You may be using an older version of the Adobe Flash Player. To enjoy multimedia content on WGBH.org, please click here to upgrade to the latest version of the free Flash player.

Jamestown vs. Plymouth: America's Historical Amnesia
May 14, 2007
Karen Ordahl Kupperman professor, history, NYU
Walter W. Woodward state historian, CT

Historians Karen Ordahl Kupperman and Walter W. Woodward look at the story of John Smith, the early days of colonial speculation in Virginia and New England, and Jamestown's creation story from hell.

On the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown colony, few Americans can name the three ships that landed English colonists 13 years before the pilgrims. Kupperman and Woodward discuss why those colonists came and what happened to them.

History
Biographies | John Smith | Anglo-Celtic | Profiles | Landmarks | Non-Fiction
WGBH
Old South Meeting House
Audio-only
You Want Fries With That?
Prioleau Alexander
00:49:23
Prioleau Alexander tells what it was like when he walked away from a lucrative career as an advertising executive, seeking a life. His jobs included pizza deliveryman, ice cream scooper, construction worker, ER tech, fast food jockey, and even cowboy on a Montana dude ranch.
Audio-only
Writers on War
Sean Hemingway
01:26:41
Sean Hemingway, who has just edited a collection of his grandfather's writings titled Hemingway on War, shares his insights with Paul Fussell, author of The Great War and Modern Memory, and James Webb, author of the acclaimed Vietnam novel, Fields of Fire.
Writers Among Us: Seth Jacobs
Seth Jacobs
01:06:37
Seth Jacobs argues that a midcentury religious revival in America, as well as policymakers' racist perceptions of Asians, led the United States to support the disastrous, autocratic Diem regime in South Viet Nam.
Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Airplane
Tom Crouch
01:11:09
Tom Crouch, expert on the Wright Brothers and senior curator at the National Air and Space Museum, discusses how Wilber and Orville Wright started revolutions in transportation, warfare, leisure, and communication, and changed how we all see our world: as a whole.
Audio-only
Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age
Peter L. Jakab
00:41:56
Peter L. Jakab explains how the Wright brothers were able to achieve something that had eluded other capable engineers and scientists for centuries.
Audio-only
Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule
Thomas Frank
00:55:44
Thomas Frank, The New York Times bestselling author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, discusses his new book, The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule.
Image of The Jamestown Project
Author: Karen Ordahl Kupperman
Publisher: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2009)
Binding: Paperback, 392 pages
Image of Roanoke, 2nd Edition: The Abandoned Colony
Author: Karen Ordahl Kupperman
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (2007)
Binding: Paperback, 208 pages
Image of Indians and English: Facing Off in Early America
Author: Karen Ordahl Kupperman
Publisher: Cornell University Press (2000)
Binding: Paperback, 320 pages
Image of Major Problems In American Colonial History: Documents and Essays
Author: Thomas Paterson, Karen Ordahl Kupperman
Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing (1999)
Binding: Paperback, 465 pages
Login or register to post comments