From ancient apocalypses to anthrax attacks after 9/11, here's a collection of windows into another time. The 13 best history documentaries on Netflix right now

From ancient apocalypses to anthrax attacks after 9/11, here's a collection of windows into another time.

The 13 best history documentaries on Netflix right now

From ancient apocalypses to anthrax attacks after 9/11, here's a collection of windows into another time.

Published on August 3, 2025 08:00AM EDT

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Malcolm X, Christa McAuliffe, and Rick Parks. Credit:

Netflix; Public Domain/NASA; Courtesy of Netflix

Every day is a good day to learn something new, and what better way to learn than by sitting on your couch and watching a movie? The streaming era has been a golden age for catching up on all those college lessons we forgot, or brushing up on a historical event we always thought we oughta know a *bit* more about.

Whether you're a curious autodidact who's suddenly decided to get into 20th-century surrealism, or you just want to hold court at your next dinner party when the conversation inexorably turns to what really happened at Three Mile Island, Netflix has got you covered.

Here are **'s picks for the 13 best history documentaries on Netflix.

13th (2016)

Newt Gingrich and Ava DuVernay in '13th'.

You don't have to be a professional historian to realize this documentary's title refers to the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, i.e., the one that abolished slavery. However, Ava DuVernay still schooled a whole lot of people with her exploration of a specific line within that amendment: "...except as a punishment for crime."

Tying together stories of the American prison industry and the mass criminalization in this country, "*13th *is a titanic statement by a major American voice," as EW's critic wrote. "Viewing — right now — should be mandatory."

Where to watch *13th*: Netflix

**EW grade: **A (read the review)

**Director: **Ava DuVernay

The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11 (2022)

'The Anthrax Attacks'.

Courtesy of Netflix

The year 2001 was a rough one for America by just about anyone's standards, but to endure 9/11 *and* anthrax attacks… well, that's just adding insult to injury. Oscar-nominated director Dan Krauss takes a look at how a nation already on edge dealt with the subsequent biological terrorism, blending archival footage and new interviews with reenactments compiled from emails and FBI field notes.

Within the reenactment portion, you may recognize one-time S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Clark Gregg portraying Dr. Bruce Ivins, the microbiologist and virologist who was key to the case.

Where to watch *The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11*: Netflix

**Director**: Dan Reed

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)

'The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson'. Netflix

Once called "the Rosa Parks of the LGBT movement," Marsha P. Johnson was and remains a transgender legend, but the accomplishments of her life have often been overshadowed by her 1992 death. It was classified as a suicide, despite her friends and family's steadfast insistence that she was in no way suicidal.

Director David France explores the mystery surrounding Johnson's death while also spotlighting her life, providing what EW's original review described as the film's "flamboyant, beautiful heart."

Where to watch *The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson*: Netflix

**EW grade: **A- (read the review)

**Director: **David France

Crip Camp (2020)

Patti Smolian/Netflix

Summer camp has long been a rite of passage, but there was a time when growing up handicapped meant you had to sit this one out. That's not the case at Camp Jened, a spot in upstate New York that welcomed children with disabilities.

*Crip Camp *provides intimate glimpses of life at the camp and the ways Jened alums made changes in the world. In addition to exploring the camp's origins, as EW's review details, the film becomes a "galvanizing tale of a national movement sparked in part by former campers to bring disabled rights into the mainstream."

Where to watch *Crip Camp*: Netflix

**EW grade: **A- (read the review)

**Directors: **James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham

Blood Brothers: Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali (2021)

Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.

Courtesy of Netflix

Their friendship was brief — only three years — but Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X forged a bond that may have lasted longer if things had gone differently within the Nation of Islam.

Produced by *Black-ish*'s Kenya Barris, the film features interviews with Malcolm X's daughter Ilyasah Shabazz, Ali's brother Rahman and daughters Maryum and Hana, Cornel West, and Al Sharpton, among others. Their collective accounts provide a look into how the two civil rights leaders met, bonded, and eventually went their separate ways.

Where to watch *Blood Brothers: Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali*: Netflix

**Director: **Marcus A. Clarke

Challenger: The Final Flight (2020)

The NASA ground team in episode 4 of 'Challenger: The Final Flight'.

Public Domain/NASA

When the *Challenger* space shuttle exploded just 73 seconds after launch in 1986, thousands of children in schools across the nation watched it unfold in real time. Millions more saw it afterward on a taped replay. Of all the times for such a tragedy to occur, this was arguably the worst: In addition to the *Challenger *having one of the most diverse crews in NASA history, it also featured high school teacher Christa McAuliffe, the first private citizen in space.

Thanks to interviews with the crew's surviving family members and former NASA officials and engineers, the doc tells the tragic tale in rare detail.

Where to watch *Challenger: The Final Flight*: Netflix

**Directors: **Daniel Junge and Steven Leckart

Challenger disaster 25 years later: Where were you when you heard?

Read Ava DuVernay's Powerful Peabody Awards Acceptance Speech

History of Swear Words (2021)

Professor Cage teaches us the important stuff.

Adam Rose/Netflix

This is the very definition of a documentary series you don't necessarily need, but that you're glad exists. Nicolas Cage spends six episodes serving as your host as he explores the history of six of the most famous obscenities in the English language: f***, s***, b****, d***, p***, and, uh, damn.

The series includes commentary from etymologists, historians, and pop culture figures — including a handful of comedians who take great pleasure in using the words in question (and more) with as much imaginative force as possible. This might not be essential history, but it is unquestionably f***ing entertaining.

Where to watch *History of Swear Words*: Netflix

**Director: **Ves D'Elia

The Last Days (1998)

Irene Zisblatt in 'The Last Days'.

Geoffrey Clifford/October Films/Courtesy Everett Collection

Some events, perhaps especially those that are morally incomprehensible, need to be wrestled with on a human level. Case in point, James Moll's *The Last Days*, which zeroes in on a handful of Hungarian Jews who survived the Holocaust in the last year of World War II, when Nazi Germany occupied Hungary and began mass deportations to concentration camps.

"There's so many things going on in the world today that are born from hatred and fear," Moll told *The Guardian* in 2021. "The Holocaust definitely shows the dark side of what human beings are capable of."

Where to watch *The Last Days*: Netflix

**Director: **James Moll

Meltdown: Three Mile Island (2022)

'Meltdown: Three Mile Island'.

Courtesy of Netflix

Given Americans' general awareness of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, it's high time the younger generation learned just how close the U.S. came to a nuclear disaster of its own.

Oscar nominee Kief Davidson helms this four-part miniseries that — with the assistance of Richard Parks, the chief engineer who blew the whistle on Three Mile Island — offers archival footage, dramatic reenactments, in-depth interviews, and previously unseen home video footage to underline what actually happened, what *could* have happened, and how the nuclear industry changed as a result.

Where to watch *Meltdown: Three Mile Island*: Netflix

**Director:** Kief Davidson

Power (2024)

Courtesy of Netflix

We live in a time in which the police, who ostensibly exist to protect and serve the people, are often feared rather than trusted. This history documentary, by Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning director Yance Ford, illustrates that contrast, often directly juxtaposing moments of real-life police brutality with cheerfully whitewashed pop-culture images of American law enforcement.

Through a blend of interviews, essays, and archival collage, *Power* follows the history of policing in America, from slave patrols of the 1700s all the way to the present day, putting the change in attitudes into proper context while also asking questions meant to demand change.

Where to watch *Power*: Netflix

**Director: **Yance Ford

Stamped From the Beginning (2023)

'Stamped from the Beginning'.

Courtesy of Netflix

In adapting Ibram X. Kendi's bestseller, director Roger Ross Williams explores the concept of anti-Blackness and the systemic, establishment forces that allowed it to take root, spread, and survive. With a combination of animation, archival material, and pop culture imagery, *Stamped *successfully provides historical context while also interrogating the status quo on race, class, culture, and power.

Where to watch *Stamped From the Beginning*: Netflix

**Director**: Roger Ross Williams

Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (2018)

'Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski'.

The best documentaries not only educate but fascinate, which is why this one has earned such acclaim. The story starts with Glenn Bray, a pop culture collector who found a book about the art of surrealist Stanislav Szukalski. He showed it off to his friends, then stumbled upon a Szukalski poster in a bookstore a few years later. He soon discovered that not only was the artist still alive, but also lived nearby. It's a remarkable story that also shines a light on one of the most underrated creatives of the 20th century.

Where to watch *Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski*: Netflix

**Director: **Ireneusz Dobrowolski

Ancient Apocalypse (2022–2024)

Graham Hancock in 'Ancient Apocalypse'.

This* *documentary is a bit of an outlier on our list, veering closer to an episode of *In Search Of…* than a proper scientific exploration. Still, author Graham Hancock provides a full-throated defense of one theory: There was an extremely advanced ancient civilization, here on Earth, that was largely destroyed thousands of years ago but still paved the way for modern civilization. There are glimpses, Hancock argues, that remain to this day.

It may be difficult to disprove, and even more difficult to prove, but *Ancient Apocalypse* is, at the very least, a unique alternative historical perspective.

Where to watch *Ancient Apocalypse*: Netflix

**Director: **Marc Tiley

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