Ronald Angus Fraser (9 December 1930 – 10 February 2012) was a British

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

noted for his

oral histories Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

and in particular for '' Blood of Spain'', his oral history of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. Born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

to an upper-middle class Scottish father and wealthy American mother, Fraser was educated at boarding school in England and the USA and undertook further studies in Switzerland and France. He chronicled his upbringing in his oral history ''In Search of a Past: The Rearing of an English Gentleman, 1933-1945'' (1984), in which interviews with the servants at his family's Berkshire country house served as a counterpoint to his own memories. Fraser spent five years as a correspondent with

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

in Brussels, The Hague and London before moving to Spain in 1957 to become a full-time writer. Fraser was one of the pioneers of

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

in the 1960s and '70s most notably with ''In Hiding: The Life of Manuel Cortes'' (1972) and '' Blood of Spain: An Oral History of the Spanish Civil War'' (1979). His book ''Napoleon’s Cursed War: Spanish Popular Resistance in the Peninsular War, 1808-1814'' (2008) applied his experience of oral history to traditional archival sources. Fraser's friendship with

André Gorz Gérard Horst (; , ; 9 February 1923 – 22 September 2007), more commonly known by his pen names André Gorz () and Michel Bosquet (), was an Austrian-French social philosopher and journalist and critic of work. He co-founded '' Le Nouvel Ob ...

led to his involvement with the ''

New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal, established in 1960, which analyses international politics, the global economy, social theory, and cultural topics from a leftist perspective. History Background As part of the emergin ...

'' from the early 1960s.

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (;; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and co ...

"Ronald Fraser Obituary"
''The Guardian'', Feb. 15, 2012. He was a lifelong socialist and at his death a senior member of the New Left Trust. He was a founder of New Left Books, the parent company of publisher

Verso Books Verso Books (formerly New Left Books) is a publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of ''New Left Review'' (NLR) and includes Tariq Ali and Perry Anderson on its board of directors. According to its webs ...

.Rowan Wilson
"Ronald Fraser: 1930—2012"
Verso Books blog, Feb. 14, 2012.

Bibliography

* ''Yvette'' (1960) * ''Work: Twenty Personal Accounts'' (1968) * ''Work: Twenty Personal Accounts Volume 2'' (1969) * ''In Hiding: The Life of Manuel Cortes'' (1972; revised ed. 2010) * ''The Pueblo: A Mountain Village on the Costa del Sol'' (1973); Published in the U.S.A. as ''Tajos : A mountain village on the Costa del Sol'' * '' Blood of Spain: An Oral History of the Spanish Civil War'' (1979) * ''In Search of a Past: The Manor House Amnersfield, 1933-1945'' (1984; revised ed. 2010). Published in the U.S.A. as ''In Search of a Past: The Rearing of an English Gentleman, 1933-1945'' * ''1968: A Student Generation in Revolt'' (1988, with eight other authors) * ''Napoleon’s Cursed War: Spanish Popular Resistance in the Peninsular War, 1808-1814'' (2008)

Notes

External links

"Ronald Fraser Obituary"
''The Guardian'', Feb. 15, 2012. * Douglas Martin

''New York Times'', Feb. 21, 2012. * Matt Schudel

''Washington Post'', Feb. 22, 2012. * Jim Kelly and Ronald Fraser
"An Interview with Ronald Fraser"
''Oral History'', v.8, n.1 (Spring 1980). {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Ronald English historians Historians of Spain Oral historians 1930 births 2012 deaths English people of American descent