Studs Terkel

“Chicago is not the most corrupt American city; it’s the most theatrically corrupt.”
– The Dick Cavett Show (June 9, 1978)

Louis “Studs” Terkel was born on the 16th of May, 1912 in New York. He is author, historian and broadcaster. He grew up in Chicago in his Jewish family. After studying at the University of Chicago he worked at the radio (since 1952 for WFTM). He got his own show primarily to play music. By accident he started interviewing people about American history. From then on his show was called “The Studs Terkel Program”. In 1957 he published his first book “Giants of Jazz”. And ten years later his first book of oral history interviews “Division Street: America” came out. With his book “The Good War” about World War II he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1985.
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Today Terkel has published books about more than 9,000 hours of interviews. He is still living in Chicago.