America: A Personal History of the United States
{{short description|British television documentary series (1972–1973)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox television
|image =
|genre = Documentary
|writer = Alistair Cooke
|presenter = Alistair Cooke
|num_episodes = 13
|producer = Michael Gill
|company = {{Plainlist|
}}
|network = BBC2
|first_aired = {{Start date|1972|11|12|df=y}}
|last_aired = {{End date|1973|2|4|df=y}}
}}
America: A Personal History of the United States is a British 13-part documentary television series about the United States and its history, commissioned by the BBC and made in partnership with Time-Life Films. It was written and presented by Alistair Cooke, and first broadcast in both the United Kingdom and the United States in 1972.See [https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2004/09_september/alistair_cooke.shtml BBC Promotional page] for Region 2 DVD set. The producer was Michael Gill, who had the idea for the series and chose the presenter. A related book, Alistair Cooke's America, sold almost two million copies.Nick Clarke [https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,3604,1182307,00.html Obituary: Alistair Cooke], The Guardian, 31 March 2004
The series was a great success in both countries and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA.{{cite web |url=http://www.goldenglobes.com/tv-show/america |title=Golden Globe Awards for 'America' |publisher=The Hollywood Foreign Press Association |accessdate=8 November 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1973/television/factual-series |title=Television: Factual Series in 1973 |publisher=British Academy of Film and Television Arts |accessdate=8 November 2016}} It also resulted in Cooke's invitation to address the joint Houses of the United States Congress as part of the Bicentennial celebrations. Cooke said that, of all his work, America was what he was most proud of; it is the result and expression of his long love for the country. (Once, asked how long it took him to make the series, Cooke replied "I do not want to be coy, but it took 40 years.") He worked with Sir Denis William Brogan.
Episodes
{{Episode table
|background = #00549A
|overall = 5
|title = 53
|airdate = 13
|country = UK
|episodes =
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 1
|Title = The First Impact
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1972|11|12|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1972-11-12 |title=Genome: BBC Two 12 November 1972 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = A memoir of Cooke's infatuation with the United States, through early contacts as a child and as a visiting fellow after university, and its effect on his life.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 2
|Title = The New Found Land
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1972|11|19|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1972-11-19 |title=Genome: BBC Two 19 November 1972 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Follows the lives, settlements, and influence of the Spanish in the west and the French in the east.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 3
|Title = Home from Home
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1972|11|26|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1972-11-26 |title=Genome: BBC Two 26 November 1972 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Relates the settlement of America by English dissenters and adventurers in the 16th and 17th centuries, from the Jamestown Settlement to the Pilgrim Fathers.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 4
|Title = Making a Revolution
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1972|12|03|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1972-12-03 |title=Genome: BBC Two 3 December 1972 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Looks at the American Revolutionary War, the military struggle to break free of British control.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 5
|Title = Inventing a Nation
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1972|12|10|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1972-12-10 |title=Genome: BBC Two 10 December 1972 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Chronicles the forging of the federal government through the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the great debate between the national and individual state governments.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 6
|Title = Gone West
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1972|12|17|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1972-12-17 |title=Genome: BBC Two 17 December 1972 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = About the pioneers, from Daniel Boone to the "Forty-Niners"; expansion through the Louisiana Purchase; and the dispossession of Native Americans.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 7
|Title = A Firebell in the Night
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1972|12|24|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1972-12-24 |title=Genome: BBC Two 24 December 1972 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Tells of slavery and life in the Southern states and of the events, causes, and effects of the American Civil War.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 8
|Title = Domesticating a Wilderness
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1972|12|31|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1972-12-31 |title=Genome: BBC Two 31 December 1972 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Deals with the great push westward by the settlers, including the Latter-day Saints; the crossing of the continent by railroad; the myth of the cowboy; the domestication of the land by settlers local and foreign; and the final conquest of the Native Americans after much warfare.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 9
|Title = Money on the Land
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1973|01|07|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1973-01-07 |title=Genome: BBC Two 7 January 1973 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Addresses the rise and effects of business and machines, touching Chicago, the reaper, Thomas Edison, oil, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, and the moneyed classes.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 10
|Title = The Huddled Masses
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1973|01|14|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1973-01-14 |title=Genome: BBC Two 14 January 1973 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Covers the rise and influence of mass immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the current "melting pot".
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 11
|Title = The Promise Fulfilled and the Promise Broken
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1973|01|21|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1973-01-21 |title=Genome: BBC Two 21 January 1973 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Surveys life, prosperity, and politics in the 1920s, leading to the Great Depression and the New Deal.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 12
|Title = The Arsenal
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1973|01|28|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1973-01-28 |title=Genome: BBC Two 28 January 1973 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Examines the rise of the reluctant United States to world military power, the growth of the United Nations, and the United States as a nuclear power.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
{{Episode list
|EpisodeNumber = 13
|Title = The More Abundant Life
|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1973|02|04|df=y}}{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1973-02-04 |title=Genome: BBC Two 4 February 1973 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=8 November 2016}}
|ShortSummary = Concludes the series by looking at contemporary America in the 1960s and early 1970s, and how it had diverged from the original aims of the settlers, and its hope for the future.
|LineColor = #00549A
}}
}}
References
External links
- {{IMDb title|0185051}}
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/features/alistair-cooke.shtml Series Page on the BBC website]
- [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/549860/index.html British Film Institute Screen Online]
{{EmmyAward NewSeries}}
Category:1972 British television series debuts
Category:1973 British television series endings
Category:1970s British documentary television series
Category:BBC television documentaries
Category:Television series about the history of the United States