Editor's Introduction

In many ways, this is a "difficult" issue. I write that not to suggest that this edition of The Oral History Review proved any more or less challenging than other issues of the journal to produce. Rather, I declare it difficult due to the subject matter tackled by our contributors.

Noah Riseman, as an example, focuses his work on gathering the stories of Australia's Yolngu tribesmen in World War II, and gaining for them the recognition their labors have heretofore been forgotten by the dominant society. Similarly, Rina Benmayor tackles issues associated with competing groups contesting the meaning of Salinas' Chinatown, particularly as reflected in efforts to rehabilitate the neighborhood.

Also fitting within the theme of difficult are works by Erin McCarthy and Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki. In their work relating to the Holocaust, Sheftel and Zembrzycki take note of Montreal's survivors and reflect upon the difficulties of interviewing individuals whose world views come into direct contradiction with their own. Despite having sympathy for the narrators, they found themselves sometimes at odds with the views expressed.

McCarthy explores the subject of prostate cancer and veterans, pursuing an answer to whether or not "oral history is good for you." Her work adds to our evidence that the process of providing oral testimony is, indeed, therapeutic. Most assuredly, we will be hearing more about this subject matter in future renditions of the Review.

Rob Perks' work is not necessarily focused upon a difficult issue, but rather a thorny question. In a version of a paper delivered at the 2009 Oral History Association annual meeting in Louisville, he challenges us to consider why British oral historians have shied away from interviewing corporate elites while Americans have not. His answer should prove discussion worthy.

Finally, Deborah Lee eases our troubled minds with an examination of oral history in a wilderness setting. As she declares, her collected "narratives get closest to the experiencing body in real time, which is what understanding wilderness requires."

And, as always, John Wolford provides us with his usual fine collection of book reviews. Subject matter for the reviews spans Uzbekistan, football, honky tonk women, Judaism, Arkansas newspapers, civil rights, Kristallnacht, serpent-handling Christians, Colombia, Bangladesh, unions, and Angolan music. Of special note is Luisa Del Giudice's review of Alessandro Portelli's Storie Orali: Racconto, Immaginazione, Dialogo (Oral [Hi]stories: Narrative, Imagination, Dialogue).

Our next issue is scheduled to be a focus on the role oral history can play in twenty-first century education and will be guest edited by Glenn Whitman.

See you in Atlanta!

Happy reading!

Kim Porter