Learning with the Lights Off: Educational Film in the United States
"Learning with the Lights Offtakes on a broad but remarkably understudied area of film history with zest and depth. In exploring film's educational mission-both real and imagined-each essay in this extraordinary collection gives new insight and meaning to the 'discourse of sobriety' which scholars of nonfiction such as Bill Nichols have seen as its keystone feature. This is a rich and textured investigation that will expand scholarly focus from 'the documentary' to the 'nonfiction film,' which includes such categories as the industrial, instructional, and informational program."--Charles Musser, Yale University