The Donner Party (American Experience) (DVD)

Trapped in the Sierra Nevadas during the bitter winter of 1846, nearly 90 members of the Donner and Reed families longed for California's "Promised Land." But an untried shortcut became a death warrant for half of them-victims of madness, death, and cannibalism. The program re-creates the Donner Party's journey from family journals, newspaper accounts, and interviews with historians and descendants.

Starring: David McCullough, J.D. Cannon, Timothy Hutton, Gene Jones, Amy Madigan, J. D. Cannon, Donal McCann, George Plimpton, Paul Roebling, Lois Smith, Frances Sternhagen, Eli Wallach

Director: Lisa Ades, Ric Burns, Sam Katzman