Synopses & Reviews
In this new edition of a standard text on the subject, Paul Thompson argues that oral history, though largely neglected by conventional historians, can help to create a truer, more democratic picture of the past, documenting the lives and feelings of all types of people. In addition to tracing the development, theory, and practical methods of oral history, this edition includes many new examples and chapters, and an enlarged bibliography, bringing Thompson's work completely up to date.
Review
"[This] revised edition of a revered, pioneering work on the discipline, objective, techniques and value of oral history...offers the reader a new discussion of 'subjectivity', psychoanalysis and therapy. It is a masterful account that should be widely read by historians, sociologists and folklorists....A significant contribution to cultural documentation."--Come-All-Ye
Praise for the first edition: "The first book to combine a theory of oral history, the technical processes involved, and a road map of where oral evidence fits into the landscape of western historiography."--American Historical Review
"Belongs in every university, high school, and public library."--Teaching History
"Timely, provocative and helpful."--History
"A wonderful achievement that students find enormously useful."--Michael Gordon, niv. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee