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4th out of 261 books
—
180 voters
Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do
by
Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel records the voices of America. Men and women from every walk of life talk to him, telling him of their likes and dislikes, fears, problems, and happinesses on the job. Once again, Terkel has created a rich and unique document that is as simple as conversation, but as subtle and heartfelt as the meaning of our lives.... In the first trade paperback edition of h...more
Paperback, 640 pages
Published
February 28th 1997
by New Press, The
(first published 1974)
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This book was to some degree a political gesture when it was written--a radical reassessment of which lives are worth documenting and which voices worth being heard--but it would be a shame to read it that way.
What this book is is what life feels like during the hours you don't choose for yourself--as told by airline stewardesses, union bosses, factory workers, CEOs, car salesmen, whatever--and there's as much humanity in here as in any novel. It is also, incidentally, insanely useful source ma...more
What this book is is what life feels like during the hours you don't choose for yourself--as told by airline stewardesses, union bosses, factory workers, CEOs, car salesmen, whatever--and there's as much humanity in here as in any novel. It is also, incidentally, insanely useful source ma...more
I think that in today's climate of reality TV and everyone trying to sell their story or seek their "15 minutes" that the interviews for this book couldn't have been done with the un-selfconsciousness with which they were done 30-plus years ago.
Short little 1/2-4 page interviews with people about their jobs. There is the stockbroker that admits getting into the stocks is going to have you losing money, the housewife, the executive secretary (this was published n the 70s), the mason, hotel operator, newspaper carrier.... It's interesting esp because it also is a glimpse into 30 years ago but also just intersting for people to talk about their work. Not everyone's happy, not everyone's unhappy with their jobs but Stud Terkel does an admi...more
I think I killed Studs Terkel. Since I was a kid I've read omens and augeries into anything slightly out of the ordinary that happens to or around me, so I know my sudden and intense interest in him right before he died can't be a coincidence.
This is an amazing book, although I can't imagine reading too much in one go. It's surprising how pro-union everyone seemed to be not so long ago. What happened?
If anyone wants mp3s of Studs Terkel interviewing Dorothy Parker, Alan Lomax, James Baldwin, Mah...more
This is an amazing book, although I can't imagine reading too much in one go. It's surprising how pro-union everyone seemed to be not so long ago. What happened?
If anyone wants mp3s of Studs Terkel interviewing Dorothy Parker, Alan Lomax, James Baldwin, Mah...more
I found hearing honest thoughts and feelings people have toward the things they do for a living to be intriguing. This is a compilation of something like 100 short sketches of various people doing various jobs. There is little if any commentary by the author--it comes across like a documentary, where the person conducting the interview is rarely heard. With almost all of the people, I found I could relate in deep ways, and I really liked that. Even the paper boy who talked about his occupation i...more
Studs Terkel opens Working with one of the most stirring sentences I have read of late: "This book, being about work, is, by its very nature, about violence - to the spirit as well as to the body." And although Terkel's voice and narration are only present for the following 13 pages of the Introduction, giving way to 600 pages of the voices of others, the power of his intent resonates through to the back cover.
Those remaining 600 pages are direct transcriptions from the stories told to Terkel b...more
Those remaining 600 pages are direct transcriptions from the stories told to Terkel b...more
Does it get better than Studs Terkel? No. It doesn't. Here's a man who created and sustained, all by himself, a particular non-fiction genre that had never been conceived of before. The long, almost unedited interview with the questions deleted. It permitted (and, yes, it's past tense because to my knowledge no one has seen fit to pick up the torch) the entry by the reader into the personal thoughts and values of the person interviewed to a degree otherwise impossible. Of course, I'm sure that M...more
I'm a fan of both Studs Terkel and of oral histories, so this book was a win-win for me. Terkel interviews people from all walks of life about the work that they do and how they feel about their occupations. And the interviews range from the humorous to the truly sad. It's apparent in these short oral histories that Terkel isn't making judgments about certain occupations. Instead, he seems genuinely interested in what people do and how they perceive their jobs. However, the fact that this book w...more
Why do people work if the don't like their jobs? Why do people work? Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, documents the lives of people's working lives. Of course, the title gave it all away already. Personally, I think the title is way too detailed and unthoughtful.
But anyway, the pages after the cover page are about workers during the 70's and are interviewed about what they do for a living, why they do it, what they like, and vice versa. A very...more
But anyway, the pages after the cover page are about workers during the 70's and are interviewed about what they do for a living, why they do it, what they like, and vice versa. A very...more
Well, the subtitle explains it all: "People talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do". This is a collection of short transcribed interviews of people talking about their work.
Most of these people don't really like their jobs. In many cases this seems to do with lack of status, and how other people treat them. Sometimes it's because the job seems pointless - because there's no clear sense of having accomplished something useful at the end of the day.
Occasionally, the...more
Most of these people don't really like their jobs. In many cases this seems to do with lack of status, and how other people treat them. Sometimes it's because the job seems pointless - because there's no clear sense of having accomplished something useful at the end of the day.
Occasionally, the...more
A wonderful collection of stories about work. I found this in the discount table of a chain bookstore the summer after I graduated from college and before my professional identity was established. I read each chapter avidly, swallowing whole (if such a thing were possible) each person's story, attending to which jobs sounded pleasant, which horrible, which I thought I could do, which not, which seemed to endow the teller with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, which not. To my surprise,...more
1 like · like · see review
I haven't made it halfway through this book yet but I can't put it down. What an extraordinary experience it is to read this. Despite the fact that this is slightly outdated now, forty years down after it was collected, it is still incredibly relevant for anyone who has to get up every morning (or evening) and go to work. I am struck by how often people say the newer generations are changing the workplace with their attitudes. It sounds like they are talking about the generation of today, when i...more
I picked this one up for what it might tell me about why we need to work in the first place. It was a question an English prof asked in one of my Shakespeare courses as an undergrad, and at the time none of us had a clue as to why (I remember the question in part because of the silence that pervaded the room after it was asked). Frankly, I'm still trying to figure it out, and Studs' stuff, as always, gives lots of direction. I'm struck here by the ways work lives have both changed and not change...more
A stunning look at America in the 1970's. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at some of the depictions of these hard-working people. Mostly I just wanted to quit my job.
It would be interesting to see what Americans would say to the same questions Studs posed in today's working world (although nobody could replace the way he asked them). I would suspect that fewer would complain about the toll work placed on their bodies (we probably could use a little more of that to tell the truth). But I im...more
It would be interesting to see what Americans would say to the same questions Studs posed in today's working world (although nobody could replace the way he asked them). I would suspect that fewer would complain about the toll work placed on their bodies (we probably could use a little more of that to tell the truth). But I im...more
1 like · like · see review
I'd heard about this forever, feels like something I'd really like to read now. Partly if I get the job involving unions; in any case because the country (world) is at a turning point regarding work. Much of the -work- that had been done integrally involved harm to the earth or to a group of people or to one's customers or employees or all of the above. Feels like at this moment, since so much has to change anyway, people are somewhat awake about the potential of now to change those aspects as w...more
If there were an edited version of this book I'd like it a lot better. Although I like how the author put down the word-for-word transcription so it feels like you get to know the different interviewees, apparently the majority of the world likes to cuss-a lot. This book covers blue collar America and almost everyone is disappointed in or extremely dislikes their job most of the time. These people have tough jobs and tough lives! It should be called: "A college education is worth it." :-) I wish...more
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like any studs terkel book, you start off like "wow, everyone has a story" and then 400 pages later you're like "jesus, EVERYONE has a story."
8 likes · like · see review
This book is like a documentary of many voices of the people of America. Each tell the author of their experiences living in the country. It is simple, conversational, yet very powerful. Although this is nonfiction, as a fiction writer I have learned form this book that there is nothing more powerful as a reader than the emotions of people or characters in your story, because these emotions reflect on the reader. What I hope to do most for my writers is make them feel for my characters, as Terk...more
I got about 100 pages into this 600-page tome, and I couldn't help but feel that the reading endeavor as pointless as some of the folks felt that their jobs were. It's interesting to hear people's voices, straight with little editing, but disconcerting after a while to not find any sort of structure or context, aside from the somewhat esoteric organization of the order of interviews. The common theme seemed to be that lots of people didn't like their jobs very much, and that lots of them felt, i...more
I wish I hadn't checked this out electronically from the library. Because it's not a book that you read cover-to-cover, linearly, in a few weeks. It's long and the stories don't really intersect or build on each other. But it IS a book that you keep on your nightstand, read a short chapter or two every once in a while, flip back and forth, until you eventually finish. I suspect that you would get a lot more out of the book that way. Even so, Studs is great at both description and getting to the...more
Remains a classic. I'll be reading it a few people at a time though with other books in between.
1 like · like · see review
-Advisory Summer Reading book-
This book jumped out to me when i was looking through the books we could read and this stood out. The title is probably not that interesting but i like one word titles. When i went to the library to get this book, it turns out it wasnt a one word title and that it was a really long title. i still read it nonetheless. This book is all about people who works and what they think about it. It is a story all about people and what they enjoy and not enjoy about their work...more
This book jumped out to me when i was looking through the books we could read and this stood out. The title is probably not that interesting but i like one word titles. When i went to the library to get this book, it turns out it wasnt a one word title and that it was a really long title. i still read it nonetheless. This book is all about people who works and what they think about it. It is a story all about people and what they enjoy and not enjoy about their work...more
I read this book when it was first issued in 1975. I think my brother raved about it and got me to read it. I was captivated by Terkel's narrative style which really made you feel like you were almost having coffee with these interesting people, dropping into their life for a day. Wonderful and it really illuminates the human value and dignity of varied lives so much more effectively than any political discourse or human rights lawyer ever could. Terkel had a knack for getting people to trust hi...more
This book is basically a series of stories by the working class. This book was pretty interesting even though there were no plot or anything. It's stories of the working class's daily routine in work and how they feel about it, it shows the process of the American Dream because all the people were the hard laborers, even if they are high statuses. This book sets the reader into the shoes of the working class and i find it really inspirational and admirable. This allows us to explore the lives of...more
Jesus, there are whole worlds in here. This is the voice of the old America, a suite of working class existences that didn't make the history books. Here are bosses and steelworkers, waitstaff and ad men, cops and hookers. There's one voice in particular, a waitress, named Dolores Dante, that stands out. She is completely and utterly fascinating...
And yet, to the modern reader, this is a dead America. A time of working class solidarity, of unionism, of decent jobs. Not to be nostalgic or anythin...more
And yet, to the modern reader, this is a dead America. A time of working class solidarity, of unionism, of decent jobs. Not to be nostalgic or anythin...more
Studs Terkel's classic book "Working" is nothing more than a large volume of transcribed confessions of working people. The concept is deceptively simple, but what it reveals about a common activity that unites all of humanity is often truly surprising. Do you hate your job? Guess what. Most people do! Terkel gets workers from waitresses and steel workers to dentists and ad executives to confess what's really in their souls and how they really feel about what they do to make a buck. The surprise...more
The professions in Working aren't glamorous but they're human. The switchboard operator, the prostitute, the unsung executive, the museum curator, they're all spoken for here. That's part of what makes Studs' book so remarkable, his willingness to pursue the unsung sectors of the American experience and what it means to really be happy with what you do. No matter the profession, Studs treats it with perfect respect and admiration, realizing that we all do what we have to do to get by no matter t...more
Very simple concept, very good book. One of the most informative I've ever read. Some of the jobs described no longer exist, but their message carries over perfectly well. Highly recommended for people who want to think about what they'd like to do, what they are doing, and what other people think in their own roles. The title says it all.
Some favourite bits:
"A hustler is any woman in American Society. I was the kind of hustler who received money for favours granted rather than the type of hustl...more
Some favourite bits:
"A hustler is any woman in American Society. I was the kind of hustler who received money for favours granted rather than the type of hustl...more
Mar 24, 2012
Ashley
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2012-books,
non-fiction
It took me almost a month to read this and has gotten me a little off-track my reading goal for the year. The concept was interesting, but it was pretty boring overall for me.
Written in 1972 and organized into relatively short vignettes, Terkel explores a multitude of occupations ranging from farmer to stock trader to stonecutter to hooker to apartment dooramn. Most of the jobs are in and around Chicago. Given the time, computers/technology didn't play much a role, though several of the subject...more
Written in 1972 and organized into relatively short vignettes, Terkel explores a multitude of occupations ranging from farmer to stock trader to stonecutter to hooker to apartment dooramn. Most of the jobs are in and around Chicago. Given the time, computers/technology didn't play much a role, though several of the subject...more
An amazing slice of history, Terkel interviewed and summed up the working lives of over 125 people, around the year 1970. Many sections are largely in their own words.
So many of those interviewed say their jobs won't be around in another 10 years, or that they have and will continue to change drastically.
Others discuss many things people say today: everything is for corporations, people (especially workers) mean nothing, young people are lazy, schools are terrible, people are rude.
An update of...more
So many of those interviewed say their jobs won't be around in another 10 years, or that they have and will continue to change drastically.
Others discuss many things people say today: everything is for corporations, people (especially workers) mean nothing, young people are lazy, schools are terrible, people are rude.
An update of...more
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Terkel won the Pulitzer prize in 1985 for his interviews with ordinary people in such books as Working, The Good War, and Hard Times. Often called an Oral Historian, Studs Terkel preferred to be known for playing music on the radio.
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“Most people were raised to think they are not worthy. School is a process of taking beautiful kids who are filled with life and beating them into happy slavery. That's as true of a twenty-five-thousand-dollar-a-year executive as it is for the poorest."
Bill Talcott - Organizer”
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3 people liked it
Bill Talcott - Organizer”
“Smug respectability, like the poor, we've had with us always. Today, however, ... such obtuseness is an indulgence we can no longer afford. The computer, nuclear energy for better or worse, and sudden, simultaneous influences upon everyone's TV screen have raised the ante and the risk considerably.”
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2 people liked it
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Mar 03, 2009 06:55am