Thanks, Bonnie. But the bits that are truly important to my question, which are:

Her memoir, America Over the Water, was published in 2004 and it finished with the words: "Shirley Collins was there for the trip? Well that's not how I saw it."

and

In the absence of Lomax to speak to, she did the only thing she could: changed the last line of her book. The 2006 paperback edition now finishes with an Appalachian folk song that begins with the words: "But when you're on some distant shore/Think on your absent friend."

are not direct quotes from Shirley at all. Certainly, it's likely that Shirley originally ended the book with the somewhat snippy line, then changed it. When and how she changed it (before publication or between editions) is not quoted from Shirley, but phrased in the writer's own words.

I have written many, many such articles myself, and occasionally I have inserted something that turned out to be wrong in place of real facts, because the taped interview had simply missed capturing the subject's own words on the point in question. (It's embarrassing, but one gets over it and is forgiven.)

So, I'm wondering if the writer is correct, because my copy of the hardcover suggests otherwise. The hardcover itself makes no mention of a previous edition, nor does the publisher's website.

So I'm just asking catters in general...does anyone have the version that ends "Well that's not how I saw it"? I'm just interested to know if there is a previous edition to the one I have.