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Summary:
"A summing up of the best of Terkel."—Herbert Mitgang, Doubletake
The 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.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
What better way to celebrate a remarkable life....
Customer Rating:
...than to re-read, in this inspired anthology, the best of Studs Terkel's oral histories (which is to say the best of the best)? This volume samples interviews/oral histories from Mr. Terkel's remarkable books, each a different perspective on an aspect of American life. Overall, his interviews pose a paradox--not a troubling one, but a reassuring one---perhaps expressed best as a question: How is it that we, each of us as individuals, how is that we each are so full of foibles, fallacies, oddities, meanness, illusions, and yet so full of wisdom, grace, insight, joy, and compassion? The genius of his work, for me, is that this isn't some kind of sentimental claptrap, but an ongoing lively pulse built into the people to whom he gave voice. Mr. Terkel's life and work showed more than anything else that those two sets of attributes are not exclusive but rather are interdependent, necessary complements. Is it too much to compare this kind of achievement to Shakespeare's or Milton's or Bach's? Yep, absolutely. But even so ....
May this icon of Chicago, yet son of New York City (he was born in the Bronx) rest in eternity's solace. May we remain moved by what this gentle and great man was able to help us reveal. In the end, Studs, ora pro nobis.
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