0:00:02 > 0:00:07I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of North America
0:00:07 > 0:00:10with my faithful Appleton's guide.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Published in the late 19th century,
0:00:14 > 0:00:20it will lead me to all that is magnificent, charming,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23confusing, invigorating,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26and wholesome in the United States and Canada.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32As I journey through this vast continent,
0:00:32 > 0:00:37I'll encounter revolutionaries and feminists, pilgrims and witches,
0:00:37 > 0:00:43and ride some of the oldest and most breathtaking railroads in the world.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22My railway journey through New England and Eastern Canada
0:01:22 > 0:01:25continues to focus around Boston,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29but I'll head out of the city into other parts of Massachusetts.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31What a lovely word that is,
0:01:31 > 0:01:35derived from the language of the indigenous Wampanoag people.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37This state - one of the original 13 colonies -
0:01:37 > 0:01:41has almost as long a history as any other.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Some of it glorious, some of it grim,
0:01:44 > 0:01:49all of it germane to the development of the United States.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57My journey has begun in the coastal communities
0:01:57 > 0:01:59founded by British settlers.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02I'll head north, through glorious New England,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04to the wilderness around Lake Placid.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06Crossing the border into Canada,
0:02:06 > 0:02:09I'll take in French Canadian culture in Quebec,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12before making my way through the capital,
0:02:12 > 0:02:14and the Thousand Islands,
0:02:14 > 0:02:18to end in the cosmopolitan city of Toronto.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21Today, I'll be exploring downtown Boston,
0:02:21 > 0:02:25before making a short trip to a centre of academic excellence.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29I'll then head away from the cities to the notorious Salem,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33and end in the historic and literary town of Concord.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Along the way, I learn the principles
0:02:37 > 0:02:39of American cuisine...
0:02:39 > 0:02:43We want to make sure that we have more cream than cake!
0:02:43 > 0:02:46THEY LAUGH This, I do not believe!
0:02:46 > 0:02:49..discover the horrors of 19th-century surgery...
0:02:49 > 0:02:52You had to hold the artery so it wouldn't bleed,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55and then you had 60 seconds to take off a limb.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58It was terrible before ether.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04..and find out what students do at the world's top university.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06An undergraduate can work on the Mars programme?
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Absolutely. Absolutely.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10- That's what they come to MIT to do. - How amazing.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25Today, I'm exploring more of vibrant, historic Boston.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28One of the oldest metropolises in the United States,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30by the time of my 19th-century guidebook,
0:03:30 > 0:03:32it was booming,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and it's still home to many of the institutions
0:03:35 > 0:03:37that shaped the nation.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Following an intriguing lead in my guide,
0:03:42 > 0:03:44I'm heading to the heart of the city.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Here in the Boston Public Garden,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Appleton's has brought me to the beautiful monument
0:03:56 > 0:04:01in honour of the discovery of ether as an anaesthetic.
0:04:01 > 0:04:02And, indeed, the plaque says,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06"That the inhaling of ether causes insensibility to pain
0:04:06 > 0:04:10"was first proved to the world at the Massachusetts General Hospital
0:04:10 > 0:04:13"in Boston in 1846."
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Imagine previous operations without anaesthetic!
0:04:16 > 0:04:18It's enough to make you jump.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21And ether was a knockout discovery.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29The Massachusetts General Hospital was founded in 1811,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31with the original building designed by
0:04:31 > 0:04:35renowned American architect, Charles Bulfinch.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37It's the first and largest teaching hospital
0:04:37 > 0:04:39of Harvard Medical School,
0:04:39 > 0:04:44and has hosted countless medical breakthroughs and advances.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46At the top of the building, there occurred
0:04:46 > 0:04:51a truly transformative moment in medical science.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54I'm meeting the hospital's former anaesthetist-in-chief,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Dr Warren Zapol.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59Warren, what a beautiful space.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02There's this superb dome and a theatre.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05This is the origin of the word "theatre" in medicine, isn't it?
0:05:05 > 0:05:08It is indeed. And the skylight is perfectly placed
0:05:08 > 0:05:12so you have enough light down here to operate.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15This is a place for surgery. It's the top of the hospital.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18If you scream here, there are big, thick doors.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21No-one else can hear you in the hospital screaming!
0:05:21 > 0:05:26You were tied into this velvet operating chair.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Now, this is surprising to me. First of all, that it's a chair,
0:05:29 > 0:05:31that it's made of velvet,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34and that you have to strap the patient in!
0:05:34 > 0:05:35You have to be tied in.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40You're given perhaps a bit of opiate, perhaps brandy.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45And then you had 60 seconds or 90 seconds to take off a limb.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48You had to saw off the bone.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50Yes. THEY CHUCKLE
0:05:50 > 0:05:53And you had to hold the artery so it wouldn't bleed,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56saw the bone and take the leg off.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59I must say, Warren, it makes me feel queasy
0:05:59 > 0:06:03just to observe and touch that object.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Yuck! Let me give it back to you.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Yes, well, most people, of course, didn't like their surgeon
0:06:09 > 0:06:11or want their surgery.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14It caused this terrible pain, screaming, yelling.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18People knew a minute of horrors was coming, or two,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20and they may or may not live.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23It was terrible before ether.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30Ether, which is a distillation of ethyl alcohol with sulphuric acid,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32was brought to the attention of medical science
0:06:32 > 0:06:37by a young dentist named William Thomas Green Morton.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42After experimenting on his goldfish, his wife's dog and himself,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45he began to use ether on his dental patients,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48and managed to perform painless tooth extractions.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55I want to show you the technology that was available at the time,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57which is this.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01And there's a sponge inside for the ether.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03So, you stick that in the mouth, do you?
0:07:03 > 0:07:05You put that in the mouth. That's your mouthpiece.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08- Mm.- And then you breathe in and out.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12You breathe in, the gas comes in, goes over the ether sponge,
0:07:12 > 0:07:16vaporises, and goes into your lungs,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18and goes in through your bloodstream,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22and anaesthetises your head, your brain.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24Word of Morton's pain-free procedures
0:07:24 > 0:07:28spread to surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30They requested a public demonstration.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35It occurred on the 16th of October 1846.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38The surgeon is John Collins Warren,
0:07:38 > 0:07:43who is perhaps the most dour and humourless man...
0:07:43 > 0:07:46- HE LAUGHS - ..who was ever a surgeon.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49They brought a patient from Cambridge here.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Gilbert Abbott was the name.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55He was a printer from Cambridge with a vascular tumour beneath his jaw,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57and he had to have it removed
0:07:57 > 0:07:59cos it was getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03And Morton begins.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14They're all convinced he'll get up and scream and yell
0:08:14 > 0:08:16as soon as they operate on him.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23But he doesn't. He goes to sleep.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28John Collins Warren is amazed.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32- A great moment in medical history. - Totally. It was remarkable.
0:08:32 > 0:08:33It was truly remarkable,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and everybody in the audience knew that.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40No-one said, "Bah humbug." Everybody said, "Wow!
0:08:40 > 0:08:45"This is no Yankee fake. This is the real thing."
0:08:45 > 0:08:49This would then take over the world in no time - in two months.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52It would be in England and then France and everywhere else.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58The use of ether was adopted in hospitals and on battlefields,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00changing surgery entirely,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and giving birth to the new science of anaesthesia.
0:09:11 > 0:09:1619th-century Boston was a hotbed of invention and progress in science,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20and this extended to technology and education.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25I'm taking a short subway ride from central Boston
0:09:25 > 0:09:27to the neighbouring city of Cambridge,
0:09:27 > 0:09:29across the Charles River.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38Like its British namesake,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Cambridge is a hub of learning and research.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45It's home to two of the world's top universities -
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Harvard and MIT.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53The Institute of Technology, now known as MIT,
0:09:53 > 0:09:57is mentioned in my Appleton's 1879.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00It was then in Boston, Massachusetts,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04but it has since moved to nestle close to Harvard
0:10:04 > 0:10:07here in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11University world rankings vary from year to year,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13but not by much.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18How is it that MIT, monotonously rated top in the world,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21and Harvard, currently rated number three,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25coexist in a small acreage of Boston suburb?
0:10:30 > 0:10:34MIT admitted its first students in 1865,
0:10:34 > 0:10:39and today it's associated with 89 Nobel Prize winners
0:10:39 > 0:10:41and many distinguished alumni.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44They include astronaut, Buzz Aldrin,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48and former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Among its numerous scientific and technological breakthroughs
0:10:54 > 0:10:57have been the first chemical synthesis of penicillin,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59the development of radar,
0:10:59 > 0:11:03and the creation of GPS to name but a few.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08To find out how this inspiring institution came about,
0:11:08 > 0:11:12I'm meeting history of technology professor, Roe Smith.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Roe, I'm thrilled to be in this distinguished institution.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19Why was it created?
0:11:19 > 0:11:21William Barton Rogers was a Virginian
0:11:21 > 0:11:24who was born and raised and educated there,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27but Rogers really took a liking to what he called
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Boston's knowledge-seeking spirit.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33What was the need for an institute of technology?
0:11:33 > 0:11:36There was a great demand for engineers
0:11:36 > 0:11:39during the 1820s and '30s in the United States,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42particularly people who were railroad engineers.
0:11:42 > 0:11:48Basically, Rogers wanted to produce a new type of person
0:11:48 > 0:11:50that was hard to find in the United States.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53In 1850, there were very few schools
0:11:53 > 0:11:56that taught engineering from an academic perspective.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00They didn't do what Rogers wanted to do, basically,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03and that was to take students out of the lecture hall
0:12:03 > 0:12:05and put them in the laboratories,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08so that they could do hands-on experiments.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11And it's amazing that somebody in 1860
0:12:11 > 0:12:15could have that vision and still see it operative today, if you ask me.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19I think it's fascinating, to me. He was quite a guy.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29As well as teaching 4,500 undergraduates each year,
0:12:29 > 0:12:32MIT is renowned for its pioneering research,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36which aims to find solutions to the world's most daunting challenges,
0:12:36 > 0:12:41from future energy needs to improving cancer therapies.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Dr Dava Newman was formerly deputy administrator of Nasa,
0:12:45 > 0:12:50and is now Apollo professor of astronautics at MIT.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Dava, what are you working on?
0:12:52 > 0:12:54We're working on sending people to Mars.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56So, the suits, the life-support systems,
0:12:56 > 0:13:00understanding human performance and how we can keep our astronauts,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02our explorers of the future safe and well.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04So, what we're looking at is a mock-up prototype
0:13:04 > 0:13:07of what we call a BioSuit - a skin-tight spacesuit.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10You have to have pressure to stay alive in space.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12So, in the current suit, it's a gas-pressurised suit
0:13:12 > 0:13:16that has 14 layers altogether. We've decoupled that and said,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18"Let's work on the pressure production.
0:13:18 > 0:13:19"How can we make that very mobile?"
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Were you a student at MIT?
0:13:21 > 0:13:23I did my graduate work here at MIT, in this lab.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27What do you remember from your student days about the ethos of MIT?
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Well, it's a great place to be a nerd, right?
0:13:30 > 0:13:33It's fun! We just try everything out.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Test it this way and that way. It's cross-disciplinary.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39We bring in aerospace engineers, we have computer scientists here,
0:13:39 > 0:13:41we'll bring in psychologists,
0:13:41 > 0:13:42bring in everyone on the team to say,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45"Hey, how can we solve these really big challenges,
0:13:45 > 0:13:46"big problems we have?"
0:13:46 > 0:13:50At MIT, we give our undergraduates great research experience,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54so they join our research teams from the day they enter, if they want.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57An undergraduate can work on the Mars programme?
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Absolutely, absolutely. That's what they come to MIT to do.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03- How amazing.- We're always looking for the next great challenge.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06I try to tell students, "Make sure to celebrate failure."
0:14:06 > 0:14:08"What?!" You know, they're not comfortable.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11None of us are comfortable with failure, but that's how we make all our great breakthroughs.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14If you celebrate failure, I feel I could fit in here!
0:14:14 > 0:14:17There you go! Send your application!
0:14:24 > 0:14:26In the 19th century,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Boston established great educational institutions,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32but also some fine culinary ones.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36I'm on the hunt for a city delicacy created, I'm told,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39at the time of my guidebook at the Parker House Hotel.
0:14:40 > 0:14:46I can't leave town without sampling the celebrated Boston cream pie.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52I have an appointment down in the hotel's kitchens
0:14:52 > 0:14:54with pastry chef, Laura Boyd.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00- Laura, hello. I'm Michael. - Hello, Michael. Nice to meet you.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03I've come in search of the famous Boston cream pie.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06And here it is. We have our sponge cake,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10our vanilla pastry cream, our chocolate,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13and then we use some toasted almonds around the side.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15- How does one start, Laura? - So, what you're going to do is
0:15:15 > 0:15:17you're going to cut our cake in half.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20- Use your wheel. It will spin.- Mm-hm.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22- You've done this before! - No, I have not done this before!
0:15:22 > 0:15:25What's the origin of this wonderful thing, then?
0:15:25 > 0:15:28So, this was developed in the 1850s. It's always been a cake.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33But it's called a pie because it was baked in pie dishes.
0:15:33 > 0:15:34What did you say this was? Vanilla cream?
0:15:34 > 0:15:37The vanilla pastry cream. This is the next step.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40So, you're going to put a couple of scoops right into the centre
0:15:40 > 0:15:41of your bottom layer.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45We want to make sure that we have more cream than cake.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47HE LAUGHS This, I don't believe!
0:15:47 > 0:15:49This, I do not believe!
0:15:49 > 0:15:53You bet! There you are.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57- Look at this.- There we go. - Then we just sandwich them together.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02The next step is to add more cream to the top and sides,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06followed by a generous covering of chocolate ganache -
0:16:06 > 0:16:11smooth and ready for the hotel's signature spider-web decoration.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13That's looking great.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17You start in the centre and then do circles all the way to the outside.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Well, I was going to show you how we do that part!
0:16:23 > 0:16:26HE LAUGHS I've gone off on my own!
0:16:28 > 0:16:31It's a truly original Boston cream pie.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34- We're going to put some almonds on the side.- Put some almonds around the outside.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38There you go. Just like that. Delicious! It looks great.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41Oh! HE LAUGHS
0:16:41 > 0:16:45- There we are.- I'm so sorry. I'm so embarrassed!
0:16:45 > 0:16:47- Don't be embarrassed.- Oh, is that what it's meant to look like?
0:16:47 > 0:16:50It looks fantastic. It's the flavour that counts,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53- and I can't wait to try yours. - All right.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56The famous Boston cream pie,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59as adulterated by M Portillo.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Oh!
0:17:04 > 0:17:08It's great, actually. It's the sponge which is so lovely.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10And then all the vanilla and the cream
0:17:10 > 0:17:12and the cream and the cream and the cream.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14See, that's why there's so much cream!
0:17:14 > 0:17:16Yeah! Thank you so much, Laura.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18You're very welcome. I'm so glad you like it.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22And well done. You did a great job. You're hired!
0:17:51 > 0:17:53This morning, I'm leaving central Boston
0:17:53 > 0:17:56to take the train north to one of the state's oldest
0:17:56 > 0:18:01and best-known settlements on the North Shore of Massachusetts.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20The names of even some very small places in Massachusetts
0:18:20 > 0:18:21are known around the world
0:18:21 > 0:18:23because of their great importance in history -
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Lexington, Concord, Salem.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Of Salem, Appleton's says, "It's a venerable town,
0:18:30 > 0:18:32"the site of the first permanent settlement
0:18:32 > 0:18:34"in the old Massachusetts colony.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37"The year 1692 is remarkable
0:18:37 > 0:18:39"as the date of the witchcraft delusion,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43"in which several people were tried and executed."
0:18:43 > 0:18:46What occurred there, amongst otherwise civilised people,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49gave us the term witch-hunt -
0:18:49 > 0:18:54a byword for persecution, paranoia and injustice.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Salem was a God-fearing, Puritan community,
0:19:06 > 0:19:10whose original inhabitants had left England
0:19:10 > 0:19:12to avoid religious persecution.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15- ON TANNOY: - Next and final stop is Salem.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19The notorious Salem witch trials began in 1692
0:19:19 > 0:19:23after a group of young girls claimed to be possessed by the devil.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27The terrified community began to hunt for witches
0:19:27 > 0:19:30amongst its women and girls.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34Good people, I apologise for the interruption,
0:19:34 > 0:19:35but I'm sure we are all no doubt aware
0:19:35 > 0:19:38of the recent act of witchcraft in our community.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40The afflicted girls have cried out
0:19:40 > 0:19:43as Bridget Bishop as their tormentor.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47- And what do they accuse me of? - Witchcraft.- Ha! Stuff and nonsense!
0:19:47 > 0:19:51This is not a request, and it seems I'll have to take you myself.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56- BELL RINGS - Keep your children away.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58- Come this way!- Come with us.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Very unpleasant to see this, even as a re-enactment,
0:20:01 > 0:20:06to see the hue and cry as the mob chase after the arrested woman
0:20:06 > 0:20:09charged with witchcraft.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14As a wave of hysteria spread through the colony of Massachusetts,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18a special court convened in Salem to hear their cases.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23Cry Innocent is a play written to help audiences understand
0:20:23 > 0:20:25how events unfolded.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29- What do you say?- I am innocent. I know nothing of it.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31I have done no witchcraft.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33The magistrates now summon any and all witnesses
0:20:33 > 0:20:37who may give plain evidence in this case of Bridget Bishop of Salem.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39The accused were cross-examined,
0:20:39 > 0:20:44and villagers came forward with testimony of visions and dreams,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46and their petty grievances.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48One evening, I woke up.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51As God is my witness, I clearly saw Bridget Bishop,
0:20:51 > 0:20:55or else her spectre, sitting on my stomach.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57She saw my boy and ran to him
0:20:57 > 0:21:00and scratched his face and made it bleed.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03The magistrates and citizens of our sovereign lord and lady,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05the king and queen,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07find that there IS enough evidence to hold Bridget Bishop
0:21:07 > 0:21:09for a formal trial on the charge of witchcraft.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Bridget Bishop was convicted of witchcraft,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17and hanged eight days later.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22By the end of the trials, in 1693, a further 19 people had been hanged,
0:21:22 > 0:21:28one pressed to death by stones, and five had died in custody.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30How does it feel to you, being at the receiving end
0:21:30 > 0:21:32of all this terrible testimony?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35It clenches my insides up!
0:21:35 > 0:21:38I mean, I start off with Bridget
0:21:38 > 0:21:41as sort of almost laughing this off, as if, "This is so preposterous,
0:21:41 > 0:21:44"no sensible person could actually listen to this bunk
0:21:44 > 0:21:48"and believe that I'm guilty of a real crime."
0:21:48 > 0:21:51But as the testimony goes on,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54I can understand why these people would have said,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58"Yes, she has something to be held responsible for."
0:21:58 > 0:22:02I think I have witnessed witch-hunts in the present day,
0:22:02 > 0:22:04and I thought there was no advance
0:22:04 > 0:22:06in the sort of things I was hearing today
0:22:06 > 0:22:09on the sort of things that I was hearing in your play.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11It seemed to me that, you know, maybe we've made no progress.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15I mean, we all know about Salem, but I think it still goes on.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17By the way, I just want to congratulate you on the play.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Really powerful.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22The play has been performed by the History Alive company
0:22:22 > 0:22:24for the last 25 years.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Kristina Stevick is the artistic director.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31When did people reassess what had happened in Salem
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and think, "A terrible injustice has occurred"?
0:22:34 > 0:22:39Well, almost immediately, there was regret and apology
0:22:39 > 0:22:44a couple of years later, but in terms of academic writing
0:22:44 > 0:22:46or writing about the witchcraft hysteria,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49it wasn't until the 19th century that the writers really wanted
0:22:49 > 0:22:52to distance themselves from that way of thinking.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56By the time of my guidebook,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00superstition had been largely set aside.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Writers offered psychological explanations
0:23:02 > 0:23:06of the panic that had swept the Salem community.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13The final stop on this leg of my journey
0:23:13 > 0:23:16lies north-west of Boston, in Concord...
0:23:17 > 0:23:21..which has gone down in history as the town where the first shots
0:23:21 > 0:23:24of the American Revolution were fired.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26After years of rising tensions,
0:23:26 > 0:23:31it was here that an American militia united to fight against the British.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Every American learns at school about the role
0:23:37 > 0:23:41of Concord, Massachusetts, in the American Revolution,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44and the town is a magnet for fervent patriots
0:23:44 > 0:23:47here to commemorate the deeds of brave men.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50But it also attracts literary pilgrims,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53here to rediscover Little Women.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Concord was the home of one of America's
0:23:59 > 0:24:04most celebrated 19th-century female authors, Louisa May Alcott,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08who wrote the novel Little Women in 1868.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10An instant bestseller,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14it remains amongst the most widely read novels of all time.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18My guide to her home and works is Jan Turnquist.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21- Hello, Jan.- Michael, so nice to meet you.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Lovely to see you, and quite a lovely house.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26This house was built in the 1600s
0:24:26 > 0:24:30and was not very well maintained, so they spent a year fixing it up
0:24:30 > 0:24:33and Bronson Alcott added outbuildings,
0:24:33 > 0:24:35made it seem much bigger.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37In fact, it was very comfortable for them.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40What sort of a father did Louisa have, then?
0:24:40 > 0:24:42He was an idealist.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45He believed in every reform that you can imagine -
0:24:45 > 0:24:47dress reform, diet reform, votes for women,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50abolition, educational reform, certainly.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54- So, he would have believed in educating the female members of his family?- Yes.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58He really saw his daughters, his wife,
0:24:58 > 0:24:59other females that he knew,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02as fully as important intellectually as any man.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Set against a backdrop of the American Civil War,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Little Women is a semiautobiographical
0:25:10 > 0:25:13coming-of-age classic, which charts the fortunes
0:25:13 > 0:25:16of four young women as they encounter employment,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19society and marriage.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22It's inspired numerous films and television series,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26and 100 years later, it's never been out of print.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31So, that would be the desk where she did the writing, would it?
0:25:31 > 0:25:35- Well, actually, it was this. - No!- Yes!
0:25:35 > 0:25:37Now, keep in mind, women were not supposed
0:25:37 > 0:25:39to have a desk of their own.
0:25:39 > 0:25:40It wasn't ladylike. It wasn't proper.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44This family was very progressive to just not buy that,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48and Bronson Alcott built this little shelf desk for his daughter.
0:25:48 > 0:25:49She was thrilled.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Alcott wrote the book after returning
0:25:54 > 0:25:56from the American Civil War,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00where she'd served as a Union Army nurse,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04and where she had contracted typhoid pneumonia.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Her father went to Washington City
0:26:06 > 0:26:09after receiving a telegram here at Orchard House,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11and he brought her back on the train. She was...
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Her fever was so high, they expected that she wouldn't live,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17but she did live, despite the treatment.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20She was given calomel, which is mercury.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22But, fortunately, then she was able to make a recovery
0:26:22 > 0:26:23and to write Little Women.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27How would you summarise the theme of the book?
0:26:27 > 0:26:31The importance of family, the importance of being yourself,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34being an individual despite what other people think.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Be bold. Be brave.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Today, you'd call it, I guess, self-actualisation.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42They didn't have that term, but they were doing that.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46In the book, four young women in the late 19th century
0:26:46 > 0:26:51find themselves conflicted between what's expected of them as women...
0:26:51 > 0:26:54- Yes.- ..and what they would like to do for themselves,
0:26:54 > 0:26:56and they resolve it in different ways.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58Yes, and that's still true today.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Women are still struggling over the same issues,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04which probably is part of the reason that book is so well-received,
0:27:04 > 0:27:06even in today's world.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26The 14 women executed on trumped-up charges of witchcraft
0:27:26 > 0:27:29are a stain on American history,
0:27:29 > 0:27:33but Louisa May Alcott is an example of the enormous contribution
0:27:33 > 0:27:37made by women to the country's intellectual life.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41But even though voters have chosen an African-American
0:27:41 > 0:27:43to go to the White House,
0:27:43 > 0:27:48and even a Catholic from Boston in the person of John F Kennedy,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50they have yet to choose a female
0:27:50 > 0:27:54to be either vice president or president.
0:27:59 > 0:28:00On my next leg,
0:28:00 > 0:28:05I'll travel back in time on the Cape Cod Heritage Railway...
0:28:05 > 0:28:10- Hi there!- How are you doing? - Great to be on board.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13..uncover the brutality of whale hunting...
0:28:13 > 0:28:15A good haul would mean that they would kill
0:28:15 > 0:28:19- anywhere from 50-60 whales. - 50 or 60?- Mm-hm.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23..and marvel at those still at large in these waters.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27Yes! And up comes the tail! Such a breathtaking sight.