Skip to main content
Back to Show
American Experience

The Era of Gangsters

During the Great Depression, gangsters became unlikely heroes. As film historian Jeanine Basinger notes in this clip, "The gangster figure represented somebody at the bottom of the social scale condemned to a life of nothing, who did not accept that as their fate and who found a way to change it, which was through violence." Bonnie & Clyde premieres January 19 at 9/8c on PBS.

Support Provided By
Season
The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
1:47:20
The story of a Mississippi town’s effort to integrate its public schools in 1970.
The Busing Battleground
1:52:38
Revisit 1970s Boston, when court-mandated school integration unleashed racial unrest.
Casa Susanna
1:36:51
Casa Susanna was a refuge for transgender women and cross-dressing men in the 1950s-60s.
The Sun Queen
52:22
Unsung scientist Mária Telkes dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun.
The Movement and the "Madman"
1:22:39
Discover the story of the 1969 showdown between President Nixon and the antiwar movement.
Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History
Unlock with PBS Passport
52:36
Discover the unexpected history behind Monopoly, America’s favorite board game.
Women in American History
1:52:24
The influential author and anthropologist whose work reclaimed and honored Black life.
The Lie Detector
52:45
The story of the polygraph, the controversial device that transformed modern justice.
Part 2 |Taken Hostage | American Experience
1:51:34
The Iran hostage crisis through the stories of those whose ordeal riveted the world.
Part 1 |Taken Hostage | American Experience
1:52:24
The Iran hostage crisis through the stories of those whose ordeal riveted the world.
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard, Spanish
1:52:49
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard with Spanish subtitles.
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
1:52:23
How a horrific incident of racial violence became catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Active loading indicator