Prepping for the President

It's hard to write a good oral history. The stop-start nature of the form makes it difficult to develop a narrative, and also the sometimes-uneven rhythm impedes the author's ability to develop a larger message. Studs Terkel's Hard Times is usually considered one of the best of the genre. It succeeded because the book used the different voices and stories of those who lived through the Great Depression to give readers a flavor of the many and varied challenges of facing desperate times.