Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface Chapter One: Some Ways to Think About Documentary Chapter Two: Beginnings - The Americans and Popular-- Anthropology, 1922-29 Chapter Three: The Soviets and Political Indoctrination, 1922-29 Chapter Four: Beginnings - The European Avant-Gardists and Artistic Experimentation, 1922-29 Chapter Five: Institutionalization: Great Britain, 1929-39 Chapter Six: Institutionalization - United States, 1930-41 Chapter Seven: Expansion - Great Britain, 1939-45 Chapter Eight: Expansion - Canada, 1939-45 Chapter Nine: Expansion - United States, 1941-45 Chapter Ten: The Unfulfilled Promise - Postwar Documentary, 1945-52 Chapter Eleven: In Pursuit of Excellence - The National Film Board of Canada's Unit B, 1948-64 Chapter Twelve: A New Channel - Documentary for Television in the "Golden Years", 1951-71 Chapter Thirteen: British Free Cinema and Social-Realist Features, 1956-63 Chapter Fourteen: Direct Cinema and Cinema Verite, 1960-70 Chapter Fifteen: English Language Documentary in the 1970s - Power of the People Chapter Sixteen: English Language Documentary in the 1980s - Video Arrives Chapter Seventeen: English Language Documentary in the 1990s - Reality Bytes Chapter Eighteen: Other Ways to Think About Documentary Appendices.

A survey/history of documentary films. Written in a chronological format, each chapter concludes with a list of the key documentaries in that particular time period or genre, and there are appendices listing all the winners of the Academy Award for Best Documentary, as well as the winners of the Grierson Award. Major new history of a film genre that has recently been breaking box office records. This is a thorough and definitive survey/history of documentary films. Concentrating mainly on the output of the US, the UK, and Canada, the authors outline the origins of the form and then show its development over the next several decades. The book is completely up-to-date in discussing films like "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer", and in its coverage of IMAX movies and the development of cable and satellite television outlets. Written in a simple, chronological format, the text is straightforward and full of content, information, and historical perspective. (There is hardly any academic jargon or high-level theory.) Each chapter concludes with a list of the key documentaries in that particular time period or genre, and there are helpful appendices listing all the winners of the Academy Award for Best Documentary, as well as the winners of the Grierson Award.

Undergraduate