Reality Fictions The Films of Frederick Wiseman Second Edition Thomas W. Benson and Carolyn Anderson June 2002 paper, 0-8093-2438-5, $30.00s 464 pages, 6 illus., 6 x 9 Film Studies / Rhetoric   Review of the first edition . . .   “It is to Benson and Anderson’s credit that they produce a thoroughly illuminating examination of Wiseman’s films and filmmaking but that they leave some of the mystery of the filmmaker intact. One finishes the book with a vastly expanded understanding of the films, yet with a sense of awe for the person who is probably this era’s most distinguished documentarist.      “This is a rare marriage of film and rhetorical criticism, in which the authors pay intricate attention to cinematic technique, not for its own sake, but within the larger context of examining how the films work rhetorically. They are particularly concerned with how the audience is likely to interpret the films—with the various reading strategies that Wiseman seems to invite in each one. . . . This is a very fine book for the serious student. It is a complex, intelligent, careful and continually insightful treatment of an arresting subject and ranks as an important contribution to the scholarship of film and rhetoric.” —Quarterly Journal of Speech Providing in-depth accounts and close critical examinations of nine of Wiseman’s films—Titicut Follies, High School, Basic Training, Essene, Juvenile Court, Primate, Welfare, Canal Zone, and The Store—this second edition featuring a new introduction, a revised and updated filmography, and an updated bibliography.    Thomas W. Benson is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Rhetoric and Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. His many books include the edited volume, American Rhetoric: Context and Criticism.    Carolyn Anderson is an associate professor and undergraduate program director in the Department of Communications at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. With Thomas W. Benson, she is the author of Documentary Dilemmas: Frederick Wiseman's Titicut Follies.