The Voice of the Past: Oral History (Opus Books) - Softcover

"[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 "[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 "[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 "[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 " 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

In this revised edition, Paul Thompson argues that oral history can help to create a truer picture of the past, documenting the lives and feeling of all kinds of people, and that its value has been neglected by conventional historians. The effect of collecting oral evidence, he claims, can be to bind together communities and promote contact between generations. The development of oral history is traced through its past and into the future, demonstrating how it can be evaluated alongside the traditional sources of history to construct a more democratic record of the past. There is a new chapter on "Memory and the self" examining the therapeu tic value of reminiscence.