The illusion of vision. It feels as though we open our eyes and just see what's out there, but the more we learn about the brain's visual system, the further it seems this is from the truth. Patients who can't see movement or recognize faces, reveal the tricks and short cuts the brain uses to construct an illusion of reality. Is the brain making up so much of what we think we're seeing that vision is really just dreaming with your eyes open?

He explores how American optimism about the infinite possibilities of its land and resources is in danger of coming to a grinding halt. Nowhere is it more evident than in the American West, which has always been a symbol of opportunity and freedom. Oil at four dollars a gallon may dominate the headlines, but here it is the lack of water that is an bigger threat to the American future. The West is in the grip of a years-long drought. America's optimism about its natural resources has always been spiced with clashes over conservation, going back to the first man to navigate the Colorado river, John Wesley Powell. American ingenuity made farming on an industrial scale possible in the early years of the 20th century, but at the cost of making Oklahoma a dust bowl. The Hoover Dam, a modern American miracle which used to provide essential irrigation for farming and for the new city of Las Vegas, is not able to cope with the demand for water any more.

In American War, Simon reveals how different the American attitude to war is from what outsiders assume it to be. Two of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, disagreed about whether America should even have a professional army - a division still evident when Simon visits America's premier military academy at West Point. From the Civil War right through to Mark Twain's denunciation of President Teddy Roosevelt's imperial adventure in the Phillipines, American wars have inspired profound debate. And nowhere more so in the 2008 election than San Antonio, Texas, nicknamed Military City because of its high population of veterans and serving soldiers, where Simon finds feelings about the war are deeply divided. As with the great war elections of the past, it's a debate which forces America to dig deep and rediscover what it stands for.

Simon explores the ways in which faith has shaped American political life. His starting point is a remarkable fact about the coming election: for the first time in a generation it is the Democrats who claim to be the party of God. It is Barack Obama, not John McCain, who has been talking about his faith. In Britain we have always thought of American religion as a largely conservative force, yet Simon shows how throughout American history it has played a crucial role in the fight for freedom. Faith helped create America - it was the search for religious freedom that led thousands to make the dangerous journey to the colonies in the 1600s. After independence was won, that religious freedom was enshrined in the constitution; America was the first country in the world to do so. Simon also looks at the remarkable role the black church has played, first in the liberation of the slaves in the 1800s, and again in the civil rights movement of the 1960s; neither would have happened without its religious activists. It is this very church that has been the inspiration for Barack Obama, who traces the roots of his political inspiration to his faith.

Simon looks at the bitter conflict over immigration in American history. Who should be allowed to enter America and call themselves an American has always been one of the nation's most divisive issues, and it continues to be so at this election. He traces the roots of this conflict to the founding of America. The early settlers were themselves immigrants, but they saw America as fundamentally a white and Protestant nation. Simon looks at the key events that challenged this view: the annexation of parts of Mexico in 1848 that made 100,000 non-whites American citizens, the immigration and subsequent expulsion of the Chinese in the late 19th century, and the massive immigration from Eastern Europe during the industrialisation of the 1920s. Each time there have been those who have insisted America must stay white if it's to stay true to itself, and each time they have been defeated by the sheer force of history. John F. Kennedy defined America as a Nation of Immigrants in 1964 and Simon argues that the candidacy of Barack Obama represents the final triumph of the vision of America as a multi-ethnic nation.

What do we know about Google beside the fact it is the name of the world's most famous website? Meet the people in the Googleplex - the inventors, the managers, advisors and users.

Born in Dvinsk, Russia (now Daugavpils, Latvia) Rothko moved with his family to Portland, Oregon in 1913. His painting education was brief - he moved to New York to study under the artist Max Weber and then struck out on his own. Rothko is known for his abstract expressionism paintings, but he moved through more traditional styles in his early career, including Surrealist paintings in the 1940s. In 1947 he embarked on the first of his large abstract 'colour-field' paintings, formalising their structure further in the 1950s. Rothko had huge success with largescale solo shows, but committed suicide in 1970.

Prof. Susan Greenfield (Univ. of Oxford) discusses what it is that makes humans different from the rest of the animal world. She focuses on the human ability to work towards long-term goals and observes the results of damage to the frontal lobe of the brain, which seems to be the location of this skill. But planning is not a uniquely human skill - chimpanzees in a study by the University of Georgia demonstrated that they too can do this. Humans, however, have developed language which accounts for the rapid development of our culture; but some scientists argue that chimps, too, are capable of acquiring language. There seems to be a missing link between chimpanzees and humans, indicated by the post-Neanderthal appearance of new kinds of tools indicating a development from modular mental ability to lateral thinking. Among those taking part in the programme are Dr. Adrian Owen (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge) and Prof. Michael Gazzaniga (Dartmouth College, New Hampshire U.S).

It takes a certain kind of obsession to make pinot noir wine. Known as the heartbreak grape, pinot noir is very particular, and only flourishes in a few locations around the world. So when a few passionate - some thought foolhardy - New Zealanders planted pinot noir in Central Otago, in the deep south of New Zealand, it seemed an enterprise destined for failure. Yet the best can come from the most unlikely of places. Today the rocky slopes and thyme-filled valleys of Central Otago make up the fastest growing wine region in the world. This evocative film explores the challenges of chasing pinot noir perfection, finds out why Central Otago pinot noir is unique, and tells the remarkable story behind the one of the most elusive wines in the world.

For Muslims everywhere, the ultimate goal is to make the Hajj at least once during their lifetime. This spiritual journey is the basic premise of an entire religion and sees impoverished African Muslims mixing with their incredibly wealthy Western counterparts. This documentary follows some of the 20,000 Britons who make the journey to Mecca, unravelling the mysterious aura that surrounds this remarkable event. This documentary combines the backdrop of Mecca with interviews to provide a previously undocumented view of Islam.

This BBC Channel 4 documentary shows how the experiences of five lesbian and gay Muslims in Britain challenge the heterosexual bias in Muslim communities and illustrate the diversity within Islam. There are diverse perspectives on homosexuality amongst Muslims, ranging from condemnation through to the Muslim Canadian Congress's welcome for legislation redefining marriage to include same-sex partners. Some 200 lesbian and gay Muslims were contacted by the programme makers but only a handful were willing to be interviewed, and most of those insisted on keeping their identities hidden. Only one was prepared to show his face and give his true name. The interviewees speak of their commitment to and belief in Islam, though instead of having their beliefs supported by their community and family, they face being ostracised. 'Shakir' and his parents find it easier to accept lesbianism than gay men's homosexuality. 'Farah' contemplates going back into the closet, to lie about her sexuality to ease the tension in her relationship with her parents.

The changes in the brain during the growth and development of a baby into an adult are explored. Susan Greenfield looks at how little of the fine structure of our brains is predetermined at birth, how the connections between nerves are constantly changing in response to what we encounter in the outside world. She explains her view that learning, memory and even the process of becoming a unique individual, should all be seen as a restless brain adapting minute by minute to the environment it encounters. Life is about how the world leaves its mark on us.

In this film, acclaimed documentary maker Jane Treays enters the worlds of children on the edge of society, examining how they cope when their lives are shaped by extreme circumstances. Young Carers examines the situation in the UK where children as young as eight are asked to act as grown-ups, taking care of relatives who are unable to look after themselves. This challenging film follows children seeking to manage their parents' physical and mental health problems, losing their childhood as they do.

This documentary offers a sweeping look at China's recent past and its future as the great country prepares to enter the 21st century. The filmmaker Peter Kauffman explains that the reason he made the film was due to an excited phone call from Xiozhen Jiang, his longtime friend and daughter of renowned Chinese screen actress Bai Yang. During the call she told Kauffman that China had turned into "the wildest place on Earth." Intrigued, Kaufman and his father, distinguished filmmaker Philip Kaufman, journeyed to China and made this film. The film's scope addresses the country's social, political, and economic history leading up to 1989 and the Tiananmen Square massacre. Special attention is paid to the dilemmas facing the millions of residents who are wheeling and dealing amidst new freedoms and a burgeoning economy leading to problems such as homeless itinerant workers, corrupt officials, gangsterism and prostitution.

A series profiling some of the remarkable women and men who had the greatest influence on the last century.

This documentary film follows ten Midwestern teenagers as they attend the first overnight Bible Camp for gay Christian youths. For these six boys and four girls, it’s just as hard to come out as Christian as it is to come out as gay. They’re caught in the battle between religion, politics and sexuality that’s raging in the United States today. These kids are outsiders – their straight classmates ostracize them and their churches reject them. But like all teens, they yearn to feel at home, somewhere. Struggling to find a way to be true to both their spirituality and their sexual identity, these teens come to camp hoping to finally find a place of acceptance.

Meet the scientific prophets who claim we are on the verge of creating a new type of human - a human v.2.0, in this BBC Horizon documentary. It’s predicted that by 2029 computer intelligence will equal the power of the human brain, a point of convergence referred to as the Singularity. Some believe this will revolutionize humanity - we will be able to download our minds to computers extending our lives indefinitely. Others fear this will lead to oblivion by giving rise to destructive ultra intelligent machines.

In July 2005, filmmaker Scott Hicks started shooting a documentary about the composer Philip Glass to celebrate his 70th anniversary in 2007. Over the next 18 months, Scott followed Philip across three continents - from his annual ride on the Coney Island 'Cyclone' roller coaster, to the world premiere of his new opera in Germany and in performance with a didgeridoo virtuoso in Australia. Allowed unprecedented access to Glass' working process, family life, spiritual teachers and long time collaborators, Hicks gives us a unique glimpse behind the curtain into the life of a surprising and complex man. 'GLASS: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts' is a remarkable mosaic portrait of one of the greatest - and at times controversial - artists of this or any era.

One of the most influential composers of the 20th century is profiled and his music re-interpreted by contemporary musicians and commentators. Born in Germany, Weill came to the US in 1935. Composer of the Threepenny Opera, Mahagonny, Lady in the Dark, Street Scene and many other innovative works for the theater. His extensive list of works also includes well-known songs and instrumental music, preserved on innumerable recordings.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder kids are often bright and able, but for some reason unable to concentrate. The repercussions, for all involved, can be devastating. The current, controversial treatment, Ritalin, is a powerful amphetamine. This sensitive, uplifting documentary shows what it is really like to live with ADHD, and investigates the new science that is giving hope to its victims. To some doctors, ADHD is merely an excuse for bad parenting. They blame too much television, poor diet and parents who just don't bother. Try telling that to the Fischer family. Two of the children have ADHD, as does Charlotte, their Mum. Charlotte's life was blighted by years of people refusing to believe anything was wrong with her. It led to failure at school and drug abuse. But now she is determined to make sure that what happened to her won't happen to her kids. Follow the Fischer family as they cope with these pressures, and are helped to make sense of the condition by a team of paediatricians and child psychologists. This film shows that ADHD need not be a disaster for its victims. One of the key revelations is that strong, early intervention can transform these children. And what effect does the powerful drug, Ritalin, have on the children? A powerful amphetamine, it would make most people manic, but actually calms ADHD kids down. Ritalin is highly controversial, with allegations that some doctors subscribe it to children whom many would regard as simply annoying. But parents of true ADHD kids say it gives them a crucial window of opportunity in which a child can learn how to behave, build relationships and lay the foundations of a normal life. Other available drug treatments are also explored. The cameras also follow another family going through the traumatic, shocking process of diagnosis and captures the gradual transformation of their lives as science, in the form of new treatments, comes to their aid. Full of love, tears and laughter, this is ultimately an uplifting tale of real people triumphing over tough situations. The fact is that the Fischers are a happy family. They may be different but, in their words, "That's your problem, not ours".

Al Gore’s Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth has done a lot to raise the international awareness of the environmental issue of global warming. But where do things stand today? The Antarctica Challenge is a documentary that goes to the source of the climate change crisis: Antarctica. Here it explores first-hand the environmental challenges facing that frozen continent and, by extension, the world.

Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam, follows William Dalrymple on a personal journey into the mystical and musical side of Islam as he charts the traditions of Sufi music in Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, India and Morocco. Taking many different forms across the Islamic world - from the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey to the Qawwali music of Pakistan or the latest Grammy-winning CD by Youssou N'Dour - Sufism has produced some of the world's most spectacular and inspirational music celebrated by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Sufi Soul shows the music in its authentic, live setting in Sufi shrines and meeting places across the Islamic world, but also how it's a part of popular culture. In Pakistan it features the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, his nephew Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Abida Parveen, the extraordinary Sufi troubadour Sain Zahoor and Pakistan's most popular pop group Junoon. In Turkey there's ney player Kudsi Erguner, Whirling Dervishes from Istanbul and the club-Sufi Mercan Dede.

Every year, foreign factory trawlers with foreign crews, Korean, Russian or Polish, operate in New Zealand waters, chartered by New Zealand companies to catch their Deep-sea Quota, depriving New Zealand crews and processing workers of much needed jobs, and our economy of revenue. New Zealand has the 4th largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world (within a 200 mile boundary line around our country) measuring 4.4 million square kilometres, controlled by our government. Within that zone, 130 fish species are commercially caught every year, with a quota value of $3.8 billion and an export value of $1.5 billion and yet New Zealanders are not reaping due rewards. Foreign fishing boats and their foreign crews have been fishing in New Zealand waters since the early 1950's. These vessels are chartered by New Zealand companies to catch their quota for them. Some of our largest fishing companies use them extensively as well as individual New Zealanders who own massive quota holdings, this despite the fact that since 1996, New Zealand has had the capacity to catch all its own fish without the need to use foreign trawlers, except for the harvesting of squid. Foreign fishing boats catch 45% of all Deep-sea fish, and over 50% of all fish caught in New Zealand waters are processed overseas, mainly in Thailand and China. Profit, not employment has been the priority in managing a resource that all New Zealanders should benefit from. This documentary explains how foreign boats can deliberately overfish certain species, knowing that the fine can often be less than the market price for that fish. Those most often hit by this practice are the local fishermen. If a fish stocks numbers reduce, the Ministry of Fisheries reduces the quota that can be caught. What often happens is that companies chartering foreign boats will then take remaining quota away from New Zealand fishermen and add it to existing quota for foreign boats, making sure that these boats stay financially viable for the whole year. The problem is that NZ fishermen now have a lot less fish to catch, reduced income with increasing costs, and are forced to either sell their boat and downsize, or get out of the industry altogether - a tough call when you've spent all your life at sea. No credits.

Film maker, Fran Landsman, spent 11 weeks at Moorlands Infant School in Bath to make this highly original film revealing the dramas that mark these first crucial weeks for the four year old new entrants.

The Road to Jerusalem tells the life and times of James K. Baxter, using his own words in poetry and prose, given context by reminiscence from family, close friends and confidants. And all the words are supported and further illuminated by the dense stream of visual imagery running parallel. Baxter's childhood in Brighton, painful adolescence in Dunedin, and then his steady rise in fame as a poet are all documented, as it were, from the inside. His split with his family and later elevation to the status of resident guru in the commune at Jerusalem are all presented in intimate and often painful detail.

Allan Wilson was the Pukekohe-raised scientist who revolutionised the study of evolutionary biology. Inspired by birds, he developed molecular approaches to 'clock' evolutionary change, and raised the hypothesis that humans evolved from one 'Eve' in Africa about 200,000 years ago. He is the only New Zealander to win a pretigious US MacArthur “genius” Award. The Listener called the film, a "shrewd insight into the man himself: the quintessential pioneering expat Kiwi individualist." It was made in partnership with UC Berkeley where Wilson was based for 35 years.

This groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged from the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs - from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding "terrorists" - along the way offering devastating insights into the origin of these stereotypic images, their development at key points in US history, and why they matter so much today. Shaheen shows how the persistence of these images over time has served to naturalize prejudicial attitudes toward Arabs and Arab culture, in the process reinforcing a narrow view of individual Arabs and the effects of specific US domestic and international policies on their lives. By inspiring critical thinking about the social, political, and basic human consequences of leaving these Hollywood caricatures unexamined, the film challenges viewers to recognize the urgent need for counter-narratives that do justice to the diversity and humanity of Arab people and the reality and richness of Arab history and culture.

Surfing Samoa focusses on the indigenous surfing cultures of the South Pacific. Narrated by NZ Samoan hip hop musician King Kapisi.

Faster is an electrifying tribute to the white-knuckle world of the Motorcycle Grand Prix - the fastest sport on two wheels - where only the most audacious competitors race at speeds over 200mph and crash at over 100mph. Narrated by actor and motobike fan Ewan McGregor, Faster chases two seasons’ worth of the world championship, featuring revealing interviews with riders, mechanics, doctors, commentators and fans.

This part follows the trial and conviction of Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Khodorkovsky's grinning face was famously beamed across the world from behind the bars of the court's cage, and this episode reveals the tactics that Putin used to suppress the oil baron and separate him from his company and wealth.

Dispatches exposes the new surge in violence inflicted on the Burmese people by their own regime. Enslaved by a brutal military dictatorship which wields absolute power, Burma is a secretive state where suppression reigns and dissent is not tolerated. Journalist Evan Williams, who is banned from entering the country after reporting on Burma for more than 10 years, goes undercover to investigate the mass ethnic cleansing, forced labour and vicious clamping down of political opposition which characterise the dictatorship.

As the result of a law passed by former state governor George W Bush, teenagers in Lubbock, Texas, are expected to take a 'purity pledge', vowing to remain virgins until their wedding nights. This documentary asks whether the town's youngsters find it easy to stick to their promise and if, by putting the emphasis on abstinence rather than sex education, the pledge fosters a climate of fear and misinformation.

Tito, an eleven-year-old boy from Bangalore, south India, is severely autistic, but he is deeply philosophical, with a profound comprehension of his own condition. Insightful and often humorous, he reveals exactly what it means to be autistic, and in doing so challenges the orthodox thinking about autism. The British Autistic Society flew Tito, accompanied by his mother, Somo, to London for assessment. Many have doubted his abilities and have even suggested that he is at the centre of an elaborate hoax. What will the experts really think? Will his uncontrollable behaviour let him down?

This documentary looks at the new right ideology that transformed public education in the 80s and 90s and the schism it caused with teachers. Interviews with parents, teachers and unionists are cut together with archive footage of treasury officials and politicians advocating that schools be run as businesses. There are vexed board of trustees' meetings, an infamous deal between Avondale College and Pepsi, and teachers take their opposition from the classroom to the streets. The film is the third in Alister Barry's series critical of neo-liberal reform in NZ.

Broadcast a year before the Litvinenko murder, this fascinating series lifted the lid on the struggle that still continues between Putin, and his adversaries, the Russian Oligarchs. The first part follows exile and Litvinenko associate Boris Berezovsky as he campaigns to fight Putin in the Media and along Russia's borders. Under threat of arrest Berezovsky travels to revolutionary Ukraine for the campaign to elect Yuschenko.

Final part in the formidable series on Putin's fight with the oligarchs. Shot a year before the murder of Litvinenko, this film examines Putin's fight with the only serious rival for the presidency,Yuri Luzhkov. The crew follow Luzhkov, the renegade billionnaire Mayor of Moscow as he takes the fight to Putin showing both the ruthless methods in which Putin crushes his opposition and the extreme corruption that exist at the highest levels of Russian government.

A fierce explorer and archaeologist, lyrical writer and cunning politician, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) spent much of her life traveling throughout present-day Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan & Israel.

Marguerite Harrison (1879 - 1967) was a reporter, spy, film maker, and translator who was one of the four founding members of the Society of Woman Geographers. Harrison spied for the United States in Russia and Japan, arriving in Russia in 1920 as an Associated Press correspondent. She assessed Bolshevik economic strengths and weakness and assisted American political prisoners in Russia. She was held captive in Lubyanka, the infamous Russian prison, for ten weeks. While there she contracted tuberculosis and due to pressure from her influential contacts she was eventually set free in exchange for food and other aid to Russia.

Follows Bill Manhire, Chris Orsman and Nigel Brown, 3 New Zealand artists and writers on a visit to Antarctica to portray the continent in art and poetry. While there they produced a limited edition of Homelight : an Antarctic miscellany.

Aviator Amelia Earhart was the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross which she was awarded as the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines an organization for female pilots. During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life career and disappearance continues to this day.

Adolescent boys struggle to grow up in a home for juvenile delinquents in rural Russia, where life behind bars may be better than the release to freedom. Filmmaker Alexandra Westmeier provides an intimate glimpse at a society from the inside out, where boys under the age of 14 are held for crimes ranging from theft to rape to multiple murders. They receive food and clothing. They go to school and engage in sports. For the first time in their young lives, they no longer have to fight for their daily existence; they can simply be what they are--children.Like many of the boys here, Tolya, a murderer, recounts his crimes with unnerving nonchalance. Nonetheless, moments come through in each lad’s speech or mannerisms that reveal the child within the criminal. A 13-year-old newbie is not even allowed to say good-bye to his mother. He fights back tears that somehow reflect the sorrows of all his comrades.

Joe is 19, he went into care 5 years ago when his relationship with his mother broke down. Jamaal went into care aged 9 and grew up in a children’s homes and in foster placements. Emma is an orphan and lives in a home with other children in care. When she turns 18 she will have to move out and live it alone.Each year 6000 young people leave social services care. After growing up in children’s homes or with foster parents the transition to independent living is hugely fraught. A young person who has been in care is 10 times more likely to go to prison than go to university. A quarter of young women leaving care are pregnant or already have children. Within two years of leaving care and moving in on their own, one in five teenagers will be come homeless.Into the Big Wide World follows a groundbreaking project to take Joe, Emma Jamaal and 8 other teenagers to work as volunteers in South Africa. For these young people trying to grow up without Mum or Dad, this project could change their lives forever.

Born in Naples, Bernini was an exceptional talent from an early age and went on to dominate the art world of 17th century Rome. His work epitomised the Baroque style and his sculpture, church interiors and exteriors and town planning could be seen everywhere. He was also a painter, playwright, costume and theatre designer. Bernini worked under successive Popes; Pope Gregory XV made him a knight and Pope Urban VIII took him as his best friend. He was revered in his time until a jealous rage caused him to have the face of his mistress slashed after discovering her romance with his brother. His reputation fell further after his bell towers for the Cathedral of St Peter's started cracking in 1641. He redeemed himself and kick started his career again with arguably his most famous work, The Ecstasy of St Theresa, in 1652.

Born in Malaga, Spain, Picasso's many styles and prolific work rate have marked him out as one of the most recognised artists of the twentieth century. Not limited to one medium he created sculptures, etchings and prints. His artistic career only began to boom once he moved to Paris in the early 1900s. His Blue Period, reflecting the colour and his mood at the time was followed by his Rose Period, work inspired by primitive art and then Cubism, which shocked the critics, but ultimately made his name. Guernica (1937) was created during Picasso's Surrealist period and captures the horror of the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. By the end of World War II, Picasso had become an internationally known artist and celebrity. Simon Schama on Picasso - "Pablo Picasso's Guernica is so familiar, so large, so present. It's physically bigger than a movie screen. But what is the painting about? Is it an account of the Spanish town obliterated by Nazi warplanes - a piece of reportage? Is that why it's in black and white? This is the reason why the painting has such an impact. Instead of a laboured literal commentary on German warplanes, Basque civilians and incendiary bombs, Picasso connects with our worst nightmares. He's saying here's where the world's horror comes from; the dark pit of our psyche."

A year on from Barack Obama's inauguration, Simon Schama examines the issue that more than any other will determine the fate of his presidency: Afghanistan. It's a war which Obama inherited but which he has pledged to continue fighting - a conflict that will cost many more American and British lives. As Simon Schama explains, it wasn't just a political miscalculation which landed the US and its allies in military crisis, but a historical miscalculation - a refusal to learn from the conflicts of the past. By committing America and its allies to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, George Bush and the neocons allowed the battle against the Taliban to slide. The neocons were obsessed with World War Two, and persuaded themselves that both wars would - like the Second World War - be glorious liberations; decisive military victories. However, as Schama discovers, it's not to World War II, but to America's forgotten war in Korea, that US policymakers should have looked if they wanted to understand the thorny reality of America's twentieth-century conflicts. The president who took America into Korea was Harry Truman. As Simon Schama explains, in Truman's handling of this bloody war, and in his statesmanship at a time of international crisis, there are profound lessons for Obama today.

Born in Groot-Zundert, The Netherlands, Van Gogh spent his early life as an art dealer, teacher and preacher in England, Holland and Belgium. His period as an artist began in 1881 when he chose to study art in Brussels, starting with watercolours and moving quickly on to oils. The French countryside was a major influence on his life and his early work was dominated by sombre, earthy colours depicting peasant workers, the most famous of which is The Potato Eaters, 1885. It was during Van Gogh's studies in Paris (1886-8) that he developed the individual style of brushwork and use of colour that made his name. In 1888 he moved to Arles where the Provençal landscape provided his best-known subject matter. However, it also marked the start of his mental crisis following an argument with his contemporary Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh was committed to a mental asylum in 1889 where he continued to paint, but he committed suicide in 1890. In this episode, Simon Schama examines his masterpiece Wheatfield with Crows. "Vincent's passionate belief was that people wouldn't just see his pictures, but would feel the rush of life in them; that by the force of his brush and dazzling colour they'd experience those fields, faces and flowers in ways that nothing more polite or literal could ever convey. His art would reclaim what had once belonged to religion - consolation for our mortality through the relish of the gift of life. It wasn't the art crowd he was after; he wanted was to open the eyes and the hearts of everyone who saw his paintings. I feel he got what he wanted. So what are we looking at with this painting? There’s suffocation, but elation too. The crows might be coming at us, but equally they might be flying away, demons gone as we immerse ourselves in the power of nature. It's a massive wall of writhing brilliant paint, in which the colour itself seems to tremble and pulse and sway."

Born to a wealthy Parisian family, Jacques-Louis David was aged seven when his father was shot dead in a pistol duel. Brought up by his uncles, his desire was to paint and he was eventually sent to his mother's cousin, Francois Boucher, the most successful painter in France at the time. Painting became an important means of communication for David since his face was slashed during a sword fight and his speech became impeded by a benign tumour that developed from the wound, leading him to stammer. He was interested in painting in a new classical style that departed from the frivolity of the Rococo period and reflected the moral and austere climate before the French Revolution. David became closely aligned with the republican government and his work was increasingly used as propaganda with the Death of Marat proving his most controversial work. Simon Schama on David. "If there's ever a picture that would make you want to die for a cause, it is Jacque-Louis David's Death of Marat. That's what makes it so dangerous - hidden away from view for so many years. I'm not sure how I feel about this painting, except deeply conflicted. You can't doubt that it's a solid gold masterpiece, but that's to separate it from the appalling moment of its creation, the French Revolution. This is Jean-Paul Marat, the most paranoid of the Revolution's fanatics, exhaling his very last breath. He's been assassinated in his bath. But for David, Marat isn't a monster, he's a saint. This is martyrdom, David's manifesto of revolutionary virtue."

Born to a family of millers in Leiden, Rembrandt left university at 14 to pursue a career as an artist. The decision turned out to be a good one since after serving his apprenticeship in Amsterdam he was singled out by Constantijn Huygens, the most influential patron in Holland. In 1634 he married Saskia van Uylenburgh. In 1649, following Saskia's death from tuberculosis, Hendrickje Stoffels entered Rembrandt's household and six years later they had a son. Rembrandt's success in his early years was as a portrait painter to the rich denizens of Amsterdam at a time when the city was being transformed from a small nondescript port into the economic capital of the world. His historical and religious paintings also gave him wide acclaim. Despite being known as a portrait painter Rembrandt used his talent to push the boundaries of painting. This direction made him unpopular in the later years of his career as he shifted from being the talk of the town to becoming adrift in the Amsterdam art scene and criticised by his peers.

Michelangelo Merisi left his birth town of Caravaggio in the north of Italy to study as an apprentice in nearby Milan. In 1593 he moved to Rome, impatient to use his talents on the biggest stage possible. Caravaggio's approach to painting was unconventional. He avoided the standard method of making copies of old sculptures and instead took the more direct approach of painting directly onto canvas without drawing first. He also used people from the street as his models. His dramatic painting was enhanced with intense and theatrical lighting. Caravaggio's fate was sealed when in 1606 he killed a man in a duel. He fled to Naples where he attempted to paint his way out of trouble, he became a Knight, but was then imprisoned in Malta and then finally he moved to Sicily. He was pardoned for murder in 1610, but he died of a fever attempting to return to Rome.

One of Britain's most celebrated artists, JMW Turner showed exceptional artistic talent from an early age and entered the Royal Academy aged fourteen. His English landscapes made his name but there was a darker side to his paintings that was difficult for the critics to swallow, both in the increasingly informal use of paint and the subject matter that was critical of the romanticised vision of Britain in the late nineteenth century. Turner bequeathed 300 of his paintings and 20,000 watercolours and drawings to the nation. He led a secretive private life. He never married, but had a mistress and fathered two children. He died in a temporary lodging in Chelsea, under the assumed name of Booth. Simon Schama on Turner. "In 1840 in London, an international convention of the Great and Good was planned to express righteous indignation against slavery in the United States. Turner, initiated into the cause many years before by his patron, Walter Fawkes, wanted to have his say in paint. So how does he do it? By being a thorn in the side of self congratulation. He reaches back 60 years to resurrect one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the British Empire when 132 Africans - men, women and children, their hands and feet fettered - were thrown overboard into the shark infested waters of the Caribbean. And Turner has drowned you in this moment, pulled you into this terrifying chasm in the ocean, drenched you in this bloody light - exactly the hue you sense in your blood filled optic nerves when you close your eyes in blinding sunlight. Though almost all of his critics believed that the painting represented an all time low in Turner's reckless disregard for the rules of art, it was in fact his greatest triumph in the sculptural carving of space."