Chronicles Idi Amin's rise and fall. Amin's despotic reign of terror is viewed through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish doctor who arrives in Uganda in the early 1970s to serve as Amin's personal physician. His perspective as an outsider causes him to be initially impressed by Amin's calculated rise to power and he grows increasingly monstrous. A pointed examination of how independent Uganda (a British colony until 1962) became a breeding...

In 1929, an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto's Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy in Hatsumomo and she is rescued by Hatsumomo's bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha's mentorship, Chiyo becomes the geisha named Sayuri, trained in all the artistic and social skills a geisha must master in order to survive...

An adaptation of Alex Haley's Roots, in which he traces his family's history from the mid-18th century when one of his ancestors was captured and sold into slavery. Follows the struggle for freedom that began with the boy's abduction to America and continued throughout the generations that followed.

Set in the 1920s. A young English couple, Walter, a middle class doctor, and Kitty, an upper-class woman, get married for all the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai. Kitty falls in love with someone else. When Walter discovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China that is being ravaged by a deadly epidemic. He takes his wife along and their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them...

An adaptation of Alex Haley's "Roots", in which Haley traces his African American family's history from the mid-18th century to the Reconstruction era.

Self-made oilman Daniel Plainview has a voracious appetite for money and power. Working with his "son and partner, " 11-year-old H.W., he becomes a California tycoon in the early years of the 20th century. His only challenge comes from a young, ambitious charismatic preacher, Eli Sunday.

In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony's vivid imagination. Robbie Turner, the educated son of the family's housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony's headstrong older sister Cecilia. He hopes that Cecilia has comparable feelings. All it will take is...

Chronicles Idi Amin's rise and fall. Amin's despotic reign of terror is viewed through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish doctor who arrives in Uganda in the early 1970s to serve as Amin's personal physician. His perspective as an outsider causes him to be initially impressed by Amin's calculated rise to power and he grows increasingly monstrous. A pointed examination of how independent Uganda (a British colony until 1962) became a breeding...

In 1945, the United States and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. Leading the defense is Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of the island itself, Gen. Kuribayashi's unprecedented tactics transform...

"The inside story of how advisors in the Johnson administration, including Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and special advisor Clark Clifford, counsel the President in the decisions that will lead to America's deeper and deeper engagement in Vietnam. Torn between those who recommend increased bombing to win, and those who advise a path be found to peace, Johnson watches as his presidency and his nation are also torn apart by the deaths of young...