1845-1864. The Course of Empire Takes Its Way.

1 - Westward, the Course of Empire Takes its Way

2 - The Approach Of Civilization

3 - The War for the Black Hills

4 - Ghost Dance

Director, Writer, and Producer Ric Burns’s THE WAY WEST, a six-hour documentary series chronicling the way the West was lost and won between 1845 and 1893, broadcast nationally on PBS in May 1995 as part of WGBH’s American Experience.  The film looks at the final decades of the American frontier from the time of the Gold Rush until after the last gasp of the Indian wars at Wounded Knee.  Newsweek called THE WAY WEST  “a masterly piece of nonfiction, less a documentary than a tragedy in four 90-minute acts,” and the Los Angeles Times described the series as “simply a breathtaking masterpiece of history television.”

All Episodes of The Way West

Season 1

1 - Westward, the Course of Empire Takes its Way

Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 1/1/1995

2 - The Approach Of Civilization

Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 1/8/1995

3 - The War for the Black Hills

Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 1/15/1995

4 - Ghost Dance

Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 1/22/1995