Synopsis
To Americans the 1950s are the golden years. Having recovered from World War II, the life of the nation was on the up. The new generation are enjoying peace, economic prosperity and great technological advances. But behind this perfect façade are troubling times. The confrontation with communism was expanding and new battle lines were being drawn in the unchartered territory of space. North Korea invades its southern neighbour and fearing the spread of communism, Truman sends troops lead by General Douglas Macarthur.
Episode 2 | The Great American Buffalo
By the late 1880s, the buffalo teeter on the brink of extinction, but an unlikely collection of Americans have started a few private herds in different locations, and for different reasons.
Episode 1 | The Great American Buffalo
Ken Burns recounts how the collision between two opposing views of the natural world saw the buffalo, which had numbered in the tens of millions, driven to the brink of extinction.