What a fantastic person and one of my favorite authors. Obama was right when he called him a "national treasure." As our economy has crashed I've often thought about his classic Depression-era stories in Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression. Terkel wrote about all Americans, not just the richest but all Americans, rich and poor.
Studs Terkel, the resolutely liberal broadcaster and writer whose work gave voice to the experiences of ordinary Americans, has died aged 96.
Terkel had suffered from ill-health for a number of years, but perked up in 2005 after open heart surgery – the oldest person to undergo such a procedure. Yet two weeks ago he suffered a fall at home. He had survived previous tumbles, joking after one: "I was walking downstairs carrying a drink in one hand and a book in the other. Don't try that after 90." This time, however, there was to be no revival, and he died peacefully at home on Friday. By his bedside was a copy of his latest book – PS: Further Thoughts From a Lifetime of Listening, due out next month – at least the fourth he had produced in his nineties.
