Studs Terkel

Men and women representing a variety of occupations, describe the daily routine of their jobs and express their grievances, aims, and dreams

People Talk about what They Do All Day and how They Feel about what They Do

Working

Oral history evokes the innocent idealism, as well as the terror and horror, of ordinary Americans at home and abroad during World War II

An Oral History of World War II

The Good War

Recreates the character and atmosphere of this dramatic era in a collage of recollections by both well-known and obscure Americans.

An Oral History of the Great Depression

Hard Times

How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession

Race

Chronicles the thoughts and feelings of some seventy people from widely varying backgrounds in terms of class, race and personal history all inhabitants of a single city in Chicago as a microcosm of the nation at large.

America

Division Street

Traces the transformation in vocation and lifestyle in America during the twentieth century throught the experiences of a very diverse group of elderly men and women.

The Story of Our Century by Those Who've Lived it

Coming of Age

Interviews with emergency room doctors, Hiroshima survivors, AIDS co-workers, and death-row parolees express the beliefs, hopes, fears, and expectations of people confronted with death and life's ultimate experience.

Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith

Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

My American Century

The Studs Terkel Reader

Chicago

Louis Terkel

Outlet

The dean of oral history evokes the innocent idealism, as well as the terror and horror, of ordinary Americans at home and abroad during World War II

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

Second Thoughts on the American Dream

The Great Divide

A cross-section of Americans--from an embittered Miss America to Arnold Schwarzenegger, from Jesse Helms to a KKK member, from businessmen and Brahmins to activists and immigrants--speak of their hopes, expectations, and disappointments

Lost and Found

American Dreams

A collection of the Pulitzer-Prize winning oral historian's remarkable conversations with some of the greatest luminaries of theatre and film. Among the many highlights are Buster Keaton explaining the wonder of unscripted silent comedy and interviews with Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, and Tennessee Williams. Because Studs knows his subjects' work intimately, he asks precisely the right questions to elicit the most revealing responses.

Film and Theater

The Studs Terkel Interviews

Terkel has selected the most memorable interviews from his eight previous books, including Kid Pharaoh, the con man of Division Street; Tom Patrick, a fireman; and C. P. Ellin, the former Ku Klux Klansman

politisches Engagement in schwieriger Zeit

Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt

The author shares his memories of growing up in Chicago and anecdotes about the city and its inhabitants.

Studs Terkel's Chicago

First published in 1992 at the height of the furor over the Rodney King incident, Studs Terkel's Race was an immediate bestseller. In a rare and revealing look how at how people in America truly feel about race, Terkel brings out the full complexity of the thoughts and emotions of both blacks and whites, uncovering a fascinating narrative of changing opinions. Preachers and street punks, college students and Klansmen, interracial couples, the nephew of the founder of apartheid, and Emmett Till's mother are among those whose voices appear in Race. In all, nearly one hundred Americans talk openly about attitudes that few are willing to admit in public; feelings about affirmative action, gentrification, secret prejudices, and dashed hopes.

Race (Large Print 16pt)

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ted Turner, Jesse Helms, Joan Crawford, Nine Deloria, and Helen and Scott Nearing are just some of the people whose version of the American Dream is included in this text. Author and interviewer Studs Terkel discusses ideals and aspirations with the businessman enamoured of success, farm kids dreaming of the city, city boys determined to get out, the Boston Brahmin and a KKK member.

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 FranciscoChronicle

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