The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 89, July 1985 - April, 1986 Page: 86

Southwestern istorical Quariterly

the transcription of oral dialogue, and essays on an interdisciplinary
approach to oral history, interviewing, recent issues in oral history, and
conversational analysis. Although Grele is the primary author, other
contributors are 'Terkel, .lan Vansina, Dennis 'Tedlock, Saul Benison,
and Alice Kessler Harris.
Envelopes of Sound addresses theoretical and methodological iss Ies,
rather than the practical, how-to-do-it questions so ably dealt with in
other works on oral history. The spirit of these thoughtful essays is re-
flected in a passage from Grele's preface:
What oral history gives the historian it gives with abundance. It teaches anew,
every day, how important history is to the common cultural enterprise. It shows
us again and again how people live with their past and try to make sense of'
their present. It allows us to enter people's lives in the most extraordinarily inti-
mate ways. Because the people we talk to give us so much, it is our obligation to
think carefully about what they are saying and why, and to evaluate carefully
what we are given.
Copies of the )ook, which sells for $2o.95, may be ordered from Pre-
cedent Publishing, Inc., 737 North LaSalle St., Chicago, Illinois 6o61o.
Quantity discounts are available for classroom adoption.