In The Story Is True, folklorist, filmmaker, and professor of English Bruce Jackson explores the ways we use the stories that become a central part of our public and private lives. Describing and explaining how stories are made and used, Jackson examines how stories narrate and bring meaning to our lives. Jackson writes about his family and friends, acquaintances, and experiences, focusing on more than a dozen personal stories. From oral histories to public stories-such as what happened when Bob Dylan went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival-Jackson gets at how the truth is constantly shifting depending on the perspective, memory, and social meaning that is ascribed to various events-both real and imaginary. The book is ideal for students and writers of oral history and storytelling but goes beyond those topics to encompass how we interpret and understand the real-life stories that we encounter in our daily experience.

This edition includes new sections on how stories are related to historical facts and new chapters on contemporary films (expanding the discussion of visual storytelling) and on conspiracy narratives and Trump’s Big Lie. Fresh examples tie together new material with the existing stories.