"In the dominant culture of America, I would have been the good kid -- putting myself through college and working full time, but to the Amish I was a little bit of a rebel. I don't really know how I would do it differently if I had it to do over, but I wish somehow it wouldn't have to be like that." Naomi left her Amish family to become a nurse.

What is it like to be cut off from your faith and your family? The Amish: Shunned follows seven people who have chosen to leave their closed and tightly-knit communities for the outside world, knowing they can never return. Each has paid deeply for their decision. Estranged form loved ones, these former Amish find themselves struggling to make their way in modern America.

"I worked in the city for two years. I got used to city life - you know, the throb, the heartbeat of the city, the sirens blasting - and I liked it. But the city could be so full of people, and you could be so lonely. Everybody was in a hurry, everybody had a place to go." The Amish: Shunned premiers on American Experience/PBS February 4, 2014.

"For me, I wanted to experience a different life. I wanted to go out and drive a truck, or something like that. I just thought that would be cool. Back then, that was everything to us. To have phones, radios and stuff like that - of course our parents, they didn't like that." Levi left his Amish family when he was 17. See his story in The Amish: Shunned on American Experience PBS February 4.

A profile of Jan, who became Amish as an adult with her husband and children, but they were later shunned.

"I was letting people down, especially my mother. At that time, people could not ask me specifically about my family or about my background without me bursting into tears." The Amish: Shunned premiered on PBS American Experience February 4, 2014.

"And I had been seeking God from the age of ten to the age of 41. Thirty years time. There was still that emptiness, and I came to the realization that there has to be more in life than what I am experiencing. There simply has to be more." The Amish: Shunned premieres on PBS American Experience on February 4, 2014.

"The last time I left, the seventh time, I knew I would never, ever return that day. Cried like a baby. Tried to leave three notes, ripped 'em all up. I realized no matter how hard I tried to explain, nobody would understand." Watch a profile of Joe, who first left his Amish family when he was 16 years old.

"I think I am homesick. I miss my family. I write three letters, but they didn’t write back so far. I don’t think that they have a lot to say if I am not staying Amish." The Amish: Shunned premiered on PBS American Experience February 4, 2014.

Katie Troyer left the Amish and found home. "I was given the option – go back into church and swallow it all up and be a good person there or jump. And I jumped." The Amish: Shunned premiers on PBS American Experience February 4, 2014.

American Experience Executive Producer Mark Samels describes what's coming in February to PBS. The Amish: Shunned centers on seven people who have been shunned as well as voices from the Amish community defending the practice. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were emblematic figures that became legend. The Rise and Fall of Penn Station about a railroad company's effort to conquer Manhattan.

Racial profiling and the police killing of a black teenager set off riots in Harlem.

Lyndon Johnson ran as a peace candidate while considering escalating conflict in Vietnam.

Popular sitcoms in the 1960s reflected societal concerns about women's changing roles.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 sought to dismantle legal and social segregation in the South.

1964 was the year the Beatles came to America, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali, and 3 civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. It was the year when Berkeley students rose up in protest, African Americans fought back against injustice in Harlem, and Barry Goldwater’s conservative revolution took over the Republican Party. In myriad ways, 1964 was the year when Americans faced choices.

1964 was the year the Beatles came to America, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali, and 3 civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. It was the year when Berkeley students rose up in protest, African Americans fought back against injustice in Harlem, and Barry Goldwater’s conservative revolution took over the Republican Party. In myriad ways, 1964 was the year when Americans faced choices.

History and forensic science come together in our interactive graphic novel based on the documentary The Poisoner's Handbook. Investigate the cause of death in four historic poisoning cases, and explore toxicology with Alexander Gettler and New York City Medical Examiner Charles Norris in the 1920s.

In the early 20th century, the average American medicine cabinet was a would-be poisoner's treasure chest, with radioactive radium, thallium, and morphine included in everyday products. In New York City in the 1920s, medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler, turned forensic chemistry into a formidable science and set the standards for the rest of the country.

Check out what's coming up in January 2014 on American Experience. Watch this three-minute video in which our Executive Producer Mark Samels details our new films premiering in January, and read the synopses below. (Our Coming in February video is coming soon!)