hey there,
i am very sorry to report that oral historian studs terkel passed away today.
studs terkel was a great man. his philosphy as a oral historian was always the same - if you want the truth of history you talk to the common men and women, the ones who lived it.
ironically, terkel's own oral history, heard in countless interviews, was incredibly interesting as well. and he was a hootfest to the very end. i heard an interview with him on NPR several years ago that had me in tears. he managed to capture and filet, in just a few brief and humorously delivered sentences, about everyone involved in the iraq invasion fiasco. i remember specifically how he managed to turn donald rumsfeld into some type of incompetent saturday morning cartoon "super-hero" in about 45 seconds.
studs terkel was the quintessential lampooner of buffoons. he had an extremely sophisticated bullshit detector that i suspect was fine-tuned from all of the countless oral histories that he conducted with everyday people. i've always thought that the "important" people that lived during terkel's time should count their blessings, because had he focused his written word on them instead of the common man, they would have been exposed and drawn & quartered - mark twain style - in a few choice paragraphs.
this short, humorous, but feisty and very wise man had the capability of being the biggest pain in the ass. but the pain was always reserved for the pompous and arrogant asses that deserved it the most.
god bless studs terkel, everyman's everyman.
"How can one talk about life without saying sometime it's going to end? It makes the value of life all the more precious."
(S. Terkel)
CNN obit:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/10/31/studs.terkel.obit/index.html
NYT obit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/books/01terkel.html?pagewanted=1&em
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