Episode
American Experience: Emma Goldman
Overview
Recalling Emma Goldman (1869-1940), the fiery and formidable radical whose life, says narrator Blair Brown, was "dedicated to free speech, free thought and free love." This profile is sympathetic to Goldman, but she doesn't get a free ride. Indeed, historian Kevin Baker calls her anarchism "jaw-droppingly naive," and no one challenges that. No one denies her passion, either. Says playwright Tony Kushner, "She lived a life on fire."
Details
- Series
- American Experience
- Season
- Season 16
- Episode
- Episode 7
- Air date
- 2004-04-12
- Runtime
- 55 min
Episode context
Emma Goldman is Episode 7 in Season 16 of American Experience. It aired on 2004-04-12. The runtime is 55 min.
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Episode 6: Tupperware!
"Modern dishes for modern living" (and they "burped," no less), sold by women at "home parties." This slice of 1950s Americana is recalled in "Tupperware!" "The era and the product were made for each other," says one of the Tupperware "ladies" who are interviewed throughout the hour. Husbands are interviewed too because Tupperware was oftentimes a family affair, with the men working behind the scenes. The man in charge: Earl Tupper, who invented the sealable plastic containers. But a woman, Brownie Wise, developed Tupperware's phenomenally successful marketing plan. What gives "Tupperware!" its bite is the fact that Tupper and Wise didn't get along.
Episode 8: Patriots Day
"Patriots Day" follows Revolutionary War re-enactors as they prepare to re-fire those shots heard 'round the world on April 19, 1775, in Lexington and Concord. Filmmaker Marian Marzynski's style is low key and at times whimsical (real redcoats didn't use cell phones), but the "living historians" are serious. Says one: "It is important to understand the passion of what took place here."
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Episode 9: Golden Gate Bridge
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Episode 4: Citizen King
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Episode 3: Reconstruction: The Second Civil War (2): Retreat
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Episode 1: New York (8): The Center of the World
Filmmaker Ric Burns adds a poignant postscript to his series "New York: A Documentary Film" with this chronicle of the World Trade Center's rise and fall. Burns recounts Sept. 11 wrenchingly, but he devotes more than half the film to the Center's rise. This isn't a pretty story: It's one of economic, political, architectural and engineering labyrinths. The result was a critical and commercial flop, though historian Kenneth Jackson says: "It's more important to history now that it's gone."