New York: A Documentary Film

Season

1999

9.1

Exploration of New York City's rich history as a complex and dynamic city that has played an unparalleled role in shaping the nation and reflecting its ideals.

Episode List

S1 • E1

The Country and the City (1609-1825)

Beginning in 1609, episode one chronicles the arrival of the Dutch, the impact of the English, the horrors of colonial slavery, and New York's critical role in the American Revolution.

S1 • E2

Order and Disorder (1825-1865)

Episode two looks at New York's rise as a burgeoning cultural center and multi-ethnic port, concluding with the Civil War Draft Riots -- America's bloodiest civil disturbance.

S1 • E3

Sunshine and Shadow (1865-1898)

Episode three turns the spotlight on the period when greed and wealth fueled an expanding metropolis, even as politics and poverty defined it.

S1 • E4

The Power and the People (1898-1918)

Episode four follows New York into a new century, examining the interplay of capitalism, democracy, and transformation, in the wake of an extraordinary wave of immigration and the birth of the skyscraper.

S1 • E5

Cosmopolis (1919-1931)

Episode five tells the African-American experience, the birth of the new media industries and the incredible array of human and cultural energies converge, ending with construction of the world's tallest building.

S1 • E6

City of Tomorrow (1929-1941)

The sixth episode chronicles the dramatic events that followed the Crash of '29, as the greatest depression in American history plunged the city and the nation into economic gloom.

S1 • E7

The City and the World (1945-2000)

Episode seven chronicles the history of New York from the end of the Second World War to the present, exploring the complexities of the modern city and the turbulent years of physical, social and cultural change in the decades following the war.

S1 • E8

The Center of the World (1946-2003)

Episode seven charts the turbulent and often harrowing years from 1945 to the present. Emerging from the Depression and the Second World War as the most powerful metropolis on earth.