Working

like any studs terkel book, you start off like "wow, everyone has a story" and then 400 pages later you're like "jesus, EVERYONE has a story."......more

Have you ever imagined what being a mustachioed New York cop in the 70s was like? Or how it feels to labour as a Springsteen-esque steelworker? How about as a stonemason? If you’ve ever idly wondered about any of these things, or about sundry other ways that people make a living, you can’t pass Work......more

They ask me if it’s true that when we bury somebody we dig ‘em out in four, five years and replace ‘em with another one. I tell ‘em no. When these people is buried, he’s buried here for life. —Elmer Ruiz, Gravedigger It is not really accurate to call Terkel the “author” of this book. The real authors......more

This book was to some degree a political gesture when it was written--a radical reassessment of which lives are worth documenting and which voices worth being heard--but it would be a shame to read it that way. What this book is is what life feels like during the hours you don't choose for yourself-......more

In the early 1970s, Studs Terkel interviewed over 100 people to ask them about their jobs. Their insights were always interesting, sometimes hilarious, and often amazing. When I put the plate down, you don’t hear a sound. When I pick up a glass, I want it to be just right. When someone says, “How com......more