Oral History Books - Page 5

Through a Night of Horrors: Voices from the 1900 Galveston Storm

Amazon Price: $19.46 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Texas A&M University Press Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $13.67

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> State & Local -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> State & Local -> Midwest
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> State & Local -> Texas

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Authentic voice from the survivors 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

This is a collection of stories gathered from first hand survivors of the Great Galveston Hurricane that occured on September 9th in 1900. There are letters that were written in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, as well as memoirs written in the years that followed. Oral histories are transcribed, so that you "hear" the voices of those that went through the storm and the recovery efforts. Many of the sources were collected from the Rosenberg Library in Galveston. The letters and the memoirs are reproduced in their original form, which only adds to the pure authenticity of the horror and despair of the residents of Galveston.
The book begins with excerpts from a daily journal kept by Isaac Cline who was the U.S. Weather Bureau meteorologist in atime when meteorology and it's vital importance was in it's infancy. What follows are horrifying accounts of the total destruction of what had been a city in the midst of an economic boom, the 3rd richest city in proportion to it's population, a railroad center, a banking center, and a huge exporter of cotton, wheat, cattle and corn. As the economy boomed, the citizens of Galveston turned away from the possibility of a major hurricane striking them.
When the hurricane did strike Galveston, the city was nearly wiped clean. Estimates of the dead start conservatively at 6000 and as high as 12000. Marshall law was declared in order to quell the looting and other forms of civil disobedience that occured. Rumors ran rampant in the streets after the storm creating fear and panic to a decimated population. The death toll was so immense that bodies of the deceased were brought to the beach in any form of conveyance available and stacked in piles. Seeking the missing family members and friends was a hideous labor. Insurmountable odds faced those that searched the stacks of the dead.
As recovery efforts progressed it was realized by all that a complete reorganization of the local government was critical to the future of Galveston. The new government that was chosen streamlined the decision making process and it also provided clearly defined lines of responsibility. while Galveston did rebuild both physically and financially, it took careful planning and a realistic look at it's future.
There are over 70 photographs showing the aftermath of this catastrophic storm and the destruction wrought upon Galveston.
This book adds a clear and vivid account of the lives of those that survived this storm. This is a remarkable book that brings us a look at the human spirit of people whose lives are forever impacted by disaster and yet manage to continue on despite the hardships and vast loses.

Editorial Review:

A hurricane wind lashed over Galveston Island on the night of September 8th, 1900, and over 6000 people did not survive. The letters, memoirs and oral histories collected in this volume allow the survivors to tell, in their own words, what they witnessed and experienced during the disaster.

Michelangelo in Ravensbruck: One Woman's War Against the Nazis

Karolina Lanckoronska

Amazon Price: $20.28 List Price: $26.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Da Capo Press Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $0.68

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Ethnic & National -> Jewish
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Memoirs
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> Women

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An Arresting Tale, Calmly Told 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 19 people found this review helpful.

Let's clear the air first.

It is a shame that Amazon has decided to highlight Susie Lindfield's rather unfortunate review of "Michelangelo in Ravensbruck" from the Washington Post's Book World. While Ms Lindfield's credentials would appear suitable to the task, her product (the review) certainly leaves one wondering by what tortured lens she viewed Karolina Lanckoronska's book.

If you have read the Lindfield review, consider then this passage from the second paragraph of the book's prologue: "My memoir is meant to be a report -- and only a report -- of what I witnessed during the Second World War. I know that others have lived through a great deal more than myself. I was never in Auschwitz or Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, I also know that every first-hand account contributes fresh detail to the picture of those years."

If only Lindfield demonstrated an understanding of those few words.

Those are the words of an historian -- because that is what Lanckoronska was. This book clearly demonstrates the historian's perspective, and the understanding that individual narrative has great value to researchers, those passionate about history and learning, and perhaps even the merely curious.

The puzzling thing about the Lindfield review is that it seems she would be more satisfied if this was a work of fiction that she could complain about for not fitting into her concept of history. The problem is that the events in this "story" happened -- and to the storyteller, not Ms Lindfield. To that extent, Ms Lindfield shows herself to be in a mild state of denial. Additionally, her review shows me no understanding of the importance of teasing out individualized threads of experienced history, and then placing them in context within that complex fabric of history -- not macerated into a homogenized "pour" of history.

I strongly recommend that you read John Carey's review from the Sunday Times (of London), published 12 FEB 06, or on the web at:

[...]

(If that link doesn't work, go to the Timesonline site and search for "Lanckoronska".) Carey's review has the advantage of actually telling you more about the book than about the reviewer.

The book itself? You certainly won't find flowery passages and gripping drama. But not so fast. Lanckoronska is a historian -- an art historian by education who later turned her talents to Polish art and culture. So perhaps her prose is a little dry. You can almost imagine a woman, speaking aloud from notes, going through this part of her life for you step by step. But as you become accustomed to her style, events emerge that surprise. Something as innocuous as a car breakdown is delivered in the same tone as a later scene were she realizes that she is witnessing fellow Poles being herded into lorries and heading for the execution grounds in the woods. More than once I had to stop reading just to let those scenes sink in.

This book is valuable because it snatches our attention away from the homogenized pour of World War Two and Nazi history that we have been spoon fed all these years. It understands the enormity and incomprehensibility of the Holocaust, while taking you into the places that Western European and North American histories are only just beginning to touch -- over 60 years after the fall of Hitler's Berlin.

At the back of the book are endnotes for each chapter (which, in future editions, I wish they would convert to footnotes) by the author or the editors. Fascinating too are the appendices which include the names of the Lwow professors that were murdered, and short biographies of major characters in this book. Just within those short biographies is a chilling reminder of the overt criminality of the Nazi regime, and all those that chose to follow it.

For students of recent Polish history, this is a must-have volume. And for anyone who would like another perspective on what happened in Poland, the Ukraine, and Germany between 1939 and 1945 -- especially to provide richer context for understanding the depths to which humanity seemed to plunge during that period -- I highly recommend "Michelangelo in Ravensbruck".

And let's make this very clear: A better understanding of this period of time from Karolina Lanckoronska's perspective in no way (at least for a moderately intelligent reader) diminishes the totality of those horrible years.

Editorial Review:

In September of 1939, Countess Karolina Lanckoronska, wealthy landowner and professor of art history, watched the Soviet army march into Poland. After joining the resistance, she was arrested, sentenced to death, and held in Ravensbrueck concentration camp. There she taught art history to other women who, like her, might be dead in a few days. This brilliantly written memoir records a neglected side of World War II: the mass murder of Poles, the serial horrors inflicted by both Russians and Nazis, and the immense courage of those who resisted.

An Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi Berlin (Living Out: Gay and Lesbian Autobiog)

Gad Beck, Frank Heibert

Amazon Price: $24.95 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: University of Wisconsin Press Amazon Marketplace: 26 new & used starting at $3.69

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Ethnic & National -> Jewish
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Historical -> Holocaust
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Triumph of the Gay Spirit 4 out of 5 stars.
12 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Beck gives us a glimpse of a gay man's coming of age in Nazi Berlin. It is not only erotic but holds up a light by which all aspects of love should be measured. Once again, the Gay Spirit has triumphed over bigotry, intolerance, and in this case even the holocaust.

Breathtaking 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Here is a memoire of life in Berlin during the Nazi regime from the perspective of a gay Jew. Gad Beck was an organizer and friend to many who lived illegally during that period, finding shelter and food and providing friendship and support. That he was openly gay was not important during that period - there were more important thiongs to worry about.

I found this book at the bookstore of National Haulocost Museum in Washington DC on a recent visit. It fits in perfectly with that museum, in that it fleshes out the life in hiding. If you have an interest in the struggle for human rights and length to which people will go to survive, this is an excellent read.

One fact that is underemphasized in the book is Beck's youth during this period. By the end of the war he was in his younger 20s. Yet he had accomplished so much and had the strength of one much older. Bravo!

Editorial Review:

That a Jew living in Nazi Berlin survived the Holocaust at all is surprising. That he was a homosexual and a teenage leader in the resistance and yet survived is amazing. But that he endured the ongoing horror with an open heart, with love and without vitriol, and has written about it so beautifully is truly miraculous. This is Gad Beck’s story.

Nationalism and the Genealogical Imagination: Oral History and Textual Authority in Tribal Jordan (Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies)

Andrew Shryock

List Price: $50.00 By: University of California Press Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $68.78

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Historical Study -> Oral History
Subjects -> History -> Middle East -> Jordan

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This book explores the transition from oral to written history now taking place in tribal Jordan, a transition that reveals the many ways in which modernity, literate historicity, and national identity are developing in the contemporary Middle East. As traditional Bedouin storytellers and literate historians lead him through a world of hidden documents, contested photographs, and meticulously reconstructed pedigrees, Andrew Shryock describes how he becomes enmeshed in historical debates, ranging from the local to the national level.
The world the Bedouin inhabit is rich in oral tradition and historical argument, in subtle reflections on the nature of truth and its relationship to poetics, textuality, and power. Skillfully blending anthropology and history, Shryock discusses the substance of tribal history through the eyes of its creators--those who sustain an older tradition of authoritative oral history and those who have experimented with the first written accounts. His focus throughout is on the development of a "genealogical nationalism" as well as on the tensions that arise between tribe and state.
Rich in both personal revelation and cultural implications, this book poses a provocative challenge to traditional assumptions about the way history is written.

Speak: A Short History of Languages

Tore Janson

Amazon Price: $18.00 List Price: $20.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $10.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Historical Study -> Oral History
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> General
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This book is a history of human speech from prehistory to the present. It charts the rise of some languages and the fall of others, explaining why some survive and others die. It shows how languages change their sounds and meanings, and how the history of languages is closely linked to the history of peoples. Writing in a lively, readable style, distinguished Swedish scholar Tore Janson makes no assumptions about previous knowledge. He takes the reader on a voyage of exploration through the changing patterns of the world's languages, from ancient China to ancient Egypt, imperial Rome to imperial Britain, Sappho's Lesbos to contemporary Africa. He discovers the links between the histories of societies and their languages; he shows how language evolved from primitive calls; he considers the question of whether one language can be more advanced than another. The author describes the history of writing and the impact of changing technology. He ends by assessing the prospects for English world domination and predicting the languages of the distant future. Five historical maps illustrate this fascinating history of our defining characteristic and most valuable asset.

Change Up: An Oral History of 8 Key Events That Shaped Baseball

Larry Burke, Peter Thomas Fornatale, Jim Baker

Amazon Price: $18.21 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Rodale Books Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $8.03

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Historical Study -> Oral History
Subjects -> Sports -> Baseball -> History
Subjects -> Sports -> Baseball -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Change Up is every fan’s box-seat ticket to a remarkable baseball event: a round-table conversation among the participants themselves about pivotal developments that changed the game, from the 1960s to today. Here, through the eyes and words of star players like Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Ichiro Suzuki, baseball legends like Cal Ripken, Earl Weaver, and Jim Bouton, and award-winning writers like David Marainiss, Bob Lipsyte, and Robert Whiting who reported the stories, are vivid and very personal accounts of some of the most important happenings in the history of the sport.

How did the game change with the creation of the players union, the hiring of Frank Robinson as the first black manager, the rise of Latin and Japanese players? From the return of National League baseball to New York to the publication of Ball Four, these are fascinating stories viewed from a unique perspective. Even the most rabid and informed fans will find much that is new in these pages—and they will emerge with a greater understanding and appreciation of the game they love.

The Presence of the Past

Roy Rosenzweig, David Thelen

Amazon Price: $83.50 List Price: $83.50 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Columbia University Press Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $17.87

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Historical Study -> Historiography

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Some people make photo albums, collect antiques, or visit historic battlefields. Others keep diaries, plan annual family gatherings, or stitch together patchwork quilts in a tradition learned from grandparents. Each of us has ways of communing with the past, and our reasons for doing so are as varied as our memories. In a sweeping survey, Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen asked 1,500 Americans about their connection to the past and how it influences their daily lives and hopes for the future. The result is a surprisingly candid series of conversations and reflections on how the past infuses the present with meaning. Rosenzweig and Thelen found that people assemble their experiences into narratives that allow them to make sense of their personal histories, set priorities, project what might happen next, and try to shape the future. By using these narratives to mark change and create continuity, people chart the courses of their lives. A young woman from Ohio speaks of giving birth to her first child, which caused her to reflect upon her parents and the ways that their example would help her to become a good mother. An African American man from Georgia tells how he and his wife were drawn to each other by their shared experiences and lessons learned from growing up in the South in the 1950s. Others reveal how they personalize historical events, as in the case of a Massachusetts woman who traces much of her guarded attitude toward life to witnessing the assassination of John F. Kennedy on television when she was a child. While the past is omnipresent to Americans, "history" as it is usually defined in textbooks leaves many people cold. Rosenzweig and Thelen found that history as taught in school does not inspire a strong connection to the past. And they reveal how race and ethnicity affects how Americans perceive the past: while most white Americans tend to think of it as something personal, African Americans and American Indians are more likely to think in terms of broadly shared experiences--like slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and the violation of Indian treaties." Rosenzweig and Thelen´s conclusions about the ways people use their personal, family, and national stories have profound implications for anyone involved in researching or presenting history, as well as for all those who struggle to engage with the past in a meaningful way.

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

Paul Thompson

Amazon Price: $36.00 List Price: $40.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $14.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Historical Study -> Historiography
Subjects -> History -> Historical Study -> Oral History
Subjects -> History -> Historical Study -> Study & Teaching

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Voice of the Past 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

In his book, "The Voice of the Past: Oral History," Paul Thompson successfully explores all aspects of oral history - from a historiographical journey that analyzes oral history through the ages to advice on designing projects, interviewing techniques, organizing information, and interpretation. According to the author, “The book is, first of all, an introduction to the use of oral sources by the historian. But the very use of these sources raises fundamental issues, and I have decided to take these at the beginning, moving step by step towards the more practical later chapters.” (Thompson, v) Throughout the text, Thompson reminds the reader of the merits of oral history and how it compares with the modern historians more traditional documentary sources. In addition, the updated edition looks at new technology, including video and multimedia, and the international and interdisciplinary aspects of the oral history movement. The result is an original and authoritative guide on the methods and meaning of oral history.

What makes "The Voice of the Past" stand out among the other research instructional guides is its passion and ability to focus primarily on the legitimacy of oral evidence - the first book of its kind to do so. Especially useful are the chapters on the mechanical aspects of oral interviewing, processing and interpretation. These sections are informative and highly systematic, providing clear and specific instructions about collecting and using oral sources. In Chapter 3, “Achievement of Oral History,” Thompson provides an in depth analysis of recent writings and contributions to support his case for oral evidence. The book also includes a helpful "Life Story Interview Guide" - a schematic outline that offers key themes and sample interview questions - and a detailed “Further Reading” section that points the way to more avenues of inquiry.

Although the book is both scholarly and informative, and includes an occasional oral vignette, the author’s writing style doesn’t always illuminate the ways in which oral sources can make history come alive. Indeed, some chapters make for some pretty dry reading, particularly the sections that trace the history of oral history. Moreover, the book lacks a good writing sample that truly captures the spirit of oral evidence. If readers are interested in a style that is more accessible, they would be better served with other prominent works in the field, such as "The Oral History Reader" by Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson, and "Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide" by Donald Ritchie. Both books are eloquent and user-friendly, making oral histories seem a little less daunting and more enjoyable.

The minor oversights notwithstanding, "The Voice of the Past" is a solid guide on the methods and meaning of oral history. Thompson has done an excellent job at not only examining the ways historians have used oral evidence over time, but also offering advice on the mechanics of designing projects and interviewing and interpreting oral sources in order to produce quality historical scholarship. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in using oral sources in the preparation of history.

Editorial Review:

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.

Khul-Khaal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East)

Nayra Atiya

List Price: $29.95 By: Syracuse University Press Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $5.59

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> Women
Subjects -> History -> Africa -> Egypt -> General
Subjects -> History -> Africa -> Egypt -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A very moving read 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Khuul-Khal is an excellent insight into the life of Egyptian women. The way the author has kept the women's own style of telling their stories, made me feel as if they were talking to me directly. I felt deeply touched by some of the stories. Khuul-Khal is a very moving book and I can't recommend it enough to anybody who wants to learn more about Egyptians and their customs.

A Rare Find 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

My primary interest was "Ancient Egypt" when I first arrived in Egypt, but I quickly became fascinated by the contemporary culture as well. I searched for books that would illuminate what I was seeing around me, in vain. I was especially interested in the plight of women in Egypt, and there didn't seem to be much writing on the subject. Luckily I came across this gem of a book which turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. The stories of 5 Egyptian women are lucidly told by this remarkable Egyptian author. This book gives a glimpse into a world one must usually be born into in order to understand. Thank you Ms. Atiya!

Hidden Children of the Holocaust: Belgian Nuns and their Daring Rescue of Young Jews from the Nazis

Suzanne Vromen

Amazon Price: $18.21 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $12.36

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Historical Study -> Oral History
Subjects -> History -> Military -> World War II -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> World -> Jewish -> Holocaust

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the terrifying summer of 1942 in Belgium, when the Nazis began the brutal roundup of Jewish families, parents searched desperately for safe haven for their children. As Suzanne Vromen reveals in Hidden Children of the Holocaust, these children found sanctuary with other families and schools--but especially in Roman Catholic convents and orphanages.
Vromen has interviewed not only those who were hidden as children, but also the Christian women who rescued them, and the nuns who gave the children shelter, all of whose voices are heard in this powerfully moving book. Indeed, here are numerous first-hand memoirs of life in a wartime convent--the secrecy, the humor, the admiration, the anger, the deprivation, the cruelty, and the kindness--all with the backdrop of the terror of the Nazi occupation. We read the stories of the women of the Resistance who risked their lives in placing Jewish children in the care of the Church, and of the Mothers Superior and nuns who sheltered these children and hid their identity from the authorities. Perhaps most riveting are the stories told by the children themselves--abruptly separated from distraught parents and given new names, the children were brought to the convents with a sense of urgency, sometimes under the cover of darkness. They were plunged into a new life, different from anything they had ever known, and expected to adapt seamlessly. Vromen shows that some adapted so well that they converted to Catholicism, at times to fit in amid the daily prayers and rituals, but often because the Church appealed to them. Vromen also examines their lives after the war, how they faced the devastating loss of parents to the Holocaust, struggled to regain their identities and sought to memorialize those who saved them.
This remarkable book offers an inspiring chronicle of the brave individuals who risked everything to protect innocent young strangers, as well as a riveting account of the "hidden children" who lived to tell their stories.