From the 1950s through 1997, Louis “Studs” Terkel, bestselling author of Hard Times, Working, The Great War, Coming of Age, and eight other books, hosted a daily one-hour show on WFMT Radio in Chicago. This nationally syndicated, Peabody Award-winning program was an ideal showcase for his curmudgeonly wit, his maverick opinions, and his genius as an interviewer.

The 48 interviews in this collection, span Terkel’s five decades on radio and encompass a wide range of entertainers, scientists, writers and thinkers, including Dorothy Parker, Pete Seeger, Bob Woodward, Simone de Beauvoir, and many more.