Touch and Go: A Memoir
Files
Document Type
Book
Description
At nearly 95, Studs Terkel has written about everyone's life, it seems, but his own. Here he offers a memoir which--embodying the spirit of the man himself--is youthful and vivacious. Terkel begins by taking us back to his childhood, describing the hectic life of a family trying to earn a living in Chicago. He then goes on to his experiences--as a poll watcher charged with stealing votes for the Democratic machine, as a young theatergoer, and eventually as an actor himself in both radio and on the stage--giving us a portrait of the Chicago of the 1920s and 1930s. He tells of his beginnings as a disc jockey after World War II and as an interviewer and oral historian--a craft he would come to perfect. Finally, he discusses his involvement with progressive politics, leading to his travails during the McCarthy period when he was blacklisted.
Publication Date
2007
Publisher
New Press
City
New York
State
NY
Award
2006 Lifetime Achievement Award
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Creative Writing | History | Nonfiction
Repository Citation
Terkel , S. (2007). Touch and Go: A Memoir. New York, NY: New Press.
