The Century

What was it like to see the Wright Brothers soar into the air? To hear the first crackling voice coming over the radio? To cower in the ghastly trenches of Europe during World War I? To lose everything in the stock market crash of 1929, or experience the birth of rock and roll? To watch the Berlin Wall divide East and West, then, twenty-eight years later, see it fall? For the past six years, researchers, reporters, and producers for ABC News have searched the world's archives for revealing historical images and sounds, consulted leading historians, and interviewed hundreds of eyewitnesses to the significant moments of this most eventful one hundred years in human history.

The result is this spectacular 15-part audio series, the companion to the landmark ABC News television series The Century. Produced by ABC News for the ABC Television Network and for a separate series for The History Channel, The Century is a sweeping retrospective of the people and events that have shaped this century. Featuring extensive archival recordings, including many selections added exclusively for this audio series, The Century brings the events of the past hundred years into contemporary focus. Anchored by Peter Jennings and featuring fascinating first-person accounts of the great moments of our times, The Century tracks major themes of the past hundred years--the impact of technology, the soaring of the imagination, the growth of violence, the increasing primacy of entertainment. Through chronological parts recounting the signal moments of each era, The Century brings us the perspective of the many men and women who shaped our time, ordinary people who lived these events, through their own words.

The Century presents history as it was lived, in the voices of those who lived it, and as it will be remembered for the next hundred years. Here is a keepsake that every individual, family and scholar must own: an epic journey through the twentieth century, whose heroes are our grandparents, our parents, ourselves.