Studs TerkelRecensioner

Great book. These stories are really humane and touching. People talk about their jobs with dignity (either existing or desired). You can not stop sympathizing with them.



But still these interviews are lopsided in a way. Nasty as it may sound I still want to hear from those, whom these workers despise or simply don't understand. It would be a revealing read too - to see the motives of a careerists, sweatshop foremen, managers in malls and cafeterias etc...

They may sound shallow and disgusting, but they still need to be heard. We need a broader picture.

Ignited an interest in oral history recording.

Nobody does oral History like Studs Terkel: 101 Americans speak about their imagines future

In this book, Terkel relays oral histories of people who were exposed to the Depression including farmers, politicians, industrialists, African Americans, artists. You name it, it's in there. It is history through the eyes of the common and not-so-common man.

It strikes me that a book like this would be highly unlikely to be published today - - in the days where YouTube and blogging provide thousands of first person accounts of the world around us. Available in seconds.

I thought that this book would be truly fascinating, but because I didn't really know enough (or recollect enough history classes) about the Depression, I found myself constantly distracted by the many acronyms for government programs. Some of the folks really told about what life was like in and interesting way, but others reminded me of old, boring people who just were telling dull, tangential stories.

All in all, I think if the author had prefaced his chapter with some analysis of the group of people he was talking to and some historical facts, I would have loved the book. But the standalone oral histories didn't quite do it for me.

Nonetheless, I would read more Terkel, but if I selected one of his books that focused on a historical event, I'd read a background book first on the event so I was a little more educated before delving into the histories.

A masterfully organized relating of oral anecdotes from Great Depression America. The author collected them all himself and they range from touching to depressing to amusing to astounding.

Good account of various people and how they feel about their jobs.

5809. The Great Divide sec,nd thoughts on the american dream, by Studs Terkel, (read 10 Nov 2022) This book was published in 1988 and sets forth the expressions of many people, famed and unknown alike, and tells of their thoughts on their life and views of the way things appear to them. Often I thought the views expressed were weird or wrong but some seemed sensible. Since the accounts are not lengthy if the views were irritating one soon came to the next account and it might be better. I read this book because I read two other books by Terkel, one on "The Good War" (World War Two} which I found good reading, and the other--Hard Times", an oral history of the Depression.. I am not sure this book was worth reading at this time--it might have been in 1988--but since I started it I read the whole thing even though what seemed to be prominent in some people's thinking in 1987 did nto compare with t he more dire situation of today. True, Communist Russia was a worry then but a non-Communist Russia is still a worry today.½

Just as good as hoped. Covers the gamut from combat vets to wives to the home front, and among all combatants - including a few stories from Germany and Japan.

Written in his usual style, that feels like you are overhearing a conversation at an airport bar.

Kathy Fagan

Want to know how we fought Nazis since things are starting to look a little Nazi-like? Fearing a totalitarian regime and fascism? Want to know how Americans of all walks of life came together and what came out of that? This book is filled with their personal stories. Studs Terkel is the man, he won the Pulitzer for this, and you should read it at least once in your life.

adult nonfiction; sociology/history. Invaluable perspectives compiled dutifully by Studs. Read a few that interest you, then read a few more, and a few more.

update: I only vaguely remember picking this book up before, but it seems fitting to revisit from time to time--this time I made it through more than half of the book. Though it was published in 1974, the two interviews with policemen (one white, one black) and some of the other interviews take on new significance in light of current racial issues and Black Lives Matter.

nonfiction/collection of oral histories from various perspectives on the 1930s in the U.S.

I'd have to reread it to write a decent review, but reading interviews of common folk--instead of the leaders, statistics, or historical accounts filled with dates, treaties, and battles--is life-changing.

I'll have to get a copy for my personal library.

I read this to learn more about Chicago, and mostly what I learned is that Studs Terkel really loved Chicago. His highbrow/lowbrow style and the cast of characters he knew makes it engaging.

Mostly interesting, though some interviews could have been cut without much loss. It gives a good portrait of its time.

Started Labor Day weekend, and finished three months later. That isn't an indictment of the book, but that it is the perfect work to read in fits and starts. Stolen moments, say from working...

An oral history of work in 1970 or so USA. The world I was born into. Everyone has something to say, no one ever does anything about it as the old joke goes.

I feel as though this book could have been written any time from 1789 to present. Terkel interviews citizens from all over the country in different walks of life and of different races and ethnic groups. Some are optimistic--things are much better than when they were younger. Others are pessimistic, they feel that their security and status have declined. Racism, capitalistic greed, destruction of the environment seem constants. In fact, the book was published in 1980--the major change I see since that time is the increase in women in public life and the increased visibility and rights for sexual minorities. One item of interest is an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger--a very driven and goal oriented man whose body building career had reached its climax and whose motion picture career, not mentioned in the interview, was just getting started. It seems as though the American Dream is always a work in progress, failing for some, succeeding for others and being redefined as the nation changes. It is, as the subtile has it, "lost and found."

Picked up and couldn't put down. Currently working through _Working_, previously read _Hard Times_.

Will have to chase down _The Good War_, as each piece collected here was incredible.

I have many books by this author, but this was the first I read. I considered this another journalism textbook for its insight into interviewing and for a better understanding of my one-word defintion of news: people.

The best way to read "The Good War" is to sit down with a cup of coffee and envision a WWII vet sitting across from you. He has a faraway look in his eyes and a slight tremor in his hands as he remembers best a single event that most likely changed his life forever. But, don't stop there. Now sitting across from you could be a businessman, a nurse, a dress maker, a dancer, a man who was just a child during the war and thought the battlefield was place of adventure. you might imagine someone who survived a prison camp, or a conscientious objector, or a young boy who thought enlisting would be a chance to prove himself...Terkel interviewed people from all walks of life. Each story is unique and yet, yet hauntingly similar. You hear of young men losing their sense of humanity in the face of unimaginable cruelty: a man remembers watching his comrade in arms throw pebbles into the open skull of a dead Japanese soldier; the smell of cooking cats. Other young men speak of hiding their sexual orientation while trying to appear manly enough for battle (Ted Allenby's story reminded me of Ryan O'Callaghan a great deal). But, you also hear from the women: wives and girlfriends left behind, Red Cross nurses on the front lines, even singers sent to entertain the troops. It is easy to see why this stunning nonfiction won a Pulitzer.

A bit of a slog. Less drama than I expected, less diversity (both in the interviewees and in their voices), and more interviews with the rich and privileged. As an oral history, it doesn't compare with Svetlana Alexievich's "Voices from Chernobyl."

> I got out of art school in 1930. That was the proper time for any artist to get out of school. (Laughs.) Everybody was unemployed, and the artist didn't seem strange any more.

While the music fit into the workers' anecdotes well, I found that my attention wandered. This adaptation did make me interested in reading Terkel's book someday though.½

Stemming from a set of radio interviews we get a Chicago centric view of working class life in America. Mr. Terkel, a working class liberal, is a more than competent intviewer and had quite an interesting life.½

If I had to recommend one book on WWII, this would be it. The Good War contains short, personal, first-hand viewpoints of the war from just about every possible perspective.