A touch of the Reality Tree

books:


	• Touch and Go: A Memoir Studs Terkel New Press, 2007 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A touch of the Reality Tree

Studs is a national treasure. That he's a great listener anyone who is familiar with his "Working," "Hard Times," "Race," etc. already knows. His story telling skills haven't diminished a bit as he approaches the century mark. The only thing that I found disappointing was that it ended so soon. I felt like I was paying a visit to a great friend & I had to leave too early. Still, any time spent with Studs is a treat.

His observations, especially in some of the later chapters "And nobody laughed" and "Einstein and the rest of us" remind us that the madness that we're currently experiencing has roots that are both recent and back over half a century. His observations also, to the annoyance of many, refuse to be clouded by the hype from all quarters that we're constantly bombarded with. That Ronald Reagan and his administration's devastating policies still haven't been discovered by the very citizens whose lives have been (adversely) effected the most ("What's the matter with Kansas"), as we currently have presidential candidates falling all over themselves to "out Reagan" each other, don't cease to amaze. The selective amnesia that infests our society doesn't just border on the surreal, but has crossed the line with plenty to spare.

If you frequently find yourself having that uneasy feeling as if you were stuck in a dreamscape conjured up by Salvador Dali during a fit of madness, or perhaps find yourself carrying one of those Bush Countdown Clocks around to remind yourself that maybe there will be a beginning to an end one day, then a strong dose of Studs might offer hope that reality might still exist.

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Studs in Print

Fans of Studs Terkel will love this book. His radio voice leaps off the page: the same rhythms, the same w ay of telling a story. Readers who don't know Studs will be treated to an account of the twentieth century that is at once highly personal and local and at the same time universal in its subject matter. Highly recommended!

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Mike's opinion:

I enjoyed the book. It brought back memories of times past, I love Chicago. While not as liberal as Studs, I appreciate his passion, kindness and thoughtfullness for those less fortunate. Studs has always been fun and so interesting. I always feel enriched, after reading his books.

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The Keeper of History

This is a stream of consciousness book and not particularly easy reading, but the experiences and stories and recounting of history contained in it is priceless. Studs laments how easily seminal people are forgotten and he has made it his business to let the forgotten ones know that he remembers them and knows of their importance in our country's story.

Anyone who reads this book will be richer for doing so and will be better able to tackle the current election and issues we face.

reviews: page 1, 2

The extraordinary life and times of an American icon?the Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian's long-awaited memoir?a major publishing event.

At nearly ninety-five, Studs Terkel has written about everyone's life, it seems, but his own. In Touch and Go, he offers a memoir which?embodying the spirit of the man himself?is youthful, vivacious, and enormous fun.

Terkel begins by taking us back to his early childhood with his father, mother, and two older brothers, describing the hectic life of a family trying to earn a living in Chicago. He then goes on to recall his own experiences?as a poll watcher charged with stealing votes for the Democratic machine, as a young theatergoer, and eventually as an actor himself in both radio and on the stage?giving us a brilliant and often hilarious portrait of the Chicago of the 1920s and '30s. He tells of his beginnings as a disc jockey after World War II and as an interviewer and oral historian?a craft he would come to perfect and indeed personify. Finally, he discusses his involvement with progressive politics, leading inevitably to his travails during the McCarthy period when he was blacklisted and thrown out of work despite having become by then one of the country's most popular TV hosts.

Fans of Studs Terkel will find much to discover in these remarkable reminiscences. Others will be captivated to learn of the unique and eclectic life of one of America's greatest living legends.

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