National history is more than oral stories
By Peng Ming-min 彭明敏
So-called “oral history” seems to have become the latest fashion among historians. My experience with this phenomenon is that when the person writing the history conducts an interview with the subject, they bring in one or two young people with them to take notes.
Unless the interviewees have the training required to objectively recall their memories, they are free to provide an imaginative retelling they can say whatever they want, promote themselves or freely criticize others.
Oral histories are published based on a recorded interview and notes, without the verification or controls done at newspapers. Using this approach, publishing two or three books a year is not a problem.