ON STUDS TERKEL
By Chris Daly
The Times offers "An Appraisal" today of Studs Terkel, who died last week. Studs was a great figure -- journalist, radio host, raconteur, pioneer oral historian, citizen of Chicago.
I thought I detected a strangely pinched and begrudging tone in Edward Rothstein's piece, as if he were groping for a category to put Terkel in (when he was truly sui generis), or as if he were reaching for a political basis to fault Studs for truly and consistently sticking up for the little guy.
In any case, I just wanted to add my own note of appreciation to Studs. Aside from all his well known accomplishments and his well deserved plaudits, Studs was also notable as an inspiration for me and others, who followed his work into journalism, history, and allied undertakings. When I was in graduate school studying U.S. history, I know I was under the spell of his great book Working, which took working people seriously as individuals. For me, Terkel's book was an important antidote to most traditional history, which viewed working people as a problem, and most Marxist history, which viewed working people as a magical force.
Studs showed a example of a way to see people as groups and individuals at the same time. He'll be missed.
Labels: history, journalism, Studs Terkel
posted by Chris Daly at 1:01 PM
4 Comments:
this was a good article
Sui generis indeed. One of a kind. I got turned on to Studs (I knew of him as a writer of well-thought-of books I didn't read) when it turned out that getting cable TV in Taos, NM back in the early 80s also meant getting cable FM, and THAT included the Chicago station Studs's show was on.
I had no idea he had a show, but was told to listen by a friend from Chicago. Once I heard him, I was hooked. There was nobody else in "the media" like him. So smart, warm, and enthusiastic about the things he loved. What an interviewer -- he could cut through a guest's BS in a way that was almost genial, he could get famous people to open up, and of course he could get ordinary folks to talk about their lives in such a way as to make each one sound his very best. Studs brought out most people's better angels.
And this doesn't even mention the great music -- especially opera and jazz -- that he featured, and the conversations with poets, and the verbal essays about baseball. And everything brimming over with a sense of life's endless possibilities.
He was an inspiration in a lot of ways.
Larry
Thanks, Larry, for that great post.
Question: does anyone know if any of Studs Terkel's radio programs are archived anywhere so that they are accessible on-line?
Chris
For some reason I only just now saw this post so I am not sure if others are still checking it, but first -- thank you, Chris! There have actually been many rebuttals of the awful Rothstein "appraisal," including one by Adam Cohen on the editorial page of the Times, but perhaps it's best to let this ridiculous article rest.
Many (but very far from all yet) of Studs's programs and other materials are indeed archived and streamable/downloadable at the Chicago History Museum's "Conversations with America" site. The CHM is the repository of Studs's archives:
http://studsterkel.org
You can also find additional programs, interviews with Studs, memorial tributes, and other materials at the website of Studs's longtime radio home, Chicago's WFMT at
http://www.wfmt.com/
(use the search feature once there)
and a long video conversation can be found here:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/05/050420.patner-terkel.shtml
All best,
Andrew Patner
Critic-at-Large, WFMT Radio Chicago and wfmt.com
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