentary that, with expert interviewees and archive footage, will depict America’s defining historic moments. In this 2 hour film, we chart the incredible story of how this remarkable country was formed and become the powerhouse we see today. Once the United States of America was once nothing more than 4000 million square miles of extreme wilderness, scorching desert, colossal lakes and frozen mountains. Fast forward a thousand years, and America is now completely transformed. It’s home to 327 million people and the centre of global capitalism.
A vibrant, diverse and hugely prosperous nation from its first Viking visitors a millennium ago, to the Pilgrim Fathers settling at Plymouth Harbour. From independence in the 18th century to the gold rush, civil war and abolition of slavery in the 19th century. 44 presidents have navigated the country through an industrial revolution, the monumental rise of manufacturing, and the emergence of Silicon Valley. This may be the land of the free but the oppression of indigenous Americans, slavery and racial inequality, is a blot on America’s history. There are more millionaires here than anywhere else in the world but, millions still live in poverty. America boasts the richest and most powerful military in the world, but foreign policy is controversial. Freedom of speech and the right to bear arms is written in law but also creates deep division. This film reveals how in just one thousand years, America has become the extraordinary nation we see today.
