The book consists of three essays by the author: ‘Electric Steel: Parallel Stories from Italy, India and the Americas’, ‘What Makes Oral History Different’ and ‘A Dialogical Relationship: An Approach to Oral History’. Together the three essays emphasise the importance of oral narratives and acts of translation and interpretation.

Alessandro Portelli is retired Professor of American Literature, Universita di Roma La Sapienza.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

General Introduction

Electric Steel: Parallel Stories from Italy, India and the Americas

What Makes Oral History Different

A Dialogical Relationship: An Approach to Oral History