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The title of this publication refers to the belief of Michael Frisch, an American historian, that oral history is an approach to the perception of the past that is symbolically located between the "lay" individual or collective memory and the "great" political history. This book presents the field of oral history in its theoretical and practical perspectives not only to the wide community of researchers, but also to anyone interested in this subject. The book’s theoretical part focuses on the terminology of the subject area, its origin and development in both the Czech environment and in the international contexts, as well as memory in relation to oral history. The practical section addresses the prospects and pitfalls of research in oral history, along with an overview of analytical approaches, reflections over the interpretational potential of oral-history interviews and, finally, it also covers the questions of ethics and legislature as integral parts of oral history.
This third, revised and expanded edition of this manual reflects the latest findings and experiences related in particular to the multiple impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on oral history research, shifts in the field of digitalization, debates over questions about the protection of personal data and also the influences of current war conflicts, changes in the societal atmosphere, and geopolitical shifts on research in the field of contemporary history.