Studs Terkel

July 1st, 2001
Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel

Studs Terkel


Studs Terkel, a Pulitzer prize-winner, was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a presidential National Humanities Medal recipient.

Born in 1912, Studs grew up in Chicago. After graduating Law School in 1934, Studs’ career took a great many turns. He was an actor in radio soap operas, a disk jockey, a sports commentator, a television master of ceremonies and a radio host. He traveled all over the world doing on-the-spot interviews. Studs Terkel lived in
Chicago. He passed away on October 31, 2008.

Sydney Lewis, Interviewer
Sydney Lewis has worked as a waitress, bartender, office goddess, writer
and oral historian. She first met Studs Terkel when she waited on him at a
benefit concert for the I. W. W. in 1976. He ordered a martini.

Highlights from Studs Terkel on Transom

  • Studs Terkel’s “Born to Live

  • Listen to Norman Corwin’s Prayer from “On a Note of Triumph” in Real Audio G2

  • Studs stay at Transom in New York Times (free, though requires registration)
  • Read Studs Terkel’s “Something Real” manifesto.
  • The Studs Terkel edition of “The Transom Review”: HTML or *PDF.
  • Check out Stud Terkel’s Topic in it’s entirety.

    Studs Terkel Links


  • Prairie Home Companion Celebrates Studs’ Birthday (05/16/98)
  • New York Times Books: Featured Author – Studs Terkel

    Books by Studs Terkel:

  • The Spectator,

  • Coming of Age: The Story of our Century by Those Who Lived It.
  • American Dreams: Lost and Found
  • Division Street: America
  • Giants of Jazz
  • The”Good War”: An Oral History of World War II
  • The Great Divide
  • Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression
  • Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession
  • Talking to Myself: A Memoir of My Times
  • Working: People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel about What
    They Do

  • Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and the Hunger
    for a faith.



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