# Studs Terkel Turns 95

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studs-terkel-turns-95/404288>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 16, 2007, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studs-terkel-turns-95/404288 "2007-05-16T04:32:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studs-terkel-turns-95/404288/1 "2007-05-16T04:32:22Z")

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Happy Birthday, Studs!

[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/PEOPLE/705160301](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/PEOPLE/705160301)

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**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studs-terkel-turns-95/404288/2 "2007-05-16T05:29:24Z")

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Truly a great man, and a great American.

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**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studs-terkel-turns-95/404288/3 "2007-05-16T06:30:22Z")

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Reading _Working_ in college was a transformative experience. Happy Birthday, Mr. Terkel, and it’s good to have you with us still.

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**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studs-terkel-turns-95/404288/4 "2007-05-17T16:10:11Z")

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Most of Studs’ books are better than anybody else’s best at conveying what life is about. What an amazing job! Happy birthday, sir!

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**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studs-terkel-turns-95/404288/5 "2007-05-17T16:33:01Z")

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He is the best there ever was for what he does. Besides _Working_ already mentioned, _The Good War_ was another of his books that held me spellbound.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studs-terkel-turns-95/404288/6 "2007-05-17T18:05:44Z")

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Amazing guy. I’ve seen him speak a few times and I’ve read _American Dreams_. I would like to try my hand at oral history at least once.

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**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studs-terkel-turns-95/404288/7 "2007-05-17T18:30:53Z")

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If you’ve ever read transcripts of actual interviews, you’ll know that they’re very messy. Like when most of us talk, there’s a lot of pauses, er’s and um’s, repititions, ellipses, and back tracking. What he does is make the interview fascinating. Maybe it’s not that hard to do in short doses, such as in a magazine interview, but his interviews go for pages and pages, while retaining the informant’s unique voice. You can almost picture the person talking.