American serial killers are hardly a phenomenon confined to the 20th and 21st centuries. The Old West was a well-known time of lawlessness. A time when serial killers stalked the mountains, prairies and deserts of North America. A time when men like, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, John Wesley Hardin, and the Kentucky cannibal left a trail of victims strewn across the landscape. The ruthlessness of their murders will shock in this feature-length documentary goes back into history to uncover the origins of evil during the Old West.

Actress Jane Kaczmarek hosts this comprehensive history of American fiction from 1650 to the present day, which includes profiles of some of the country's greatest authors. Illuminating the lives of writers such as Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Toni Morrison and others, the program examines the way each developed a unique voice that reflects the complex fabric of America.