On this day in 1883, the last quagga died in captivity at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam. Read more about attempts to re-engineer/re-create this creature genetically, from the …
Hosted by the International Documentary Assoc., a collection of 20 or so acclaimed docs will screen at Village East and IFC cinemas through the end of the week. A few of these docs have been previewed on Foreign Exchange. Read the full lineup here, including films about Liberia, water politics, a matador’s bio (pictured), Laos, Sudanese rap, more.
In the spring of 1943, Allied forces to begin preparations for a top secret Allied raid. Each aircraft carried a top-secret weapon — a newly-invented bouncing bomb — designed to shatter Germany’s major dams. Watch episode online.
On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a U.S. B-29 bomber, drops the first atomic bomb used on people over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Between the blast and the …
A Civil War enthusiast owns an antique photograph that depicts about 20 older white men in full dress uniform, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with two black men. History Detectives investigates the first national social group to challenge the color barrier. Originally aired: Season 5, Episode 3. Watch a related video on Civil War photography.
Aug. 4, 1944: the Nazi Gestapo captures 15-year-old Anne Frank, after 2 years of hiding with her family in an Amsterdam warehouse. In the small space she wrote her diary, arguably the most famous account of the Holocaust. Frank died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp two months before it was liberated. Read more about Nazis & The Holocaust on PBS.
Running up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics (August 8-24), Thirteen will be airing a number of documentaries about contemporary China, and a few about the Olympics. Some of them are also watchable online. See the listings and links here.
Cosimo was the first real power patriarch of the Medici; his patronage allowed the Brunelleschi dome to be completed (1436) and supported Donatello, Lippi, Michaelangelo and many others. He ruled Florence from behind the scenes for over 30 years. Watch the whole Medici series online.
British novelist J.K. Rowling turns 43 today. She was born on July 31, 1965, in Chipping Sodbury, near Bristol, England. Rowling is best known as the creator of the Harry …
NBR is seeking to identify the Top 30 Innovations since the show premiered in 1979–and is looking for audience submissions/nominations. What innovations can you think of that have changed the way life is lived and the way business is done in the last 30 years? Contribute here…(NBR will be reviewing nominations until 9/15/2008).
