Embedded Files
This project was inspired by the remarkable work done by Studs Terkel.
“What I bring to the interview is respect. The person recognizes that you respect them because you're listening. Because you're listening, they feel good about talking to you. When someone tells me a thing that happened, what do I feel inside? I want to get the story out. It's for the person who reads it to have the feeling . . . In most cases the person I encounter is not a celebrity; rather the ordinary person. "Ordinary" is a word I loathe. It has a patronizing air. I have come across ordinary people who have done extraordinary things.”
― Studs Terkel, Touch and Go: A Memoir
picture via Wikimedia Commons
Louis “Studs” Terkel was an outstanding writer. Although most people know him for his books, he was also an actor, historian, and broadcaster. He lived to be 96, (May 16th 1912-October 31st 2008). In 1985, when he was 73, he received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for his book,“The Good War.” Some of the things that he is best remembered for are his oral histories, or interviews of common Americans, and for a long-running radio show in Chicago. His parents were Samuel Terkel, and Anna Finkel. His father was a tailor, and his mother was a seamstress. He lived in New York, New York until he was eight, at which point he moved to Chicago with his family. He had two brothers, Ben (1907-1965), and Meyer (1905-1958), so Louis “Studs” Terkel was the youngest. Starting at 1926, up until 1936, his parents ran a rooming house that served a few purposes. One of the purposes was a meeting place, for, well, anybody. Louis “Studs” Terkel credited his amazing understanding of people to the rooming house. In 1939, Louis “Studs” Terkel married Ida Goldberg, a social worker. Ida lived from 1912 to 1999. Together, they had one son named Dan. Terkel received his Law degree from the Chicago Law School, but instead of following law, in the year 1932, he chose instead to work as a concierge at an hotel. Shortly after that, he joined a theater group. He also took part in The Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ (WPA). He worked in radio, airing many different programs including soap opera, news, sports, and music. His popular Radio Program,The Studs Terkel Program, was played on 98.7 WFMT from 1952, up until 1997. The hour long program was broadcasted every weekday during those years. On the program, he interviewed guests. He had a wide range of guests, he interviewed people like Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, and many, many more. In 1956, Louis “Studs” Terkel published Giants of Jazz, his first book. It consisted of thirteen pieces about jazz musicians. Ten years later, in 1967, he released another book full of interviews with people in Chicago. It was his first book of oral history, titled Division Street America. He has released many more great books, his writing style is unique, and you should totally check him out. You can find some of his broadcasts via the link below.
Right: Mr. Terkel's annotations of a David Hockney book.
Below: Studs Terkel, Mr. Drury, and Andrea Lamoreaux at WFMT.
Below right: Inscription by Studs Terkel, from Mr. Drury's copy of Working.
Selected Bibliography
Selected Bibliography
Giants of Jazz
(1957)
Division Street America
(1967)
Hard Times
(1970)
Working
(1974)
Talking to Myself
(1977)
American Dreams
(1980)
The Good War
(1984)
Race
(1992)
Coming of Age
(1995)
My American Century
(1997)
The Spectator
(1999)
Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
(2001)
Hope Dies Last
(2003)
Young Bob
(2003)
And They All Sang
(2005)
The Studs Terkel Reader
(2007)
Touch and Go: A Memoir
(2007)
The Studs Terkel Interviews: Film and Theater
(2008)
Report abuse