E-Book Overview
Now in a new edition, this influential book traces oral history through its own past and weighs up the recent achievements of this international movement. Paul Thompson challenges myths of historical scholarship and looks closely at the use of oral sources by historians. He offers advice on designing a project; discusses reliability of oral evidence; considers the context of the development of historical writing including its social function; and looks at memory, the self and the use of drama and therapy. This new edition has been substantially revised and updated and includes an expanded discussion of narrative approaches and looks at new technology used in the recording of information.
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THE VOICE OF THE PAST Paul Thompson is Professor in Social History at the University of Essex, Founder of the National Life Story Collection at the British Library National Sound Archive and founder-editor of Oral History.
`Paul Thompson is a passionate and convincing crusader in the cause of oral history.' The Times Educational Supplement `It must be rare in modern academic life to replace your own unrivalled book after 10 years with an even better one, but he has done so. His new material on memory and the self, and on drama as therapy, should be read by literary critics in their infancy.' The Independent `. . . the ®rst book to combine a theory of oral history, the technical processes involved, and a road map of where oral evidence ®ts into the landscape of western historiography.' American Historical Review `Certainly any teacher contemplating oral History either in or outwith the classroom should have a copy of this book.' B. B. J. Elliot, Scottish Association of Teachers of History `This is a fully revised edition of a pioneering work which is both scholarly and practical. This is an invaluable work for the student with a project to complete, and above all it r