The BEST Episodes of American Experience
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Jan 14, 2020
Network: PBS
Since 1988, PBS has broadcast a series that focuses on the history of the United States and what has made it unique. Called The American Experience (now shortened to simply American Experience), the program examines the people, events, technology, and natural resources that have shaped the country. Hosted by David McCullough until 2002 and narrated by a number of well-known personalities - The American Experience uses historians and authors, period images and film, music, dramatic re-enactments, and contemporary context to set the stage for its topics. The series continues to this day with a variable number of installments produced each year. Episodes are generally 60 minutes in length, but some longer episodes and multi-part series have also been produced. The show airs at different days and times on local PBS stations. Though The American Experience has used many films from independent film makers and has been assisted by various PBS stations throughout the country, it has always been spearheaded by WGBH in Boston.
#1 - The Donner Party
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired Oct 28, 1992
Tragic tale of families attempting a short-cut passage to California in the 1840s, with narration of their life-and-death struggle taken from their own journals.
10.00 
#2 - Secrets of a Master Builder
Season 13 - Episode 3 - Aired Oct 30, 2000
The contributions of James B. Eads in understanding and altering the great Mississippi River during the second half of the 19th century.
10.00 
#3 - George H.W. Bush (1)
Season 20 - Episode 13 - Aired May 5, 2008
A detailed chronicle of the Bush family and the life of the 41st President of the United States - from World War II to the Gulf War and beyond.
10.00 
#4 - Civilian Conservation Corps
Season 22 - Episode 1 - Aired Nov 2, 2009
FDR establishes a back-to-work program that generates employment and addresses some of the nation's environmental needs during the Great Depression.
10.00 
#5 - The Abolitionists: 1838-1854
Season 25 - Episode 2 - Aired Jan 15, 2013
See how the activities of the five principals intersect and affect the anti-slavery movement.
10.00 
#6 - 1964
Season 26 - Episode 2 - Aired Jan 14, 2014
Recalling 1964, a pivotal year in U.S. history. While the Beatles captured the imaginations of the nation's youth, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, unveiled his vision of a "Great Society" and squared off against Barry Goldwater in the presidential election. Also covered: the murders of three Freedom Summer volunteers; and the influence of Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique." Based in part on Jon Margolis' "The Last Innocent Year: America in 1964."
10.00 
#7 - The Amish: Shunned
Season 26 - Episode 3 - Aired Feb 4, 2014
Filmed over the course of twelve months, The Amish: Shunned follows seven former members of the Amish community as they reflect on their decisions to leave one of the most closed and tightly-knit communities in the United States. Estranged from family, the ex-Amish find themselves struggling to understand and make their way in modern America. Interwoven through the stories are the voices of Amish men and women who remain staunchly loyal to their traditions and faith. They explain the importance of obedience, the strong ties that bind their communities together, and the pain they endure when a loved one falls away.
10.00 
#8 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Season 26 - Episode 4 - Aired Feb 11, 2014
Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, better known as Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, form the Wild Bunch gang and pull off the longest string of holdups in history.
10.00 
#9 - War of the Worlds
Season 25 - Episode 6 - Aired Oct 29, 2013
Shortly after 8 p.m. on October 30th, 1938, the voice of a panicked radio announcer broke in with a news bulletin reporting strange explosions taking place on the planet Mars, followed minutes later by a report that Martians had landed in the tiny town of Grovers Mill, New Jersey. It turned out to be H.G. Wells' classic 'The War of the Worlds', performed by 23-year-old Orson Welles. Although most listeners understood that the program was a radio drama, the next day's headlines reported that thousands of others plunged into panic, convinced that America was under a deadly Martian attack. 75 years after the original radio broadcast, 'American Experience' examines the elements that came together to create one of the biggest mass hysteria events in U.S. history.
10.00 
#10 - JFK (Part 1)
Season 25 - Episode 7 - Aired Nov 11, 2013
JFK presents a fresh look at an enigmatic man who remains one of the nation's most beloved and mourned leaders, John F. Kennedy. It offers a new perspective on his private life, his relationship with his wife, his close connection to his brother, Robert, and his bond with his father. JFK also reevaluates his strengths and weaknesses in the Oval Office as he navigated some of the most explosive events of the mid-twentieth century.
10.00 
#11 - JFK (Part 2)
Season 25 - Episode 8 - Aired Nov 12, 2013
JFK presents a fresh look at an enigmatic man who remains one of the nation's most beloved and mourned leaders, John F. Kennedy. It offers a new perspective on his private life, his relationship with his wife, his close connection to his brother, Robert, and his bond with his father. JFK also reevaluates his strengths and weaknesses in the Oval Office as he navigated some of the most explosive events of the mid-twentieth century.
10.00 
#12 - Walt Disney (1)
Season 27 - Episode 8 - Aired Sep 14, 2015
In 1966, the year Walt Disney died, 240 million people saw a Disney movie, 100 million tuned in to a Disney television program, 80 million bought Disney merchandise, and close to seven million visited Disneyland. Few creative figures before or since have held such a long-lasting place in American life and popular culture.
10.00 
#13 - Walt Disney (2)
Season 27 - Episode 9 - Aired Sep 15, 2015
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE offers an unprecedented look at the life and legacy of one of America’s most enduring and influential storytellers in Walt Disney, a new two-part, four-hour film premiering Monday and Tuesday, September 14-15, 2015, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS
10.00 
#14 - The Boys of '36
Season 28 - Episode 6 - Aired Aug 2, 2016
A group of working-class boys from the University of Washington, in the United States, surprise a nation when they capture the gold medal in rowing at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin.
10.00 
#15 - Freedom Summer
Season 26 - Episode 6 - Aired Jun 24, 2014
In the summer of 1964, more than 700 students join with organizers and local blacks to canvas for voter registration, create Freedom Schools and establish the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
9.78 
#16 - The Poisoner's Handbook
Season 26 - Episode 1 - Aired Jan 7, 2014
The story of New York City's first medical examiner, Charles Norris (1867-1935), and his chief toxicologist, Alexander Gettler (1883-1968), who pioneered the use of forensic science to explain violent and suspicious deaths. Included: remarks from renowned medical examiners Marcella Fierro and Michael Baden; and author Deborah Blum ("The Poisoner's Handbook"). Oliver Platt narrates.
9.71 
#17 - The Rise and Fall of Penn Station
Season 26 - Episode 5 - Aired Feb 18, 2014
In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad successfully accomplished the enormous engineering feat of building tunnels under New York City's Hudson and East Rivers, connecting the railroad to New York and New England, knitting together the entire eastern half of the United States. The tunnels terminated in what was one of the greatest architectural achievements of its time, Pennsylvania Station. Penn Station covered nearly eight acres, extended two city blocks, and housed one of the largest public spaces in the world. But just 53 years after the station’s opening, the monumental building that was supposed to last forever, to herald and represent the American Empire, was slated to be destroyed.
9.57 
#18 - Cold War Roadshow
Season 26 - Episode 7 - Aired Nov 18, 2014
In the fall of 1959, at the height of the Cold War, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev toured the United States for 12 days at the invitation of President Dwight Eisenhower. For both men, the visit was an opportunity to halt the escalating threats of the Cold War and potentially chart a new course toward peaceful coexistence. For the American press, it was the media blockbuster story of the year.
9.20 
#19 - Ulysses S. Grant (1): The Warrior
Season 14 - Episode 11 - Aired Apr 1, 2002
The military career and troubled administration of the 15th President of the United States.
9.00 
#20 - Chicago: City of the Century (2): The Revolution Has Begun
Season 15 - Episode 4 - Aired Jan 14, 2003
City of the Century chronicles Chicago's dramatic transformation from a swampy frontier town of fur traders and Native Americans to a massive metropolis that was the quintessential American city of the nineteenth century. The film tells how innovation, ingenuity, determination and ruthlessness created empires in what was a marshy wasteland and describes the hardships endured by millions of working men and women whose labor helped a capitalist class reinvent the way America did business. Along the way, this program revels in Chicago's triumphs -- among them the architectural experimentation that gave the city one of the world's most distinctive skylines -- and delves into the heart of Chicago's painful struggles. Bringing to life the Windy City's rich mixture of cultures, its writers and journalists, its political corruption and labor upheavals, this film bears witness to the creation of one of the most dynamic and vibrant cities in the world.
9.00 
#21 - Chicago: City of the Century (3): Battle for Chicago
Season 15 - Episode 5 - Aired Jan 15, 2003
City of the Century chronicles Chicago's dramatic transformation from a swampy frontier town of fur traders and Native Americans to a massive metropolis that was the quintessential American city of the nineteenth century. The film tells how innovation, ingenuity, determination and ruthlessness created empires in what was a marshy wasteland and describes the hardships endured by millions of working men and women whose labor helped a capitalist class reinvent the way America did business. Along the way, this program revels in Chicago's triumphs -- among them the architectural experimentation that gave the city one of the world's most distinctive skylines -- and delves into the heart of Chicago's painful struggles. Bringing to life the Windy City's rich mixture of cultures, its writers and journalists, its political corruption and labor upheavals, this film bears witness to the creation of one of the most dynamic and vibrant cities in the world.
9.00 
#22 - Dolley Madison
Season 22 - Episode 4 - Aired Mar 1, 2010
Tony Award-winner Eve Best stars as Dolley Madison, America’s “first First Lady”; Tony Award-winner Jefferson Mays is James Madison.
9.00 
#23 - Triangle Fire
Season 23 - Episode 8 - Aired Feb 28, 2011
It was the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history. A dropped match on the 8th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory sparked a fire that killed over a hundred innocent people trapped inside. The private industry of the American factory would never be the same.
8.88 
#24 - Annie Oakley
Season 18 - Episode 12 - Aired May 8, 2006
Chronicle of the amazing markswoman, her life, the discovery of her talent, and the promotion of her career.
8.67 
#25 - The Big Burn
Season 27 - Episode 4 - Aired Feb 3, 2015
In the summer of 1910, hundreds of wildfires raged across the Northern Rockies. By the time it was all over, more than three million acres had burned and at least 78 firefighters were dead. It was the largest fire in American history. "Big Burn" premieres February 3, 2015 on PBS American Experience.
8.67