On his inauguration day in 2009, President Obama studied the 'gathering clouds and raging storms' that threatened his nation and declared unequivocally, 'we are in the midst of a crisis.' A year on as the President wrestles with a daunting array of challenges on the world stage and a reeling economy at home, historian Simon Schama looks to American history to understand what is at stake and what the future might hold. Inspired by the President's own keen sense of history, the series weaves current policy debates into a wider historical narrative and examines the themes of American history.