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 What better way to celebrate a remarkable life....
...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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