Ken Burns tops himself with this epic of American history, told in "nine innings," with a skilled narration by John Chancellor and the voices of Paul Newman, Jason Robards, Billy Crystal, and other stars. The series spans 150 years, starting with the myth-debunking tale of baseball's true beginnings -- when it was a game "one degree above mayhem." Then follow the growth of America's National ...

Manufacturer: Pbs Home Video
Starring: Hank Aaron, Bud Abbott, Roger Angell, Arthur Ashe, Red Barber

Covering the entire 20th century in one video series is an ambitious project, but one that Peter Jennings and ABC News are up to. In The Century: America's Time, a 12-part documentary on six videotapes that is a companion to the book of the same name, Jennings guides us through a century of technology and advancement like no other. As he says in his introduction to episode 1, "Seeds of ...

Manufacturer: ABC News
Starring: Linda Hunt, Peter Jennings, John Aaron, Harold Agnew, Steve Allen

Manufacturer: Fox Video, Inc.
Starring: Charles Kuralt

The story, sound, and soul of a nation come together in the most American of art forms: Jazz. Ken Burns, who riveted the nation with The Civil War and Baseball, celebrates the music's soaring achievements, from its origins in blues and ragtime through swing, bebop, and fusion. Six years in the making, this "soundbreaking" series blends 75 interviews, more than 500 pieces of music, ...

Manufacturer: Pbs Home Video
Starring: Charles J. Correll, Freeman F. Gosden, Edward R. Murrow, Richard Nixon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Hailed as a documentary masterpiece without parallel, Ken Burns' filmed chronicle of America's most terrible and destructive conflict will hold you in thrall as it portrays the strategies and action of the war's famous battles, and tells the stories of illustrious generals and ordinary field soldiers, politicians and rogues, heroes and a beleaguered President. Winner of two Emmy Awards, the ...

Manufacturer: Pbs Home Video
Starring: David McCullough

Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
Starring: Michael Murphy, Elvis Costello, Sinéad O'Connor, Van Morrison, Mary Black
Directed By: Mark Zwonitzer, Thomas Lennon

Sir Jeremy Isaacs highly deserves the numerous awards for documentaries he has earned: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis Award, l'Ordre National du Mérit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. His epic The World at War remains unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II. The Second World War was different from other wars in thousands of ways, ...

Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Albrecht Brauning, John Kenneth Galbraith, Lord Harding, Tsuyako Kii

This six part series takes you inside the alluring and enchanted world of magic: from the mechanical automata of Robert-Houdin to the elaborate illusions of Penn and Teller, from the death defying escapes of Houdini to the bizarre and tragic feats of sideshow performers. Come backstage and see what's behind the curtain!

Manufacturer: Choices Inc
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni

Encompassing history, geography, sociology, drama, language, arts, and more, The Story of English takes viewers on an unforgettable journey through the history of the English language. Host Robert MacNeil travels the world to illustrate the language's global influence. Part travelogue, part linguistics, part history, and all fascinating, the series is a unique blend of solid scholarship ...

Manufacturer: Homevision
Starring: John Barton, Peter Hall, Barry Humphries, Robert MacNeil
Directed By: William Cran

If anything defined the 20th century as the age of anxiety, it's the cold war with its ultimate no-win nuclear endgame. While conflicts in Korea and Vietnam dragged on, providing the traditional images of modern warfare, some of the conflict's most dangerous battles were invisible--tactical, intellectual, and fought primarily in the minds and war rooms of U.S. and Soviet leaders: Kennedy, ...

Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Konrad Adenauer, Giovanni Agnelli, Harold Agnew, Muhammad Ali
Directed By: Tessa Coombs