"Are you really that much of a prat that you think all history is based upon hearsay?"
Are you really that much of a prat as to have never heard of Social history which combined documented evidence alongside that of people who were actually there?
All history is based on human experience - dismiss humanity and you have no basis for history.
Oral history is no more open to dispute and contradiction as is documented history, which, more often than not, is subject to current bias and is often agenda driven.
Jim Carroll