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A review of Voices of Our Times: Five Decades of Studs Terkel Interviews.
I, like any good Chicagoan, know who Studs Terkel. Besides his historical writing based on collected oral histories, Studs also hosted a local radio show where he interviewed the biggest names in literature, music and entertainment. This audiobook is a greatest hits collection with excerpts from interviews with the likes Woody Allen, Maya Angelou, Mel Brooks, Pete Seeger, Dorthy Parker, and James Baldwin. My favorite has to be the interview with Mel Brooks. He does the entire interview in this crazy Greek character and Studs plays the straight man perfectly. Studs goes beyond interviewing his subjects, he engages them in these amazing conversations that go in unexpected and interesting places. Compare these interviews with the crap you find on “The View” or Bill O’Reilly and one can see why people mourn our current culture. Studs shows great respect for not only his subjects but also what expertise they bring to the table. After listening to this collection I fully committing myself to reading the rest of Studs work, but only in audiobook. Studs has the best voice. It’s like listening to a cup of tea, warm and comforting. I could listen to him read the phonebook. Seriously. This so gets an Awesome.
