She also has a lot to say, mostly not good, about the much-lauded 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams, by Steve James and Kartemquin Films. She is not shy in her trashing of Ken Burns, the can-do-no-wrong cash-cow producer of public television history classics like the 18-hour The Vietnam War (2017), which Godmilow uses “as a prime example of what not to do.” She continues, “ The Vietnam War fabricates an inauthentic memory of that war that endangers any memory we might have of it, individually or collectively.” Guggenheim Fellow and award-winning filmmaker Jill Godmilow has written a stirring call to arms in a form she calls “a letter.” I rather agree with Bill Nichols, who writes in the foreword that he prefers to call it “a manifesto.”īorn near Philadelphia, this 79-year-old Emeritus Professor from the University of Notre Dame has scores to settle with the traditional documentary-as-we-know-it, or as she prefers, “the DAWKI, which is fun to say and only five letters.” Her wry sense of humor helps to soften the blows she inflicts.

Kill the Documentary is a brilliant, angry book. Part of the series Investigating Visible Evidence As always, you can find a full list of new releases in the magical New Release Index, carefully curated by your favorite Book Riot editors, organized by genre and release date.Kill the Documentary: A Letter to Filmmakers, Students, and Scholars Science, memoir, history, biography, nature writing, the arts - whatever you fancy, it’s all here. And to top it all off is a lovely little book to help you find joy wherever you go.įor Black History Month, we have a few unique offerings, including a deep dive into the past, present, and future of Black horror films a stunning collection of essays about the connections between race and nature and a memoir about lost love and the miscalculations that led to it. There’s also an accessible book about modern psychology and two workplace memoirs - from a museum security guard and an emergency room doctor.

We have multiple takes on Black history and climate change, as well as a biography of Edgar Allan Poe that focuses on his mysterious death. Here are ten new nonfiction books out in February that I’m super excited about. Happy February to all my nonfiction friends! We may be in the shortest month of the year, but there is no shortage of good books coming our way.

Best books to read 2017 nonfiction