EVERY THURSDAY American History

Land of the free and home of the brave. See the stories of bold visionaries who set a course for the new world and helped to build the American Experiment.

THURSDAY ON STORY

August 7, 2025

All times Eastern
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8:00A

4:00P

12:00A

The Engineering That Built the World

Race for the Railroad

Two rival rail companies will stop at nothing to best each other while competing to create the most ambitious engineering project the world has ever seen--an unprecedented railroad that crosses through the wild American continent.

9:00A

5:00P

1:00A

The Engineering That Built the World

Liberty Rising

A little-known 19th Century French artist embarks on an impossible 20-year odyssey to build the tallest statue in the world, and erect it on U.S. soil.

10:00A

6:00P

2:00A

The Engineering That Built the World

Road Warriors

Two master road builders spend decades struggling to create a highway system that connects every city and town in America. It will be the greatest public works project in history.

11:00A

7:00P

3:00A

The Engineering That Built the World

The Panama Canal

Two powerful nations--France and America--compete to build a path just 50 miles long that will connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

12:00P

8:00P

4:00A

The Engineering That Built the World

Race to the Underground

After the London Underground becomes the first subway system in the world, visionary engineers in New York and Boston vie to build the first one in America. But being first will mean overcoming unprecedented engineering challenges.

1:00P

9:00P

5:00A

The Engineering That Built the World

Cable Across the Sea

A century before the Internet, two brave visionaries, Collin Perry and Cyrus Field, endure failure and heartache while risking everything to connect the United States to the rest of the world with a cable under the ocean.

2:00P

10:00P

6:00A

The Engineering That Built the World

Battle of the Bridges

Braving treacherous waters 350 feet deep, gale-force winds and earthquakes, obsessed engineer Joseph Strauss and President Herbert Hoover battle to build the two longest suspension bridges of all time in San Francisco.

3:00P

11:00P

7:00A

The Engineering That Built the World

The Hoover Dam

A hard-driving engineer with a reputation for excellence is on a quest to tame one of the wildest rivers in the United States, bringing much needed water to the arid American West.

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