Films with: Squires, Buddy

Bombshell

What do the most ravishingly beautiful actress of the 1930s and '40s and the inventor whose concepts were the basis of cell phone and Bluetooth technology have in common? They are both Hedy Lamarr, the glamour icon whose ravishing visage was the inspiration for Snow White and Cat Woman and a technological trailblazer who perfected a radio system to throw Nazi torpedoes off course during WWII.

DVD 12693

Chinese Exclusion Act

Examine the origin, history and impact of the 1882 law that made it illegal for Chinese workers to come to America and for Chinese nationals already here ever to become U.S. citizens. The first in a long line of acts targeting the Chinese for exclusion, it remained in force for more than 60 years.

DVD 13138

Country music

Ken Burns chronicles the history of a uniquely American art form, rising from the experiences of remarkable people in distinctive regions of the nation. From its roots in ballads, hymns, and the blues to its mainstream popularity, viewers will follow the evolution of country music over the course of the twentieth century as it eventually emerged to become America's music. Features never-before-seen footage and photographs, plus interviews with more than 80 country music artists.

DVD 13259

Miss America

Tracking the country's oldest beauty contest - from its inception in 1921 as a local seaside pageant to its heyday as one of the country's most popular events - Miss America paints a vivid picture of an institution that has come to reveal much about a changing nation. Combining rare archival footage, with a host of intimate interviews with distinguished commentators including Gloria Steinem, Margaret Cho, Isaac Mizrahi, former contestants and behind-the-scenes footage and photographs, the film reveals why some women took part in the fledgling event and why others briefly rejected it, how the pageant became a battle ground and a barometer for the changing position of women in society."--Container.

DVD 11690

Pilgrims

Commemorated each year at Thanksgiving, no chapter in American history has been more clouded in myth, legend and venerable cliche than the story of the Pilgrims.

DVD 12488

Roosevelts an intimate history /

Profiles Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of the most prominent and influential family in American politics. It is the first time in a major documentary television series that their individual stories have been interwoven into a single narrative. This seven-part, 14 hour film follows the Roosevelts for more than a century, from Theodore's birth in 1858 to Eleanor's death in 1962. Over the course of these years, Theodore would become the 26th President of the United States and his beloved niece, Eleanor, would marry his fifth cousin, Franklin, who became the 32nd President of the United States. Together, these three individuals not only redefined the relationship Americans had with their government and with each other, but also redefined the role of the United States within the wider world. The series encompasses the history the Roosevelts helped to shape: the creation of the National Parks, the digging of the Panama Canal, the passage of innovative New Deal programs, the defeat of Hitler, and the postwar struggles for civil rights at home and human rights abroad. It is also an intimate human story about love, betrayal, family loyalty, personal courage, and the conquest of fear.

DVD 10642

U.S. and the Holocaust

Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein's three-part, six-hour documentary series examines how the American people and leaders responded to one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of the twentieth century, and how this catastrophe challenged America's identity as a nation of immigrants and the very ideals of democracy. The U.S. and the Holocaust examines America's response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century. Americans consider themselves a "nation of immigrants," but as the catastrophe of the Holocaust unfolded in Europe, the United States proved unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people seeking refuge. Through riveting firsthand testimony of witnesses and survivors who as children endured persecution, violence and flight as their families tried to escape Hitler, this series delves deeply into the tragic human consequences of public indifference, bureaucratic red tape and restrictive quota laws in America. Did the nation fail to live up to its ideals? This is a history to be reckoned with.

DVD 13478

Wild by law

"Wild by law is the story of the Wilderness Act of 1964 and the three men responsible for its passage: forester/philosopher Aldo Leopold, author of the bestselling A Sand County Almanac and the first to bring the word 'ecology' into standard usage; Bob Marshall, millionaire socialist and founder of the Wilderness Society; and Howard Zahniser, a tireless bureaucrat with a profound love of the wild places he seldom saw. Singly and together, these three fought against the current of American thought from the 1920s through the 1950s to attain what had once seemed an unfathomable victory. More than just the story of an historic struggle to preserve the natural world, Wild by law provides an invaluable overview of the roots of the environmental movement, offering a deeper understanding of one of the most important issues facing contemporary civilization"--Container.

DVD 12207