oral history

NYC’s Underground Scene: ‘This Must Be the Place’

NYC’s Underground Scene: ‘This Must Be the Place’

Music may be the glue of every NYC underground scene This Must Be the Place covers, but Jesse Rifkin’s primary interest is in the community held together by that glue.

‘The Gospel of the Hold Steady’ Captures Their Unhinged Magic

‘The Gospel of the Hold Steady’ Captures Their Unhinged Magic

Michael Hann’s oral history The Gospel of the Hold Steady traces the band’s image, music, and challenges in a brilliant chronicle of the promise of rock ‘n’ roll.

Playwright and Director James Lapine Puts It Together with Composer Stephen Sondheim

Playwright and Director James Lapine Puts It Together with Composer Stephen Sondheim

Wouldn’t you like to read a marvelous story about the creation of the fabled musical, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s ‘Sunday in the Park with George’?

Scholar and Activist Tanya Pearson Gives Marianne Faithfull Her Feminine Aggression

Scholar and Activist Tanya Pearson Gives Marianne Faithfull Her Feminine Aggression

The world badly needs more feminine aggression and Tanya Pearson is doing the work with her excellent new book, Why Marianne Faithfull Matters.

Nöthin’ But a Good Time Parties Like It’s 1989

Nöthin’ But a Good Time Parties Like It’s 1989

Nöthin’ But a Good Time takes readers on a loud tour of the monster decade of the ’80s, but not for the reasons you’d think.

Ballad of Big Hair: Los Angeles’ Glam Metal Scene Rises from the Ash Heap

Ballad of Big Hair: Los Angeles’ Glam Metal Scene Rises from the Ash Heap

The authors of a new and expansive oral history talk with us about Los Angeles’ 1980s glam metal scene and their book, Nöthin’ But a Good Time.

John Lewis, C.T. Vivian, and Their Fellow Freedom Riders Are Celebrated in ‘Breach of Peace’

John Lewis, C.T. Vivian, and Their Fellow Freedom Riders Are Celebrated in ‘Breach of Peace’

John Lewis and C.T. Vivian were titans of the Civil Rights struggle, but they are far from alone in fighting for change. Eric Etheridge's masterful then-and-now project, Breach of Peace, tells the stories of many of the Freedom Riders.

Black. Queer. Southern. Women.

Black. Queer. Southern. Women.

Conveyed with urgency and mindfulness, Johnson's Black. Queer. Southern. Women. creates a space for revisioning critical race and sexual ideologies while affirming the voices of queer black women.

There’s Room in Joy Division’s Expansive Universe for Jon Savage’s ‘This Searing Light…’

There’s Room in Joy Division’s Expansive Universe for Jon Savage’s ‘This Searing Light…’

Can Jon Savage's literal book This Searing Light, The Sun and Everything Else close the metaphoric book on Joy Division once and for all?

Timuel Black Tells His Remarkable South Side Chicago Story in ‘Sacred Ground’

Timuel Black Tells His Remarkable South Side Chicago Story in ‘Sacred Ground’

The esteemed oral historian, Timuel Black, turns the microphone around to capture his amazing journey through 20th Century black America in Sacred Ground.

The Story of Swans by Those Who Lived to Tell

The Story of Swans by Those Who Lived to Tell

Nick Soulsby's oral history of Swans digs deep in and around the trenches of Michael Gira's twisted musical world.

Nick Soulsby Reads from His Oral History, ‘Swans: Sacrifice and Transcendence’

Nick Soulsby Reads from His Oral History, ‘Swans: Sacrifice and Transcendence’

Swans' story is a story of artistic near-death, defiance, and resurrection. This excerpt brings forth the band's challenges during the Swans Are Dead Tour of 1997.