Documentary Film Classics offers close readings on a number of major
films, such as Nanook of the North, Land Without Bread, Night and Fog,
Chronicle of a Summer and Don't Look Back. Spanning the history of the
documentary film tradition, William Rothman analyzes the philosophical
and historical issues and themes implicit in these works. Designed to
guide film students through the "texts" of a wide range of
documentaries, his readings also focus on the achievements of these
works as films per se.