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 analyses 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.