Compiled by Andy Trimlett
All of these programs are available to watch right now without a membership — but, bear in mind that some won’t stay free-to-watch forever, so catch them now before they’re gone.
Have you decided that it’s high time to take a step back and look at the big picture? Is your teenager sick of your attempts to remember history class in your newly-founded home school? Or are you just desperate to watch a story that doesn’t include a certain word that rhymes with Arizona? Whatever your motivation, we’ve got you covered. Here are 179 history documentaries you can watch right now, no membership required. Just click the links and press play. You can also find these shows in the free PBS Video app for your Roku, Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV Stick, phone or tablet. Enjoy!
Africa
Firestone and the Warlord
Lost Boys of Sudan
Ancient
After Stonehenge
Cleopatra’s Lost Tomb
Decoding the Great Pyramid
Egypt’s Darkest Hour
Lost Ships of Rome
The Nero Files
Nero’s Sunken City
The Silver Pharaoh
Architecture
10 Monuments That Changed America
10 Modern Marvels That Changed America
10 Streets That Changed America
10 Towns that Changed America
Grand Coulee Dam
Hollywood’s Architect
Paul Revere Williams
The Big Picture
Blank on Blank
History Detectives
The Origin of Everything
California
Beach Culture
Before the Dodgers
Bootlegger Tunnels: A Journey Through LA’s Prohibition Lore
Borderlands
Building the Metropolis
Coded Geographies
Descanso Gardens
Desert Fantasy
Discovering the Universe
Dream Factory
Fantasyland
Ghost Town
Griffith Park: The Untold Story
Pacific Rim
Reshaping L.A.
Shindana Toy Company: Changing the American Doll Industry
Three Views of Manzanar: Adams, Lange, Miyatake
Venice
Wild L.A.
Wild West
Yosemite
Capitalism
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
American Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos
The Business of Disaster
The Facebook Dilemma
The Gilded Age
Money, Power and Wall Street
The Secret History of the Credit Card
Civil Rights
The Fight
First Freedom: The Fight for Religious Liberty
Memories of the March
Underground Railroad: The William Still Story
Disasters
The Big Burn
Ebola in Congo
Fire in Paradise
Early America
Ben Franklin’s Bones
Secrets of Spanish Florida
East Asia
Battle for Hong Kong
China’s Terracotta Warriors
Myanmar’s Killing Fields
On the President’s Orders
The Tank Man
Food
Jacques Pépin: The Art of Craft
James Beard: America’s First Foodie
LA Foodways
The Poison Squad
Great Britain
Arthur’s Lost Kingdom
Resurrecting Richard III
Health
The Age of AIDS
Chasing Heroin
Flint’s Deadly Water
Outbreak
Right to Fail
The Holocaust
Escape from Auschwitz
The Last Survivors
The Last Laugh
Memory of the Camps
Shtetl
Immigration
Immigration Battle
Targeting El Paso
Marcos Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
North Korea’s Deadly Dictator
Separated: Children at the Border
Zero Tolerance
Justice
American Patriot
The Gang Crackdown
Last Days of Solitary
Life on Parole
A More or Less Perfect Union
The Mueller Investigation
Out of Gitmo/Forever Prison
Second Chance Kids
Supreme Revenge
The Trial of Ratko Mladić
Latin America
Drug Lord: The Legend of Shorty
Into the Amazon
Teotihuacán’s Lost Kings
Middle East
Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia
Children of Syria
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
For Sama
Losing Iraq
Mosul/Inside Yemen
Netanyahu at War
Saudi Arabia Uncovered
Our Man in Tehran
Music
RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked The World
Myths
Monstrum
Politics
Anti-Abortion Crusaders
The Abortion Divide
America’s Great Divide: From Obama to Trump
Bannon’s War
Emma Goldman
Gunned Down
Hillary’s Class
Ken Burns’ The Roosevelts
McCain
Secrets, Politics and Torture
Trump’s Road to the White House
Trump’s Takeover
Trump’s Trade War
United States of Secrets
Waco: The Inside Story
War on the EPA
Poverty
Left Behind America
Poverty, Politics and Profit
Poor Kids
Prehistory
First Face of America
Great Human Odyssey
Making North America Human
Making North America: Life
Making North America: Origins
Race
The Chinese Exclusion Act
The Eugenics Crusade
Roads to Memphis
Separate and Unequal
Tell Them We Are Rising
Two American Families
Religion
Bones of the Buddha
From Jesus to Christ
God in America
The Mormons
Secrets of the Vatican
Renaissance
Building the Great Cathedrals
Decoding da Vinci
The Mona Lisa Mystery
Russia
Putin’s Revenge
Putin’s Way
Science
Apollo’s Daring Mission
Chasing the Moon
Forgotten Genius
The Gene: An Intimate History
Leonardo, the Man Who Saved Science
Sealab
The Secret of Tuxedo Park
Sports
Ken Burns’ Baseball
Ken Burns’ Jackie Robinson
League of Denial: The NFL’s Corruption Crisis
Terrorism
American Terrorist
Confronting ISIS
The Man Who Knew
My Brother’s Bomber
The Rise of ISIS
The Secret History of ISIS
Terror in Europe
Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald
War and Revolution
Bush’s War
Carthage’s Lost Warriors
Ground War
The Hunt for Nazi Scientists
Hallowed Grounds
The Man Who Saved the World
The Mine Wars
Obama at War
Slave Ship Mutiny
The War of 1812
World War Speed
Wild West
Annie Oakley
The Klondike Gold Rush
