The book consists of three essays by the author: ‘Electric Steel: Parallel Stories from Italy, India and the Americas’, ‘What Makes Oral History Different’ and ‘A Dialogical Relationship: An Approach to Oral History’. Together the three essays emphasise the importance of oral narratives and acts of translation and interpretation. Contents: Publisher’s Acknowledgments General Introduction Electric Steel: Parallel Stories from Italy, India and the Americas What Makes Oral History Different A Dialogical Relationship: An Approach of Oral History About the Author: Alessandro Portelli is retired Professor of American Literature, Universita di Roma La Sapienza.