John Paul II: The Friend of All Humanity spans the life of the former Pope, from his birth as Karol Wojtyla, in Poland, to his death as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church in Rome.

The state of New York is rife with ghosts and other spirits, at least according to this video tour of some of the state's most haunted sites. The supernatural tour starts at the abandoned Split Rock Quarry in Syracuse, the site of a terrible explosion at a TNT factory. It moves on to two spooky castles in central New York and culminates at Fort Ontario (on the shores of Lake Ontario), which boasts two centuries' worth of documented ghost stories.

A tale of friendship between two men, one Jewish and the other Arab, as the state of Israel is being created.

Jeanne Poisson, the headstrong, ambitious, witty and erudite, catches the eye and heart of French King Louis XV at a costumed ball. She masters the art of seduction well enough to become accepted even by the Queen, corpulent mother of ten. As a sensibly chosen Royal 'favorite' mistress she is soon ennobled Marquise of Pompadour to facilitate her introduction at court. The immature dauphin (crown prince) proves a bitter and unrelenting enemy, joined by his imposed Saxon bride, and his sister at her deathbed. Although friends at court help Pompadour return, her health gives way.

In 19th century Victorian England, Mrs. Isabella Beeton produced what became an essential book for housewives of the day. She was married at a relatively young age to Sam Beeton, a publisher of books and magazines on a variety of subjects. Not someone to sit at home in the traditional role of a housewife, Mrs. Beeton started work in her husband's business, initially as an editor correcting English but then writing some of the columns herself. It as at this point that she developed an idea for a cookbook and Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management was born. Her life was not an easy one however. The publishing business went bankrupt, she lost two children at a young age and had several miscarriages. She died at the age of 28.

It's the world's most famous footballing vantage point and in 2006, the Kop celebrates its 100th birthday. At its pinnacle, the Kop held 27,000 people and is often credited for the birth of football chanting. Many of the Beatles hits could be heard drifting down from the terraces during the sixties, and it is as much a part of the history of Liverpool FC as Shankly, Paisley, Kenny Dalglish, and the five European Cups. The Kop has been the backdrop to many of Liverpool's greatest victories. When history unfolded at Anfield, it had the habit of happening at the Kop end. From the glory days of the '70s through to Steven Gerrard's blockbuster strike against Olympiakos, the Kop has been the canvas for some of football's tales.

About the discovery of a mass grave with Polish officers in Katyn in Russia in 1943 and the identification of the skull that the Danish doctor Helge Tramsen took home

A 9-year-old girl weathers big changes in her household as her parents become radical political activists in 1970-71 Paris.

Through a vast coverage of exclusive archive materials and interviews and personally narrated by his wife, Yelena Bonner, the story of the life of Andrei Sakharov, the most famous Soviet dissident, Nobel Peace Prize winner and the creator of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, is revealed.

Elba island, 1814. Martino is a young teacher, idealist and strongly anti Napoleon, in love with the beautiful and noble Baroness Emily. The young man finds himself serving as librarian to the Great Emperor in exile, whom he deeply hates, yet soon begins recording Napoleon's memoirs, getting to know and learning to value the man behind the myth. Among seductions and affairs, expectations and fears, he will craft a precise portrait that nevertheless will not manage to hide a final, inevitable, disappointment.

In Biblical times, a girl disguises her Jewish origins when the Persian king comes looking for a new bride among his subjects.

Testimonies of surviving students and film and photographic material to reconstruct the events of the so-called Corpus Thursday Massacre or 'Halconazo'

In 1458, five years after the fall of Constantinople to the Turk, eighteen cardinals meet to elect a new pope. Rodrigo Borgia, a 27 year old cardinal learns to play a very dangerous game.

A portrait of the bloody dynasty that spawned a pope, Alexander VI, as well as the role model for Machiavelli's “The Prince,” his son Cesare Borgia, and a legend of femme duplicity, daughter Lucrezia Borgia.

Examines how a team of doctors saved Ronald Reagan's life after an attempted assassination in 1981.

TV-Movie on the life and accomplishments of Giovanni Falcone, the legendary Sicilian judge who boldly opposed the Mafia

Fourth Week Films and the New Orleans Jesuit Province present Xavier, a new PBS-style documentary film on the life of the famed 16th-century Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier. Narrated by Liam Neeson, Xavier tells the missionary's compelling story through dramatizations, interviews, contemporary location shots, paintings and engravings, maps, and most importantly, the extant letters of Xavier. The film features interviews with distinguished scholars of Jesuit and Renaissance history including Ingrid Rowland (Notre Dame University), Andrew Ross (University of Edinburgh), Lourdes del Costa (University of Goa, India), Anthony Ucerler, SJ (Jesuit Historical Institute in Rome), Gauvin Bailey (Clark University) and John O'Malley, SJ, (Weston Jesuit School of Theology).

One of the most controversial conflicts in U.S. history, the Mexican-American War erupted as President James K. Polk sought to extend the borders of the nation to the Pacific, taking by force whatever territory stood in the way. This special, produced by The History Channel and hosted by Oscar de la Hoya, looks at the war from the perspective of both countries, and chronicles the fighting from its inception to its conclusion with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.