Today we're featuring a excerpt of a work that explores the relationship of art, documentary, and history through a search for class struggle in Appalachia.  Beyond the limited academic concept of oral history, I Can Almost See the Lights of Home: A Field Trip to Harlan County, Kentucky is a essay-in-sound that weaves the words and stories of Harlan County residents with the sounds and music of the place itself.  The result is documentary art, and a deeply compelling listen.  Original Series Credits:"I Can Almost See the Lights of Home ~ A Field Trip to Harlan County, Kentucky An Essay-In-Sound"Writers: Charles Hardy III and Alessandro PortelliInterviews: Alessandro PortelliMusical recordings: Alessandro Portelli and Charles Hardy IIIProducer/Engineer: Charles HardyFinancial assistance provided by the Columbia University Oral History Research Office, the West Chester University Faculty Development Program, the English Department of the Univerity of Rome "La Sapienza," and a grant from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Special thanks to Annie Napier, Ron Grele, Mary Marshall Clark, Stig Hornshøf-Møller, Steve Rowland, and the participants of the 1997 Oral History Research Office Oral History Summer Institute.More of Hardy's and others' writing on these works and others can be found here:Aural History, The Digital Revolution, and the Making of I Can Almost See the Lights of Home: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137322029_4“Authoring in Sound: Aural History, Radio, and the Digital Revolution,” The Oral History Reader, 2nd edition, editors Rob Perks and Alistair Thomson, (Routledge, 2006): 393-406.“Oral History in Sound and Moving Image Documentaries,” (with Pamela Dean) Handbook of Oral History, editors Thomas Charlton et. al., (AltaMira Press, 2006): 510-62. Reprinted in Thinking About Oral History: Theories and Applications, (AltaMira Press, 2008).Painting in Sound: Aural History and Audio Art,” Oral History: The Challenges of Dialogue. Marta Kurkowska-Budzan and Krysztof Zamorski, eds. (John Benjamins Publishing, 2009): 147-67 https://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/hist_facpub/14/Oral History in the Digital Age: https://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/about/authors/hardy/