1901-1953

Once there was a little slip of a boy who roamed the streets of London, hungry for life (and maybe a bit of bread). His dad long gone and his actress mother ailing, five-year-old Charlie found himself onstage one day taking his mum's place, singing and drawing laughs amid a shower of coins. There were times in the poorhouse and times spent sitting in the window at home with Mum, making up funny stories about passersby. And when Charlie described a wobbly old man he saw in baggy clothes, with turned-out feet and a crooked cane, his mother found it sad, but Charlie knew that funny and sad go hand in hand.

Dr. Susan Shillinglaw of the Center for Steinbeck Studies discusses labor exploitation in the Salinas Valley during the Depression era to reinforce an appreciation of the lifestyle faced by migrant laborers.

Typhoid Mary, Mary Mallon became famous as an asymptomatic typhoid carrier. But who was Typhoid Mary, really? And did she deserve all the scorn heaped upon her?.

Traces the history of the United States, looking at its path to becoming a major player in global politics.

Political, economic and social survey of America from the turn of the century to the start of World War I.

Teddy Roosevelt had a dream to make America a global power. It was realized through the Panama Canal. The French began construction in 1880, but it would take the inventive American's to discover a way to link the oceans. First, the diseases that attacked the workers had to be controlled. Then, an innovative design for a series of locks was developed. Finally, the dogged determination and backbreaking toil of the Americans was rewarded when the Atlantic and Pacific oceans were united on January 7, 1914. This is one of the most important achievements of the 20th century.