S01E01 The People (1500-1806)
The West begins as the whole world to the people who live there. It becomes a New World when Europeans arrive, a world shaken by incompatible visions. And almost three centuries later, when Lewis and...
The West
Overview
The West, sometimes marketed as Ken Burns Presents: The West, is a documentary film about the American Old West. It was directed by Stephen Ives and the executive producer was Ken Burns. The film originally aired on PBS in September 1996.
Episodes
S01E02 Empire Upon The Trails (1806-1848)
Americans head west along many pathways -- following the fur trade into the mountains, fighting for self-determination in Texas, seeking religious freedom in Utah or a better life along the Oregon Trail. But whatever direction...
S01E03 The Speck Of The Future (1848-1856)
The Gold Rush brings the whole world to the West, as 49ers from Asia, South America and the eastern states scramble for “a share of the rocks,” littering the hills with mining towns and creating...
S01E04 Death Runs Riot (1856-1868)
Civil war comes early to the West. In “Bleeding Kansas,” abolitionists battle for free soil. In Utah, federal troops march against Mormon polygamy. And along the Rio Grande, oppressed Mexican Americans rebel. The war between...
S01E05 The Grandest Enterprise Under God (1868-1874)
A triumph of the human spirit, the transcontinental railroad opens a new era in the West, carrying homesteaders onto the prairies, bringing cowboys up the cattle trail from Texas, helping give women the vote in...
S01E06 Fight No More Forever (1874-1877)
The federal government tightens its grip on the West, but three bold spirits remain defiant -- Sitting Bull, who prophesies his people's greatest victory but cannot prevent their ultimate defeat; Brigham Young, who must sacrifice...
S01E07 The Geography Of Hope (1877-1887)
Newcomers arrive by the millions, bringing a new spirit of conformity to the West. Indian children are taught to forsake their heritage, Mormons are told to abandon a tenet of their faith, and new laws...
S01E08 Ghost Dance (1887 -1914)
As settlers race to claim tribal lands, Native Americans take up the Ghost Dance, trusting in its power to restore a lost way of life until their hopes are crushed at Wounded Knee. The new...
S01E09 One Sky Above Us (1887-1914)
Los Angeles steals its water supply, millions of Mexicans migrate north, and Hollywood begins to shape the West and the nation's image of it.
Cast
Peter Coyote
Self - Narrator
N. Scott Momaday
Self - Writer
Murphy Guyer
Self
John Trudell
Self
Eli Wallach
Self
Arthur Miller
Self
John Lithgow
Self
Gary Sinise
T. P. Eagan
Jimmy Smits
Self
Keith Carradine
Self
Adam Arkin
Self
Matthew Broderick
Self - William Swain
