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Rating: 
Summary: Well-Written But More Useful For Folklorists and Archivists
Review: I'm compiling an oral history of hip hop and this book wasn't really useful in helping me anticipate and solve problems I'm likely to come across in my project.The author is a folklorist/archivist who specializes in New England folklore and crafts. His suggestions are geared toward people who will be interviewing "the common man" and older people, so suggestions like "put an ad in the local paper asking for interviewees" and "your subject may be hesitant to talk and/or think his experience doesn't have value" are totally not helpful in regard to my project. Also, the guide is really geared towards archivists who will naturally consider their cassettes of interviews the most important source as opposed to the transcript, so little attention is given to the concerns of those editing oral history book projects. Little info is given regarding editing interviews down, narrative structure, how lengthy quotes should be and other concerns the first-time editor will undoubtedly have. Don't get me wrong, this is a good book. It is well-written, the illustrating examples are interesting and the appendix containing release forms is very helpful. It's just better for field researchers than project editors.
Rating: 
Summary: a very good instructional book on tape recorded interviews
Review: This book is a very good instruction manual on the tape recorded interview. He talks about both the technical and nontechnical aspects of the interview. It is an excellent primer for the starting interviewer. I recommend it highly.
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