American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

In the first of a three-part series, Lucy Worsley explores how American history has been mythologised and manipulated by generations of politicians, writers and protesters. This episode examines the American Revolution – a David-and-Goliath battle of men with high ideals taking on the might of the British Empire. But how much of America's founding story is based on fact?

In the second programme of this three-part series, Lucy Worsley debunks the myths behind one of the USA's great historical landmarks: the American Civil War. At the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington DC, Lucy explains that Abraham Lincoln has gone down in history as the saviour of the union, and for ending slavery.

In the third and final film in the series, Lucy Worsley reveals the historic myths and deceptions told following the United States' emergence as a superpower after the Second World War. We often remember the 1950s and early 1960s in America as a golden era of abundance, harmony and the American dream made real. This film reveals that to be a carefully constructed illusion. In truth, the era of America's supremacy was a time of government deception, racial conflict and fears of nuclear annihilation.