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The 1970s saw the publication of what have come to be the standard histories of documentary film, culminating in Erik Barnouw's Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film (1974). After some years of relative neglect, the 1990s have brought renewed interest in the genre, almost all of it theoretical. Winston's book is a welcome addition to the growing body of writing on the genre because it turns attention back to history without ignoring theory. Working in the tradition of Raymond Williams, Winston (Univ. of Wales, Cardiff) examines the development of documentary, from the work of Edward Curtis that preceded Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1921), to the modern development of digitally manipulated photographs--which, he argues, call into crisis the basic traditional assumptions of the genre. This book is richly informed on theoretical matters yet remains accessible to nonspecialist readers. The author's background in teaching documentary production leads him to focus on the technological developments of commercial practice in a richer way than any previous writer has done. An important update of the standard histories of the genre, this is an essential purchase for all collections supporting documentary studies. K. S. Nolley; Willamette University