In Search of History — Season 4

Aired 15 February 1999

Behind the scenes interviews with Hell's Angels leaders and members reveal the fascinating life and danger of the Hell's Angels. Hunter S. Thompson shares his notorious experiences and ultimate betrayal by the Angels, and law enforcement gang specialists provide perspective on the gang's violence and criminal activities.The story of how the Angels got their start in the 1940s how the 1954 film The Wild One made them famous. See the Angel's explain their point of view about many of most controversial incidents, including the infamous Rolling Stones concert at Altamont where the club was hired to provide security, with explosive results.

Aired 19 February 1999

Long-buried tale of the tragic hours that brought Greenwood to a fiery end, and the misunderstanding that started when a white elevator operator accused 19-year-old Greenwood resident Dick Rowland of assault prompted the violent race riot. Eyewitness accounts, archival film, and dramatizations recount the 1921 race riots in Tulsa.

Aired 25 February 1999

Aired 4 March 1999

Aired 11 March 1999

Aired 18 March 1999

Aired 25 March 1999

Aired 1 April 1999 • 45 min

The 60's weren't the first time people tried to turn on and tune out. Since the beginning of mankind, civilizations have searched for two ways to reach a higher plane of existence. The program examines ancient rituals that demonstrate some of the frightening - and often lethal - means humans have employed in search of altered consciousness. What drives the human psyche on this never-ending quest to find deeper meaning than what reality presents? Are there commonalities to the ancient practices and today's methods?

Aired 8 April 1999

Aired 15 April 1999

Aired 22 April 1999 • 45 min

Why did Ponce de Leon search the ends of the earth and ultimately lose his life in a bid to find the fountain of youth? Travel back to India, considered the source of magical waters of healing, and learn the importance of water mythology.

Aired 29 April 1999 • 45 min

The Pueblo Cliff Dwellers: High in the cliffs of New Mexico in an area called Chaco Canyon, the mysterious Anasazi built elaborate dwellings known as Great Houses.

Aired 6 May 1999 • 45 min

World Series Fix!: The Black Sox Scandal: In 1919, when players couldn't strike, baseball saw one of its greatest scandals. Eight Chicago White Sox, self-dubbed "Black Sox" due to the greedy owner's refusal to launder uniforms, plotted to fix the World Series.

Aired 13 May 1999 • 45 min

Athens: Triumph and Tragedy: After the Persians' defeat in 479 B.C., Athens entered a Golden Age when her democratic assembly ruled supreme.

Aired 20 May 1999 • 45 min

The Aztec Empire: Review the history of the Aztec Empire--from the 1200s, when the nomadic tribe first inhabited the Valley of Mexico, to 1519.

Aired 27 May 1999

The hunt for Communists in the United States clearly reached the point of hysteria by the early 1950s, but what is often overlooked is that it had its origins in a very real phenomenon. The opening of the Soviet archives in the 1990s, and the declassification of certain intercepted Soviet messages from the late 1940s, indicates that Soviet agents had penetrated the U.S. government before and during World War II, in some cases at very high levels, including the Office of Secret Services, the Los Alamos nuclear lab, the State Department and the U.S. Congress. Now evidence gleaned from declassified secret Russian cables and newly opened KGB files shows that Soviet penetration indeed ran deep; even the Congressman who set up House Un-American Activities Committee was on the KGB payroll!

Aired 3 June 1999

Aired 10 June 1999

Aired 17 June 1999

Aired 24 June 1999 • 45 min

The brooding figure of the Great Sphinx stands guard over the pyramids of Giza. With the head of a man and body of a lion, this 240-foot ruin may depict Pharaoh Khafre, son of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid. But speculation still abounds as to its birth. We'll use computers to flesh out its possible original face.

Aired 1 July 1999 • 42 min

The mysteries of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) center on the colossal Moai statues and the debated fate of the civilization that created them. Long viewed as a cautionary tale of "ecocide" (self-inflicted ecological collapse), modern research increasingly frames the Rapa Nui story as one of remarkable resilience and ingenuity.