Studs Terkel

Studs Terkel records the voices of America. Men and women from every walk of life talk to him, telling him of their likes and dislikes, fears, problems, and happinesses on the job. Once again, Terkel has created a rich and unique document that is as simple as conversation, but as subtle and heartfelt as the meaning of our lives....

In The Good War Terkel presents the good, the bad, and the ugly memories of World War II from a perspective of forty years of after the events. No matter how gruesome the memories are, relatively few of the interviewees said they would have been better off without the experience. It was a central and formative experience in their lives. Although 400,000 Americans perished, the United States itself was not attacked again after Pearl Harbor, the economy grew, and there was a new sense of world power that invigorated the country. Some women and African Americans experienced new freedoms in the post war society, but good life after World War II was tarnished by the threat of nuclear war.

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Good War : A masterpiece of modern journalism and “a huge anthem in praise of the American spirit” ( Saturday Review ). In this “invaluable record” of one of the most dramatic periods in modern American history, Studs Terkel recaptures the Great Depression of the 1930s in all its complexity. Featuring a mosaic of memories from politicians, businessmen, artists, striking workers, and Okies, from those who were just kids to those who remember losing a fortune, Hard Times is not only a gold mine of information but a fascinating interplay of memory and fact, revealing how the 1929 stock market crash and its repercussions radically changed the lives of a generation. The voices that speak from the pages of this unique book are as timeless as the lessons they impart ( The New York Times ). “ Hard Times doesn’t ‘render’ the time of the depression―it is that time, its lingo, mood, its tragic and hilarious stories.” ―Arthur Miller “Wonderful! The American memory, the American way, the American voice. It will resurrect your faith in all of us to read this book.” ― Newsweek “Open Studs Terkel’s book to almost any page and rich memories spill out . . . Read a page, any page. Then try to stop.” ― The National Observer

Division Street, Studs Terkel’s first book of oral history, established his reputation as America’s foremost oral historian and as “one of those rare thinkers who is actually willing to go out and talk to the incredible people of this country” (in the words of Tom Wolfe).Viewing the inhabitants of a single city, Chicago, as a microcosm of the nation at large, Division Street chronicles the thoughts and feelings of some seventy people from widely varying backgrounds in terms of class, race, and personal history. From a mother and son who migrated from Appalachia to a Native American boilerman, from a streetwise ex–gang leader to a liberal police officer, from the poorest African Americans to the richest socialites, these unique and often intimate first-person accounts form a multifaceted collage that defies any simple stereotype of America.As Terkel himself put it: “I was on the prowl for a cross–section of urban thought, using no one method or technique. . . I guess I was seeking some balance in the wildlife of the city as Rachel Carson sought it in nature. Revealing aspects of people’s lives that are normally invisible to most of us, Division Street is a fascinating survey of a city, and a society, at a pivotal moment of the twentieth century.

“IT’S THE UNGUARDED VOICES HE PRESENTS THAT STAY WITH YOU. . . . Terkel’s interviews may not allay fears about death. But reading them certainly encourages life while we have it.”–The New York TimesWhether it’s Working or The Great War , the legendary oral histories of Studs Terkel have offered indispensable insights into all areas of American life. Now, at eighty-eight, the Pulitzer Prize winner creates his most important work on a subject few can comfortably death.Here, in the voices of people both esteemed and unknown, are wise words, meaningful memories, and compassionate predictions about the experience of life’s end–and what may come after. A grad student explains how her two-year coma convinced her of the existence of reincarnation . . . A Hiroshima survivor reconciles her painful memories with the stoicism of her Japanese culture . . . Actress Uta Hagan expresses how her art is her religion and will be her legacy . . . Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler relives his World War II ordeal, after a torpedo left him in a lifeboat among injured and dying comrades . . . An AIDS counselor reveals why healthy gay men may require the most crucial psychological help . . . and a retired firefighter admits he “never felt so alive” as when he was doing his dangerous job.From the sheer physical facts to the emotional realities to spiritual speculations, all aspects of death are openly expressed in this wonderful work, the stirring culmination of Studs Terkel’s brilliant career.

Presents the feelings of nearly one hundred Americans on such issues as affirmative action, changing neighborhoods, and secret prejudices.

The renowned oral historian turns his attention to the aspirations of "the American century." I feel there's gonna be a change, but we're the ones gonna do it, not the government. With us there's a saying, "La esperenza muera ultima. Hope dies last." You can't lose hope. If you lose hope, you lose everything. Jessie de la Cruz, retired farm worker Studs Terkel's marvelous oral histories have hitherto dealt with specifics, as he puts it "the visceral stuff the job, race, age and death." While Terkel's chosen theme here, the incandescence of hope, might at first appear elusive, it is anything but abstract. For Terkel, hope is born of activism, commitment, and the steely determination to resist. The spirit of activism has ebbed and flooded through Terkel's venerable life. In the Great Depression of the 1930s he recalls a man swinging from a chandelier at the Astor Hotel shouting for "Social Security!" In the 1960s it was African Americans and students who advocated for equal rights and an end to maladventure overseas. And now, in a new century, young and old are joining forces on the streets to say no to war. The spark of activism is igniting the precious idea of a better world once again. The interviews in Hope Dies Last constitute an alternative history of the "American century," forming a legacy of the indefatigable spirit that Studs has always embodied, and an inheritance for those who, by taking a stand, are making concrete the dreams of today.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning author pens a far-reaching panorama that encompasses the lives of seventy aging individuals with wide ranging personal experiences that clearly show how American working lives have drastically changed over the course of the twentieth century. Reprint. Tour.

Americans, their hopes, remembrances and achievements come alive in this bestselling collection by the Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian.

"A summing up of the best of Terkel."—Herbert Mitgang, DoubletakeThe Studs Terkel Reader , originally published under the title My American Century , collects the best interviews from eight of Terkel's classic oral histories together with his magnificent introductions to each work. Featuring selections from American Dreams, Coming of Age, Division Street, "The Good War", The Great Divide, Hard Times, Race , and Working , this "greatest hits" volume is a treasury of Terkel's most memorable subjects that will delight his many lifelong fans and provide a perfect introduction for those who have not yet experienced the joy of reading Studs Terkel. It includes an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Coles surveying Terkel's overall body of work and a new foreword by Calvin Trillin.

The extraordinary life and times of an American icon—the Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian's long-awaited memoir—a major publishing event.At nearly ninety-five, Studs Terkel has written about everyone's life, it seems, but his own. In Touch and Go, he offers a memoir which—embodying the spirit of the man himself—is youthful, vivacious, and enormous fun.Terkel begins by taking us back to his early childhood with his father, mother, and two older brothers, describing the hectic life of a family trying to earn a living in Chicago. He then goes on to recall his own experiences—as a poll watcher charged with stealing votes for the Democratic machine, as a young theatergoer, and eventually as an actor himself in both radio and on the stage—giving us a brilliant and often hilarious portrait of the Chicago of the 1920s and '30s. He tells of his beginnings as a disc jockey after World War II and as an interviewer and oral historian—a craft he would come to perfect and indeed personify. Finally, he discusses his involvement with progressive politics, leading inevitably to his travails during the McCarthy period when he was blacklisted and thrown out of work despite having become by then one of the country's most popular TV hosts.Fans of Studs Terkel will find much to discover in these remarkable reminiscences. Others will be captivated to learn of the unique and eclectic life of one of America's greatest living legends.

In the tradition of E. B. White's bestselling Here Is New York, Chicago is a tribute to the "Second City"-part history, part memoir, and 100% Studs Terkel-infused with anecdotes, memories, and reflections that celebrate the great city. Chicago was home to the country's first skyscraper (a ten-story building built in 1884) and marks the start of the famed "Route 66." It is also the birthplace of the remote control (Zenith), the car radio (Motorola) and the first major American city to elect a woman (Jane Byrne) and then an African American man (Harold Washington) as mayor. Its literary and journalistic history is just as dazzling, and includes Nelson Algren, Mike Royko and Sara Paretsky. From Al Capone to the street riots during the Democratic National Convention in 1968, Chicago, in the words of Terkel himself, "has-as they used to whisper of the town's fast woman-a reputation." Chicago was of course also home to the Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian Studs Terkel, who moved to Chicago in 1922 as an eight-year-old and who would make it his home until his death in 2008 at the age of 96. This book is a splendid evocation of Studs' hometown in all its glory-and all its imperfection.

Through anecdote and observation, the author portrays life in 1980s America, discusses how it has changed in recent years, and indicates how such changes have affected the values of America's youth

The Pulitzer Prize–winning historian talks with some of twentieth century’s most iconic musicians―“Riveting . . . Just about every interview has a revelation” ( San Francisco Chronicle ). Through the second half of the twentieth century, Studs Terkel hosted the legendary radio show “The Wax Museum,” presenting Chicago’s music fans with his inimitable take on music of all kinds, from classical, opera, and jazz to gospel, blues, folk, and rock. Featuring more than forty of Terkel’s conversations with some of the greatest musicians of the past century, And They All Sang is “a tribute to music’s universality and power” ( Philadelphia Inquirer ). Included here are fascinating conversations with Louis Armstrong, Leonard Bernstein, Big Bill Broonzy, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson, Janis Joplin, Rosa Raisa, Pete Seeger, and many others. As the esteemed music critic Anthony DeCurtis wrote in the Chicago Tribune , “the terms ‘interview’ or ‘oral history’ don’t begin to do justice to what Terkel achieves in these conversations, which are at once wildly ambitious and as casual as can be.” Whether discussing Enrico Caruso’s nervousness on stage with opera diva Edith Mason or the Beatles’ 1966 encounter in London with revered Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, “Terkel’s singular gift for bringing his subjects to life in their own words should strike a chord with any music fan old enough to have replaced a worn-out record needle” ( The New York Times ). “Whether diva or dustbowl balladeer, Studs treats them all alike, with deep knowledge and an intimate, conversational approach . . . as this often remarkable book shows, Studs Terkel has remained mesmerized by great music throughout his life.” ― The Guardian “[Terkel’s] expertise is evident on every page, whether debating the harmonic structure of the spirituals or discerning the subtleties of Keith Jarrett’s piano technique . . . As ever, he is the most skillful of interviewers.” ― The Independent “What makes And They All Sang a rousing success isn’t just Terkel’s phenomenal range and broad knowledge, it’s his passionate love of the music and his deep humanity.” ― San Francisco Chronicle

A beautifully illustrated edition of Studs Terkel's timeless portraits of America's jazz legends, for readers of all ages.Studs Terkel's first book, Giants of Jazz , is the master interviewer's unique tribute to America's jazz greats, now available in an affordable paperback edition with the original illustrations and discography.The thirteen profiles in this "luminous" ( Jazzwise ) collection weave together stories of the individual jazz musicians' lives with the history of the jazz era, and the music's evolution from the speakeasies of New York to the concert halls of the world's greatest cities. Terkel—a lifelong fan and friend of many of these legends—uses firsthand interviews with artists such as Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Parker to tell the human stories behind the giants who shaped this uniquely American music form. Some of the many fascinating details Terkel relates include Joe Oliver's favorite meal, Fats Waller's 1932 rendezvous in Paris with eminent organist Marcel Dupré, Dizzy Gillespie's childhood trip to a pawnshop to buy his first horn, and the origin of Billie Holiday's nickname. Paperback with French flaps, thirteen b/w illustrations.

In Talking to Myself , Pulitzer Prizing–winning author Studs Terkel offers us an autobiography for our times―the stirring story of a man whose life has been so vivid that its telling mirrors the events of our century. From Mahalia Jackson to Bertrand Russell, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Frederico Fellini, Studs has met them all and captured their voices for us. With the addition of a marvelous new postscript, Talking to Myself is as enjoyable now as when it was first published―a work that is as unusual as it is compelling.

The Studs Terkel Film and Theater collects the Pulitzer Prize–winning oral historian’s remarkable conversations with some of the greatest luminaries of film and theater. Originally published under the title The Spectator , this “knowledgeable and perceptive” ( Library Journal ) look at show business presents the actors directors, playwrights, dancers, lyricists, and others who created the dramatic works of the twentieth century. Among the many highlights in these pages, Buster Keaton explains the wonders of unscripted silent comedy, Federico Fellini reflects on honesty in art, Carol Channing reveals that she is far more serious than she lets on, and Marlon Brando turns the tables and wants to interview Terkel. We learn about crucial artistic decisions in the lives of Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Edward Albee and hear from a range of film directors, from Vittorio De Sica and King Vidor to Satyajit Ray. We even get to witness Terkel playing straight man to a wildly inventive Zero Mostel. Because Terkel knows his subjects’ work intimately, he asks precisely the right questions to elicit the most revealing responses. As the New York Times Book Review noted, “Terkel’s knowledge and force of personality make him fully a player alongside his famous guests.”

From the 1950s through 1997, Louis “Studs” Terkel, bestselling author of Hard Times, Working, The Great War, Coming of Age, and eight other books, hosted a daily one-hour show on WFMT Radio in Chicago. This nationally syndicated, Peabody Award-winning program was an ideal showcase for his curmudgeonly wit, his maverick opinions, and his genius as an interviewer. The 48 interviews in this collection, span Terkel's five decades on radio and encompass a wide range of entertainers, scientists, writers and thinkers, including Dorothy Parker, Pete Seeger, Bob Woodward, Simone de Beauvoir, and many more.

This “electrifying” collection of unpublished work demonstrates the Pulitzer Prize–winning author’s “great gift for tapping into the lifeblood of America” ( Booklist ) . Millions of Studs Terkel fans have come to know the prize-winning oral historian through his landmark books―“ The Good War ”, Hard Times , Working , Will the Circle Be Unbroken? , and many others. Few people realize, however, that much of Studs’s best work was not collected into these thematic volumes and has, in fact, never been published. P.S. brings together these significant and fascinating writings for the first time. The pieces in P.S. reflect Terkel’s wide-ranging interests and travels, as well as his abiding connection to his hometown, Chicago. Here we have a fascinating conversation with James Baldwin, possibly Terkel’s finest interview with an author; pieces on the colorful history and culture of Chicago; vivid portraits of Terkel’s heroes and cohorts (including an insightful and still timely interview with songwriter Yip Harburg, known for his “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime”); and the transcript of Terkel’s famous broadcast on the Depression, the moving chronicle that would later develop into Hard Times . A fitting postscript to a lifetime of listening, P.S. is a truly Terkelesque display of the author’s extraordinary range of talent and the amazing people he spoke to.

The name Studs was a nick-name derived from the function character Studs Lonigan in James T. Farrell's 1920s trilogy. Studs Terkel is one of the great oral historians of this century. His literature speaks to and for the common man. He was born in 1903 and throughout his life he never drove a car but preferred to take a bus and share life with the regular people.Studs started his career in the early '50s doing interviews for radio WFMT in Chicago. By the mid '60s his interviews were being noticed and his first oral history was published. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his 1985 book The Good War. He has been inducted into the Academy of Arts and Letters and has received an award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation.In best-selling books that began in 1970 with Hard Times, and a legendary radio show that started on WFMT in Chicago, Studs Terkel told the tales that real people had told him. IDEAS host Paul Kennedy interviews Studs Terkel.

Since the 1950s, Louis "Studs" Terkel, best-selling author of Working, The Good War, and eight other books, has been hosting a daily one-hour radio show on WFMT in Chicago. This nationally syndicated, Peabody Award-winning program is an ideal showcase for his curmudgeonly wit, his maverick opinions, and above all, his genius as an interviewer.Four Decades with Studs Terkelbrings together 40 of Studs' most important interviews from the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s. With his singular blend of intellect, grit and intuition, Studs draws his guests---artists, philosophers, scientists, activists, and many others---into spirited dialogues about their lives, their accomplishments, and their most enduring dreams. Each interview is a unique portrait of one of the most fascinating individuals of our time; taken together, the interviews provide unparalleled insights into the key ideas and events that have shaped our world for the past 40 years.

From hard scrabble origins on the Plains of North Dakota, to longshoremen organizing on Manhattan’s West Side docks, to living the life of a Bohemian poet in Los Angeles and beyond, Thomas McGrath’s literary aspirations took him far from his humble beginnings.For over six decades, McGrath created poems based largely on the themes of love, work, and political justice. His love of the prairie and his early years on a working farm were central to his life. The virtues of the agrarian community plus the Catholic faith of his family, shaped his Old West character. He was a political progressive and at times a member of the Communist Party of America. In the 1950’s, he was brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee and blacklisted following his appearance. McGrath was the consummate non-conformist in his life and art. He refused to submit to the philosophy that politics and poetry must be kept separate. His epic work, Letter to an Imaginary Friend, is anchored by progressive politics, political and social theory, his love of family, his love of love, and, arguably, the greatest layering of language idioms in the history of American poetry.

Unusual book