This is a new edition of William Stott's 1973 treatment of the place of documentary in America of the 1930's. R. W. B. Lewis calls it "one of the half-dozen classics of American cultural history. The best thing we have on James Agee, on Walker Evans, and probably the best thing we'll ever have on their masterpiece, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men." Stott has written a new afterword in which he recalls his friendship with Walker Evans.