History
BBC Documentary on Gandhi
A three-hour BBC documentary on Gandhi (2009). It does a reasonable job of covering Gandhi's life: basic biographical details, historical events, key influences, lucky breaks, setbacks, etc.
Rao on Indus Valley Inscriptions
Rajesh Rao on the challenge of deciphering the 4000-year-old inscriptions of the Indus Valley Civilization, including whether they represent a linguistic script or a non-linguistic symbol system.
The Tribes of the Deccan
A documentary based on the footage gathered by Austrian anthropologist Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf on the hill tribes of South India in the 1940s, including the tribes of Chenchus, Reddis, Koyas, Bondos, Gadabas, and more.
The Rock Art of Djulirri
"In central northern Australia, the Aborigines left paintings chronicling 15,000 years of their history. [This video presents] some of the most interesting and unusual paintings—depicting everything from cruise ships to dugong hunts to arrogant Europeans".
Becoming Human
A 3-part NOVA documentary on human evolution, focusing on the last few million years of our story, incorporating some of the latest findings from various fields of anthropology.
Ian Morris on Why the West Rules
Historian Ian Morris talks about the key themes of his ambitious new book, Why the West Rules—For Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future. Geography, he claims, is what explains the arc of world history.
Vietnam: American Holocaust
A 2008 documentary by Clay Claiborne and narrated by Martin Sheen, with some of the most disturbing war footage I have ever seen. The oddly persistent idea that the United States was/is a "benevolent hegemon" seems utterly depraved in light of this.
The Art of Borobudur
The world's largest and 1200 years old Buddhist monument located near the city of Jogjakarta on the island of Java, Indonesia.
The Century of the Self
A remarkable BBC documentary by Adam Curtis that examines how those in power in the last century, including PR professionals and politicians, exploited Freudian insights into human nature to make money, engineer consent, and manage the masses.
On China's Confucian Revival
An interview with Daniel A Bell, author of China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society
Teotihuacan, Mexico City
In early first century CE, Teotihuacan was just a hamlet. Its population then grew as people from the Valley of Mexico began arriving there...
Little Boy of Hiroshima
"Little Boy was the codename of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945" by the US Air Force, the first atomic bomb ever used as a weapon...
