American Writers: A Journey Through History is a series produced and broadcast by C-SPAN in 2001 and 2002 that profiled selected American writers and their times. Each program was a two- to three-hour look at the life and times of one or more significant American writer. Episodes were broadcast from locations of importance to the profiled writer and featured interviews with historians and other experts. The series had an overall budget of $4,500,000. The first program aired on May 19, 2001, and focused on William Bradford and the Mayflower Compact.