Preview | Shadows of the Past
Preview: 9/21/2026 | 31sVideo has Closed Captions
Trace New York’s turbulent decline and rebirth in the last decades of the 20th century.
Trace New York’s turbulent journey through the final decades of the 20th century. In this follow-up to the landmark 8-part NEW YORK: A DOCUMENTARY FILM, witness the dizzying story of decline and rebirth that sees America’s largest city plunged into the gravest downturn in its history, only to rise again in a remarkable transformation by century’s end.
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Corporate funding for NEW YORK: A DOCUMENTARY FILM "Shadows of the Past" and "The Future of Cities" was provided by Hudson River Trading. Major funding was provided by the American...
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Preview | Shadows of the Past
Preview: 9/21/2026 | 31sVideo has Closed Captions
Trace New York’s turbulent journey through the final decades of the 20th century. In this follow-up to the landmark 8-part NEW YORK: A DOCUMENTARY FILM, witness the dizzying story of decline and rebirth that sees America’s largest city plunged into the gravest downturn in its history, only to rise again in a remarkable transformation by century’s end.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Where to Watch NEW YORK: A DOCUMENTARY FILM
NEW YORK: A DOCUMENTARY FILM is available to stream on pbs.org and the PBS app.
-The city has rebounded, again and again and again, from things that seem to be utterly fatal blows.
-New York was the biggest industrial city in the world in the 1950s.
Those props are both kicked out.
-The city was filthy, disorderly.
We were slowly circling the drain.
-So either you stay and you fight or you go.
Well, in New York, lots of people stayed in the worst period and believed in the future of the city.
Support for PBS provided by:
Corporate funding for NEW YORK: A DOCUMENTARY FILM "Shadows of the Past" and "The Future of Cities" was provided by Hudson River Trading. Major funding was provided by the American...