Summary: Military conflict accompanied the spread of Islam during the Middle Ages. This program reveals the ironies of that union between war and faith: how Islam was adopted rather than marginalized by invading Mongols; how the rise of strict Islamic orthodoxy countered the scholarly advances of Arabic culture, weakening the empire; and how European appreciation of Islamic culture grew after the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program examines the forces behind European determination to capture Palestine, linking the belligerence of medieval Crusaders with their piousness. Drs. Klaus Herbers of Friedrich Alexander University and Patrick Franke of Martin Luther University draw surprising parallels between East and West, focusing on martyrdom as a vital component of the Crusader's motivation, interreligious...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Outlining the provincial causes and ravaging effects of Europe's Thirty Years' War, this program illustrates the ability of religious fervor to inflame nationalism and drive the quest for power. With background on Martin Luther's split with the Catholic Church and the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Dr. Helmut Neuhaus of Friedrich Alexander University offers detailed analysis of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Segments of this program include: The Beginnings of War, Saladin’s Rise to Power, The Muslim Army Gathers Momentum, Saladin Marches on Jerusalem, Richard the Lionheart Takes the Cross, and The Battle for Acre.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Segments from this program include: The Aftermath of Acre, Richard Stakes His Claim for the Holy Land, An Unlikely Friendship Develops, Saladin Faces a Crisis, The Armies Prepare for Battle, and The Truce.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In 1927, Herbert Hoover made TV history by appearing in one of America's first experimental broadcasts; 33 years later, the televising of the Kennedy-Nixon debates changed the face of political history forever. This program covers the progress of broadcast TV, from experimental novelty, to its emergence as a mass media powerhouse, and on to its current state as an industry with declining...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program examines the evolution of the magazine industry over the course of the 20th century. General-interest magazines like Life and Look once provided a national forum that helped Americans explore their common interests. After World War II, the tremendous impact of television on audience-share caused the magazine industry to focus instead on developing niche publications aimed at...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although advances in telecommunications and computer technology have changed the way news is covered and written, the role of the journalist-to gather the facts and report the news in a way that will engage a mass audience-has remained the same. In this program, staff members of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, the Rocky Mountain News, and The Denver Post talk about...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Book publishing is both the oldest and the smallest of the mass media industries. With commentary by the president of Allyn & Bacon, a regional manager of Barnes & Noble, and the owner of the large, independent Tattered Cover Book Store, this program provides a detailed look at how trade and educational/reference books are made, sold, and marketed. Also discussed is the perception of book...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In spite of competition by other media, movies have remained a perennial favorite of American viewing audiences. But what is it like to make them? This program analyzes the film industry from a variety of technical, financial, legal, and business perspectives. Topics explored include marketing and merchandising, financial influences on content, special effects and Hollywood action movies, the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: How do you juggle journalistic ideals with bottom-line concerns? Each day both local and national TV news operations attempt to report on the day's events in a way that will maximize viewers and advertising dollars. But what is the downside of this tortured calculus? In this program, a wide assortment of news professionals and scholars cast a critical eye on the practices, content, and impact...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program details the history of this dynamic medium from its modest beginnings. In 1949, cable meant television for locations that had very poor reception or were inaccessible to broadcast signals. By the mid-1970s, cable service began to expand rapidly due to the easing of government restrictions and the use of satellite transmissions. Fiber optics, new cable-ready TVs, and an explosion of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In 1923 more than 500 American cities had two or more competing daily newspapers, but in the 90s that number dwindled to a mere 36. This program spotlights the cross-town rivalry between The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, offering insight into some of the benefits and drawbacks of competition for the same readership. In addition, it provides an engaging overview of America's oldest...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Many technology and mass media pundits have predicted the demise of radio, but radio's mystique and extraordinary ability to adapt have repeatedly proved them wrong. In this program, the business side of public and commercial radio broadcasting is explored in depth by industry insiders. Host Ray Suarez and others from NPR's "Talk of the Nation" discuss how content is created and how their show...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: How does a new artist attract the attention of a recording company? How do recording companies find new talent? Can a big-name label make a run-of-the-mill CD into a platinum seller? In this program, top industry executives and other experts answer these and other questions, such as how much performers can expect to make in royalties, how SoundScan has revealed the true top 100, and how MTV has...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program tells the complete story of radio, from its roots in Marconi's wireless telegraphy and the invention of the vacuum tube by Lee De Forest, to its heyday in the 1930s and subsequent upstaging by television in a battle for audience-share. Academic experts discuss the impact of early innovators like Frank Conrad of station KDKA, Pittsburgh, who broadcasted from his garage; the power of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Lumiere brothers and Thomas Edison would definitely be impressed if they could see how far the medium created with the invention of the movie camera has evolved. This program examines the history of film, from its beginnings in the late 19th century to the invention of VCRs. Filmmaking's roots as an entertainment and storytelling medium are examined, along with the emergence of Hollywood,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program is an excellent survey of the history of mass media. Academic and industry experts discuss the invention and impact of the printing press, telegraph, and telephone, all of which have allowed information to be easily transmitted over great distances. Mass media as it is currently evolving is also examined in depth. During the 1920s and 30s, radio dominated entertainment and the news...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: The telephone, the television, and the computer are three of the most potent inventions of the 20th century and have completely transformed world society. But what happens when you combine all three into one powerful communications medium? This program examines the growing convergence of phones, TVs, and computers in Cyberspace and the radical impact on businesses, homes, and schools in this...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The pictures in our heads that define who we are and help us neatly categorize others are increasingly shaped by the newspaper, magazine, film, and TV images that bombard our senses. To convey a message quickly, these images often rely on stereotypes and primal reflexes that can foster in an audience an inordinate fear of violence, racial and ethnic prejudices, diminished self-worth, and even...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: When Thomas Edison devised a way to capture and replay sounds, he thought it useful for recording business letter dictation-but America had a different vision. This program examines the remarkable history of recorded music, from the Jazz Age, to the Big Band Era and World War II, to rock 'n' roll and rap. Executives from the BMI archives and Capitol-EMI Music, along with representatives of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: A single issue of The New York Times is said to contain more information than could be learned in a lifetime by a person living in the 15th century. This program traces the development of books, newspapers, and magazines in the Western world, from the invention of the printing press, metal type, paper, and oil-based ink to the present day. Experts from the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Few innovations of the 20th century can top the television in overall effect on culture and daily life. This program covers the development of TV from the labs of John Baird, Philo T. Farnsworth, and Vladimir Zworykin to the present day. Pioneered as a futuristic and somewhat farfetched experimental branch of radio technology, television began as a very expensive luxury. Though its progress was...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The 2009 installment in Wide Angle's Time for School series reenters the lives of seven students in seven different countries, offering a glimpse of the worldwide battle to get what most American children take for granted: a basic education. These riveting case studies in India, Afghanistan, Kenya, Benin, Brazil, Japan, and Romania feature young teenagers embracing academic challenges that...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010