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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