Like It Was: A Complete Guide to Writing Oral History

by Cynthia Stokes Brown

Gives instructions for writing oral histories and biographies including such aspects as planning, interviewing, transcribing, editing, and publishing the results

Genres: Writing, History, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1988

Reviews

[Carolyn Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, useful book on how to write oral history. I really should do this with my parents and grandparents. Somewhat outdated (the chapter on tape recorders is right out) but still a good read.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't quite what I was expecting, although there's nothing wrong with that. It's a guide to writing and transcribing oral history, with a focus on the latter. This very slim volume was also written by a schoolteacher and there's a large classroom-based chapter too. Written in 1988, it's heavily dated at times - whole paragraphs on how to use each button of your tape recorder - but other elements about selecting subjects for interview and the like are of use. The writing samples, for example of racial history in mid-20th century America, are of interest.