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Craft and Criticism
Literary Criticism
Craft and Advice
In Conversation
On Translation
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Short Story
From the Novel
Poem
News and Culture
History
Science
Politics
Biography
Memoir
Food
Technology
Bookstores and Libraries
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Travel
Music
Art and Photography
The Hub
Style
Design
Sports
Lit Hub Radio
The Lit Hub Podcast
Awakeners
Fiction/Non/Fiction
The Critic and Her Publics
Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast
Memoir Nation
Beyond the Page
First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing
Thresholds
The Cosmic Library
Culture Schlock
Reading Lists
The Best of the Decade
Book Marks
Best Reviewed Books
CrimeReads
True Crime
The Daily Thrill
Log In
oral histories
“Is It All Over My Face?” The Story Behind Arthur Russell’s “Amazingly Explicit” Dancefloor Classic
Lucy Sante, Tom Lee, and More Remember the Song’s Genesis
By
Richard King
| June 4, 2024
“The Frisson of Pure Evil.” An Oral History of the Release of the Velvet Underground’s First Album
“There were just so many layers and so many colors. Even if all the colors were dark.”
By
Dylan Jones
| December 5, 2023
“The Song Found Me.” An Oral History of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly”
Roberta Flack, Charles Fox, and Lori Lieberman Discuss the Genesis of an Iconic Song
By
Marc Myers
| December 14, 2022
When Writing a Book Means Learning to Listen
Michael Frank on an Education in Receiving the Story of a Life
By
Michael Frank
| September 6, 2022
What Was the Writers’ Room Like for
The Sopranos
?
Steve Schirripa, Michael Imperioli, and Writer Terry Winter Talk About the Iconic Show
By
Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa
| November 8, 2021
Voices of the People: 5 Books That Expand Our Ideas
of Oral History
Craig Taylor Recommends Svetlana Alexievich,
Ronald Blythe, and More
By
Craig Taylor
| March 24, 2021
Best Reviewed
Books of the Week
What Can Fiction Do That Oral Histories Cannot?
By
Mauro Javier Cárdenas
| December 14, 2020
Life Inside Guantánamo:
An Oral History
By
Peter Jan Honigsberg
| November 13, 2019
An Oral History of the Landmark Magazine for Trans Men That Became a Movement
By
Corinne Segal
| May 30, 2019
Svetlana Alexievich on Why She Does What She Does
A Nobel Laureate at the Beginning of Her Career
By
Svetlana Alexievich
| July 27, 2017
Dear Fellow Traveler: A Close Reading of the Magnetic Guest Journals at Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn
Anna Journey on the Magical Living Document at Deetjen's Smallest and Most Remote Guest Cottage
By
Anna Journey
| March 1, 2017
My Journey to Activism and Black Lives Matter
Community Organizer Teressa Raiford on the Violence That Propelled Her Work
By
Casey Jarman
| October 6, 2016
Svetlana Alexievich's History of Human Feelings
The Nobel Laureate on Creating a New Genre
By
Bethanne Patrick
| June 22, 2016
Hidden Stories and Historical Half-truths: Lies Your Ancestors Told You
On history, heritage, and whitewashing
By
Anita Huslin
| March 7, 2016
Jaime Parker Stickle on Podcasts, Investigations, and Her Strange Journey to Writing a Thriller
November 5, 2025
by
Jaime Parker Stickle
Ice Cream, Elephants, Organs, Death: The Triumphs and Terrors of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair
November 5, 2025
by
Emily Bain Murphy
7 Thrillers and Mysteries Where the Celebration Turns Deadly
November 5, 2025
by
Heather Gudenkauf
The Best Reviewed Books of the Week
"Not much happens In fact there is much in the text that is not made…"