Throughout its long and colorful history, Walt Disney Studios has produced scores of films designed to educate moviegoers as well as entertain them. These productions range from the True-Life Adventures nature documentaries and such depictions of cutting-edge technology as Man in Space and Our Friend the Atom, to wartime propaganda shorts (Education for Death), public-health films (VD Attack Plan) and coverage of exotic cultures (The Ama Girls, Blue Men of Morocco). Even Disney's dramatic recreations of historical events (Ten Who Dared, Invincible) have had their share of educational value. Each of the essays in this volume focuses on a different type of Disney ""edutainment"" film. Together they provide the first comprehensive look at Walt Disney's ongoing mission to inform and enlighten his worldwide audience.
A. Bowdoin Van Riper has written several books and articles on the history of geology, archaeology, technology and popular culture. He teaches in the Social and International Studies Department at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia.