Stories Make the World - Reflections on Storytelling and the Art of the Documentary

Examines the ideas and principles that guide the art of documentary storytelling.


About the world as well as about nonfiction film. It explores subjects ranging from cosmology to architecture, environmental history to struggles for human rights.


Looks at the process of transforming various subjects into stories for documentary film viewers.


Regards storytelling as a fundamental human ability and considers nonfiction film in relation to other representative forms, including prehistoric cave art, theater, and oral history.

About the author

Stephen Most is a writer and filmmaker. He has writing credits on four Academy Award “best documentary” nominees and five Emmy-winning films, including Wonders of Nature, Promises, and Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time. His book River of Renewal: Myth and History in the Klamath Basin was published in 2006.

Product details

• Authors: Stephen Most, Most Stephen
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.06.2025
• EAN: 9781836950103
• ISBN: 978-1-83695-010-3
• No. of pages: 288
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Photography, film, video, TV; Prose: non-fiction, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / General, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / Genres / Documentary, Documentary films, Biography and non-fiction prose, Film and Television Studies; Literary Studies