Best of
Oral-History

2008

Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives


Peter OrnerLuis Alberto - 2008
    Supporting myriad industries, these workers form an essential part of our economy — often by working the least desirable jobs without the most basic legal protections. Underground America allows this largely ignored part of our country to finally share its experiences.

Lines from a Mined Mind: The Words of John Trudell


John Trudell - 2008
    More than a simple anthology, this collection goes deeper, revealing the incendiary intersection of music and activism.

Stalefish: Skateboard Culture from the Rejects Who Made It


Sean Mortimer - 2008
    And is skateboarding actually a sport? In Stalefish, veteran journalist and former pro skater Sean Mortimer interviews Rodney Mullen, Steve Olson, Tony Hawk, Stacy Peralta, Jamie Thomas, Lance Mountain, Tommy Guerrero, Russ Howell, Mike Vallely, Dave Hackett, Daewon Song, Jim Fitzpatrick, Steve Alba, Kevin Harris, Bob Burnquist and Chris Haslam in search of answers, and to discover what drove them and millions of other disenfranchised youth to obsession with empty pools, sewer ditches, and handrails. This book may not settle the sport versus subculture versus cult debate, but with stories of skate-induced ulcers, skatepark torture, ramp arson, trespassing, the birth of punk, and more, it captures like no other how skateboarding can derail your life in a beautiful way.

Intonations: A Social History of Music and Nation in Luanda, Angola, from 1945 to Recent Times


Marissa J. Moorman - 2008
    A compilation of Angolan music is included in CD format.Marissa J. Moorman presents a social and cultural history of the relationship between Angolan culture and politics. She argues that it was in and through popular urban music, produced mainly in the musseques (urban shantytowns) of the capital city, Luanda, that Angolans forged the nation and developed expectations about nationalism. Through careful archival work and extensive interviews with musicians and those who attended performances in bars, community centers, and cinemas, Moorman explores the ways in which the urban poor imagined the nation.The spread of radio technology and the establishment of a recording industry in the early 1970s reterritorialized an urban-produced sound and cultural ethos by transporting music throughout the country. When the formerly exiled independent movements returned to Angola in 1975, they found a population receptive to their nationalist message but with different expectations about the promises of independence. In producing and consuming music, Angolans formed a new image of independence and nationalist politics.