How a failed lawyer turned the voices of ordinary people into American history

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Studs Terkel transformed the tape recorder into a tool for capturing the human spirit. By interviewing everyone from factory workers to celebrities, he elevated the stories of the non-celebrated into a profound, Pulitzer Prize-winning record of the American experience, proving that every individual life is a unique historical statistic.

Born in 1912, Studs Terkel spent his early life in New York before moving to Chicago at age nine. His parents operated the Wells-Grand Hotel, a rooming house that exposed him to a diverse cross-section of working-class people. Though he earned a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1934, he failed his first bar exam and abandoned the legal profession to pursue acting and radio work.

Terkel’s career in broadcasting was marked by both success and political friction. He hosted the television show Studs’s Place from 1949 to 1952, but his leftist leanings led to him being blacklisted during the McCarthy era. He subsequently moved to the Chicago fine arts station WFMT, where he hosted a daily talk show for 45 years, ending in 1997. It was here that he honed his signature style of engaging, impromptu interviewing.

In the late 1960s, Terkel began using a tape recorder to document the lives of ordinary Americans. His 1967 book, Division Street: America, featured 70 recorded conversations and launched his career as an oral historian. He followed this with acclaimed works like Hard Times (1970), Working (1974), and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Good War (1984). His approach was simple yet revolutionary: he treated the thoughts of the non-celebrated as essential history.

Throughout his life, Terkel remained politically active, even filing a lawsuit against AT&T in 2006 to challenge government surveillance. He continued writing and speaking until his death in 2008 at age 96. His final book, P.S.: Further Thoughts from a Lifetime of Listening, was published just days after he passed away, cementing his legacy as a tireless listener who found the extraordinary in the everyday.

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