一艘行驶在大西洋上的船正漂洋过海到美国，冒险者去北美掘金。烟草把美国詹姆斯敦变为新都市，吸引第二批英国定居者到达北美，但却遭遇了食物短缺。朝圣者 和当地的印第安人共庆晚宴，分享着饮食，变成了后来的感恩节。朗姆酒要运到非洲去购买奴隶，殖民地不满英关税政策倾倒茶叶在波士顿港。民兵军队在莱克星敦

抗击英军，美国的自由革命开始了。

莱克星敦的枪声打响后，北美开始反抗英国殖民统治。美独立宣言诞生，英国驱众舰到北美镇压人民反抗，纽约、华盛顿多地失守。屋漏偏逢夜雨，民兵在激战途中很多人染上天花。但寻求独立的精神战胜了现实困境，约克镇大捷促英军缴械投降，美国独立。

美国独立战争结束后，东部居民纷纷越过阿巴拉契亚山脉涌向西部。大批印第安人遭到屠杀，幸存者被强行赶到更为荒凉的保留地。西进运动中食物短缺，出现了相食人肉的情况，而内华达山下的淘金热，也使得当地人口激增物价飞涨。

德威特克林顿当上纽约州长，支持开凿连结美国中部与大西洋的运河。轧棉机改变手工脱棉局面，棉花支撑着南部新型奢侈生活，分享者影视，而南部的财富积累依 托于奴隶。第一场针对奴隶制的战争爆发，出现了工厂妇女罢工。美国人布朗计划占领兵器库率奴隶武装起义却失败了。林肯当选为总统，美国内战爆发。

美国第一次内战虽然使用现代枪支，但战略古老，导致人员伤亡巨大。北方用铁路网提供武器、供给、兵源，内战期间的服装业发展、专利发明增多。林肯在电报室指挥战争，同时打舆论战，战地摄影师从前线带回大量照片，让人们领略到战争的残酷。

西进运动使美国人获得荒原，但征服荒原并非易事。铁路发挥了重要作用，在内华达石山开隧道筑路，其中中国移民劳工受非人待遇，常常冒险点炸药。

草原拓荒者生活艰苦，但土地的获得使他们拥有了希望。荒原野牛成了赚钱买卖，内战后，获得自由的黑人奴隶去德克萨斯州寻找工作机会，捕杀野牛当牛仔。而野

牛的减少，也使原始居民苏族不得不走进居留地。 石山上凿铁路 中国工受非人待遇,安家龙卷风走廊 雨和蛤蟆从天降,伐木热阻河道 建筑业城镇发展,从徒步猎杀水牛 到马背上弓箭射杀牛仔守卫牛群迁徙, 长角牛结对狂奔

铁路的存在，使人们从乡村涌向城镇寻找工作机会，美国城市建设兴起。为庆祝美国独立100周年，法国送给美国自由女神像，《世界报》的老板普利

策号召人们慷慨解囊，凑够了女神像拼装费用。钢铁大王卡内基采用新法大规模炼钢，为城市建设提供了充足钢材。城市贫民窟增多，纽约犯罪猖獗，警方给犯人拍

照建档。电梯问世了，高楼制衣厂的火灾惨剧使人们重视安全。爱迪生把光明带给了人类。

繁荣之后，美国进入大萧条时期。上万人堵在银行门口要求兑现，部分银行资金链断裂。胡佛当上了美国总统，建胡佛水坝时钻孔工人被毒气毒倒，美国大平原沙尘 暴袭击了东海岸。美国建领袖雕像群，高空工人被闪电击中。一场黑人对战白人拳王的拳击赛吸引了一亿人收听，这不仅成了拳手较量，更成了极权主义和民主制度

的较量。

日本偷

袭了珍珠港，美国宣布对日作战，战争刺激了美国工业。吉普车展示了美国的制造能力，200万妇女在后方军工厂工作，1000万美国人应征入伍，黑人和白人

并肩作战。二战改变了美国黑人的精神面貌，促进了50、60年代民权运动兴起。诺曼底登陆代价惨重，奥本海默开始研制原子弹。

World War II transforms America into a global Superpower. The economy booms. Technology feeds the boom and a new age of consumerism is born. More than twenty thousand cars roll off production lines daily and - just like the Transcontinental Railroad more than a century before - the Interstate highways connect the country. After defending their country and their ideals the Greatest Generation comes home. Like the pioneers before them they push back the boundaries, plowing up over a million acres of virgin territory a year to create the suburbs. This pioneering spirit knows no bounds as first the jet age and then the space age takes America into the supersonic era. The first man walks on the moon - and plants the American flag. Optimism for the future prevails - but first America must deal with the past - and the issue of race. It's a second Civil War, but finally the Civil Rights movement brings the words of the Declaration of Independence home to ALL Americans - black and white.

America booms, in population and prosperity. The "baby boomers" are the next generation to reinvent America. Powerful new technologies transform the nation. Television brings the world into the nation's living rooms, and changes lives and values in unexpected ways - but this is not just about entertainment. Just as newspapers shape America's identity in the Revolution and its sense of self in the Civil War, now television shapes a distant war in Vietnam and the response of all Americans to their changing society. The conflicts of the late 1960s and 1970s remind America of the divisions that opened up before the Civil War, but the boom of the 1980s heralds better times, with a confidence that mirrors the 1920s. A piece of plastic, the credit card, shapes the decade, creating new affluent classes, like the ‘yuppie' while the nation spends. The government spends too: on the technology that drives the last phase of the Cold War and puts the Shuttle into space. But as America reaches once more for the stars, technology meets tragedy in the Challenger disaster. As Americans have often discovered over 400 years, Pioneers sometimes have to pay the ultimate price. Innovation and a new California Gold Rush; the biggest technological breakthroughs yet are the personal computer and the internet. Technology transforms America, just as the telegraph and railroad once did. America‘s confidence is rocked by 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina - but it is still the world's superpower. As the nation launches into the 21st century, what does the future hold? Where is the next new frontier?