Covers almost one hundred years in the worldwide development of the non-fiction film, from the first factual films of 1895 to the cinema of the 1980s. All the important non-fiction film movements are discussed, as are outstanding non-fiction filmmakers.

"Richard Barsam has given us as comprehensive a study of the originsand development of the nonfiction mode in motion pictures as we are ever likely tohave in one volume. He draws on all the major written sources and many which arelittle known, and he shares with us many eloquent descriptions of the filmsthemselves, giving us a valuable textbook." -- Richard DyerMacCann
..". superb work... " -- Historical Journal ofFilm, Radio, and Television