Empires of Industry Season 1, Episode 2: Wildcatters

The Cola Wars

A look at the history of Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola and the rivalry between the two soft-drink companies. Included: comments from experts, including author Frederick Allen (“Secret Formula”). Narrator: Dan Chandler.

50 min

Battle for the Skies

The DuPont Dynasty

The history of the Du Pont family is chronicled from their beginnings as gunpowder manufacturers at the turn of the 19th century, when it was founded by French immigrant E.I. du Pont. Included: interviews with descendants; and historians.

Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel

Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel chronicles the rise of the iron and steel industries in the United States and the personal ascent of immigrant Andrew Carnegie, whose steel company would one day make him the richest man in America. The American iron, and later steel, industries were the backbone of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, supplying the material that would enable the growth of railroads, skyscrapers, war machines and a host of other industries. It is the story of the rise of big industry in the United States, in all its glory, and all its shame. While the steel industry would make men such as Andrew Carnegie wealthy beyond imagination, it would also cripple, maim, and kill those who toiled to keep the furnaces blasting and the steel rolling.

J. Pierpont Morgan: Emperor of Wall Street

He single-handedly saved the U.S. from bankruptcy on two occasions, but was often accused of being a monopolist. He wielded as much power as the president and turned Wall Street into his personal playground. John Pierpont Morgan had an aptitude for acquisition. He assembled one of America's largest fortunes and purchased an art collection to rival any in the world.

The Kellogg Brothers: Cornflake Kings

They may have collaborated on the cornflake, but the Kellogg brothers could not have been less alike. One was an eccentric crusader for health, the other a shrewd businessman. John Harvey Kellogg and his younger brother Will Keith played out one of the most dramatic and bitter family feuds in American history, yet before their split, they were partners for 20 years. BIOGRAPHY® paints a detailed portrait of the Kellogg brothers, drawing on extensive original footage and commentary from family members and historians. Witness the feud that drove the brothers apart and watch Will Keith turn their humble invention into the cornerstone of one of the most successful companies in the world. From the first corn flake to their 10-year legal battle, THE KELLOGG BROTHERS: CORN FLAKE KINGS presents the tumultuous story of the men who revolutionized America's breakfast.

Black Gold: The Story of Oil

Modern America depends on a steady source of petroleum and petroleum by-products to satisfy its ever-increasing and voracious appetite for fuel. Oil, the “black gold” of the ground, is one of America’s most precious and abundant commodities, and yet America still need’s the oil exports of Arab nations to fill its need. Black Gold, The Story of Oil chronicles the birth and rise of the oil industry in the United States, from its fledgling beginnings, through the days of John D. Rockefeller and the robber barons, to the Gulf War and the present.

Brewed in America

Brewing grows from a mainly local endeavor into a commercial industry in the 19th century and survives crises in the 20th, including Prohibition and the Great Depression. Narrator: Dan Chandler.

War Planes of World War II

Flight was born in America at the turn of the century. But World War II saw more planes built in a single year -- 300,000 -- than had been built in the previous forty.