Season 5 - Episode Guide

The war waged by America's greatest generation is obscured by myth. Few remember that an American admiral played a pivotal role in showing Japan how to attack Pearl Harbor or that the German army was not the mechanized wonder it's reputed to be.

Myths obscure the real facts about our favorite vices: smoking, drinking and gambling. Discover which nation had the first anti-smoking campaign, what those three X's on a jug of moonshine mean, or where our first slot machines appeared.

Myths taint our knowledge of the 4th of July, St. Patrick's Day, and our favorite mini-holiday, the weekend. We should celebrate Independence Day on July 2nd, St. Patrick wasn't Irish, and the idea of a fun weekend is a recent creation.

Much of what we know about the old west is myth, not fact, drawn from movies and TV. Gunfights never started with a quick draw, cowboys weren't all white, and Native Americans feared enemies more menacing than settlers and soldiers.

Much of what we know about America's secret societies is myth, not truth. The Freemasons have no evil agenda, the Mafia took root not in New York, but the South, and Harvard's Skull and Bones does not control a sinister shadow government.

Myths eclipse the real facts about NASA's dramatic rescue of three astronauts aboard the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft; Hollywood movies have a hit-and-miss track record of depicting the realities of interstellar exploration.

The real facts of the nuclear age are clouded by myth. Manhattan played a major role in the Manhattan Project; there were closer calls to World War III than the Cuban Missile Crisis; America's nuclear security hinges on a football and a biscuit.

Al Capone was a philanthropist as well as a hood; Benedict Arnold was a hero as well as a traitor, Jesse James was no wild west Robin Hood; Billy the Kid's nickname was wrong.

Myths distort the stories of two of America's most renowned rivalries. Before their fateful duel, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were law partners; and the conflict between the Hatfields and McCoys didn't end in the backwoods, but a courtroom.

Myths and misconceptions surrounding four pivotal historic moments: the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962; the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.E.; the Boston Tea Party in 1773; and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Myths cloud the real facts of America's Civil War. The North's biggest city tried to secede; the Union didn't go to war to end slavery; most deaths weren't caused by battle wounds, and Grant and Lee didn't end the conflict; two other generals did.

America's medical history is infected with myths. George Washington's doctors may have inadvertently killed him; Abraham Lincoln used a toxic remedy that warped his mind; and heroin was once a best-selling cough suppressant.

Explores the myths that infect America's medical history and the facts behind America's nuclear age.

The myths behind some of history's most defining moments are uncovered, as well as revealing facts behind America's space explorations.

The myths surrounding popular favorite vices (smoking, drinking, gambling, and marijuana) and the facts behind the most-liked holidays are explored (4th of July, Saint Patrick's Day, and Weekends).

The myths behind World War II are exposed. Delves into the truths that are often forgotten when it comes to America's Civil War.

The true stories behind America's most infamous bad guys: Al Capone, Benedict Arnold, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid; and the truths behind America's notorious secret societies are investigated: Freemasons, Mafia, and Skull and Bones.

Rethink Hollywood's vision of the old west, and learn about truth behind some of America's renowned rivalries.

Learn the truth behind some of America's most powerful men and the birth of the country they governed.

The spotlight is on amusement parks and world's fairs to separate fiction from truth; explore the myths of two of our favorite holidays, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

A reality check on the stories of Pocahontas and John Smith and America's renowned explorer's, Lewis and Clark. Explore the truth behind the Underground Railroad and Harriot Tubman along with the Women's Suffrage Movement and the Nineteenth Amendment.

On this special edition of America: Facts vs. Fiction, we open the nation's most secret vaults to separate fiction from fact at Fort Knox, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Cheyenne Mountain, and Iron Mountain Data Centers in Pennsylvania. And we take a trip along the sea of truth to expose the myths surrounding Titanic's final voyage and the Hindenburg's final flight.

Explore the myths behind extraterrestrial spacecraft near Roswell, New Mexico and in Nevada's Area 51. Learn the truth of two pioneering flights: Charles Lindbergh making the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean and John Glenn being the first American to orbit the Earth.

The startling truth of two legendary generals, Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur; myths surrounding the landmarks of our nation's capital: White House, Washington Monument, Pentagon, and Lincoln Memorial.