The Oral History Reader, now in its third edition, is a comprehensive, international anthology combining major, ‘classic’ articles with cutting-edge pieces on the theory, method and use of oral history. Twenty-seven new chapters introduce the most significant developments in oral history in the last decade to bring this invaluable text up to date, with new pieces on emotions and the senses, on crisis oral history, current thinking around traumatic memory, the impact of digital mobile technologies, and how oral history is being used in public contexts, with more international examples to draw in work from North and South America, Britain and Europe, Australasia, Asia and Africa.
Arranged in five thematic sections, each with an introduction by the editors to contextualise the selection and review relevant literature, articles in this collection draw upon diverse oral history experiences to examine issues including:
- Key debates in the development of oral history over the past seventy years
- First hand reflections on interview practice, and issues posed by the interview relationship
- The nature of memory and its significance in oral history
- The practical and ethical issues surrounding the interpretation, presentation and public use of oral testimonies
- How oral history projects contribute to the study of the past and involve the wider community
- The challenges and contributions of oral history projects committed to advocacy and empowerment
With a revised and updated bibliography and useful contacts list, as well as a dedicated online resources page, this third edition of The Oral History Reader is the perfect tool for those encountering oral history for the first time, as well as for seasoned practitioners.
Robert Perks is Lead Curator of Oral History and Director of National Life Stories at the British Library, Secretary of the UK Oral History Society and an editor of Oral History Journal. He has served as a Council Member of the International Oral History Association.
Alistair Thomson is Professor of History at Monash University. His previous publications include: Anzac Memories: Living With the Legend (1994 and 2013), Ten Pound Poms: Australia’s Invisible Migrants (2005, with Jim Hammerton), Moving Stories: an intimate history of four women across two countries (2011) and Oral History and Photography (2011, with Alexander Freund).
