SIGNED P.S. FURTHER THOUGHTS FROM A LIFETIME OF LISTENING

by Studs Terkel

This “electrifying” collection of unpublished work demonstrates the Pulitzer Prize–winning author’s “great gift for tapping into the lifeblood of America” ( Booklist ) .
 
Millions of Studs Terkel fans have come to know the prize-winning oral historian through his landmark books—“ The Good War ”, Hard Times , Working , Will the Circle Be Unbroken? , and many others. Few people realize, however, that much of Studs’s best work was not collected into these thematic volumes and has, in fact, never been published. P.S. brings together these significant and fascinating writings for the first time.
 
The pieces in P.S. reflect Terkel’s wide-ranging interests and travels, as well as his abiding connection to his hometown, Chicago. Here we have a fascinating conversation with James Baldwin, possibly Terkel’s finest interview with an author; pieces on the colorful history and culture of Chicago; vivid portraits of Terkel’s heroes and cohorts (including an insightful and still timely interview with songwriter Yip Harburg, known for his “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime”); and the transcript of Terkel’s famous broadcast on the Depression, the moving chronicle that would later develop into Hard Times .
 
A fitting postscript to a lifetime of listening, P.S. is a truly Terkelesque display of the author’s extraordinary range of talent and the amazing people he spoke to.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, History, Oral History, Autobiography

Paperback

First published November 3, 2008

About the author

Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for "The Good War", and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.

Terkel was acclaimed for his efforts to preserve American oral history. His 1985 book "The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two", which detailed ordinary peoples' accounts of the country's involvement in World War II, won the Pulitzer Prize. For "Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression", Terkel assembled recollections of the Great Depression that spanned the socioeconomic spectrum, from Okies, through prison inmates, to the wealthy. His 1974 book, "Working" also was highly acclaimed. In 1995, he received the Chicago History Museum "Making History Award" for Distinction in Journalism and Communications. In 1997, Terkel was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters. Two years later, he received the George Polk Career Award in 1999.

Reviews

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at a used books store as Terkel is one of my favorites. This short collection of works is not one of my favorites - it doesn't hold a central theme as effectively as some of his more notable collections, and some of his own essays I found harder to decipher in today's day and age. But there were a few notables I enjoyed, including his interviews with James Baldwin, E. Y. Yip Harburg, and the collections in Part III - A Gathering of Survivors (children of the Great Depression) and Born to Live (a wide ranging group of voices with a central theme of man's menace to man). For his own essays, while aspects I found harder to interpret, are still a fascinating glimpse into Chicago's past.

[Tomasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Terkel is a very wholesome addiction, and I'm not ashamed to admit I am addicted to his books, going for a quarter of a century. That being said, "P.S." is very much a bit of bait for Terkel completionists, a loose compilation of very varied bits. Still, I'm glad I finally got around to reading it, as the man never failed to please.

[Dkolacinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Studs Terkel my very first day in college. The year was 1965 and the world was wide open to me. I've read and re-read Studs my whole life, and now, I revisit him one last time. Good bye Studs. May we meet in the great beyond, whatever shape it is.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Studs Terkel is smarter than I am and I feel like I should take a class to learn more. I think I'll practice better listening and check out more books in the meantime.

[Molly Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real life stories

Different approach which enjoyed. The timing to read it was perfect given our current climate economically. I hope you enjoy

[Carlton Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

"All art is a kind of confession"

[Patti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing collection of work by Studs Terkel. In the light of the inauguration of Barack Obama, the most fascinating section is the interview with James Baldwin in 1961.
"Time is always now. I think everybody who's thought about his own life knows this. You know you don't make resolutions about something you're going to do next year. No. You decide to write a book? No. The book may be finished twenty years from now, but you've got to start it now."

The last section in the book is a transcript of the production of "Born to Live" which Studs played on his radio show on New Year's Day for 31 years. I was able to find it on line and listen. Here is one of the quotes of a prayer offered by Reverend William Sloane Coffin Jr in the production.
"Grant us grace to quarrel with the worship of success and power, with the assumption that people are less important than the jobs they hold. Grant us grace to quarrel with the mass culture that tends not to satisfy, but exploit the wants of people; to quarrel with those who pledge allegiance to one race, rather than the human race. Lord, grant us grace to quarrel with all that profanes, and trivializes, and separates men."

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a little bit of Studs Terkel in my high school Humanities class, but never really got into him until I read this book. My favorite pieces are the interviews with James Baldwin, E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (inspired me to check out his Finnian's Rainbow on Netflix), one interviewing a woman named Peggy Terry (marvelous quotes on the intersection of race and class), and the last piece (originally a 1962 radio montage) called Born to Live."

[louisa]

Finally read some Studs. Know there are better places to start, but it was an orphan work in the As among "Recreation for the Southern Gentleman" and "Opinions on Various Things," a four volume, gold-embossed work from the turn of the century. Did really enjoy his Christmas story and the Baldwin interview.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that reminds you that a form of English language is one of the few things that links us Brits to our American cousins, and even that doesn't help at times. The journalistic style gets annoying (and especially the overlong parts put into parentheses which have you forgetting what the point was that was being made at the start of that particular passage of script).

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

i loved the earlier pieces in this book - studs' voice totally comes through, as does some of the people he writes about. but some of the pieces are transcripts from his radio show, and don't always translate to the page as well. still good stuff - but very much what one might expect for a book culled from random bits & pieces of studs' career.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of essays and articles previously published was a bit hard to follow--Studs Terkel was evidently a guy who wrote about his time, his city and his people--not all of that was interesting to me.

[South Buncombe Library]

"So may we leave the world a little more truth, a little more justice, a little more beauty than would have been there had we not loved the world enough to quarrel with it for what it is not, but still could be."

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another collection of Stud's interviews with more notable folks. Especially good was selection with James Baldwin.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably this is a better book than I'm giving it credit for. Reading radio transcripts and miscellaneous interviews was hard to get through without any real background of his fuller works.

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's an amazing interview with James Baldwin dating from the early sixties.

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This collection reads more like a hodgepodge of miscellany. I have read and enjoyed Studs Terkel's interviews but this last book doesn't do him justice.

[Joe Brunory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Studs was an icon and walking history.