Book Tour Log - Chicago

September 13 – Hull House

Amazing crowd and quite a nice spread provided by Hull House. The room is packed by the time we start and Bill Ayers hosts with humor and of course his casual nature that sets the perfect tone. Later he tells me that we were in a house of Studs’ people. People that I interviewed are in the room as is Fred Klonsky who wrote the books’ first review on his blog. It is interesting watching people see political friends who they haven’t seen recently. Especially great meeting George Drury. Kevin Coval, Kathy Kelly, and Haki Madhubuti speak before I talk about the book. Kevin reads, or I should say acts out, his preface and it’s even more moving than when read. Kathy talks of what Studs’ views would be today of America’s endless wars. Haki reads his poem that concludes the book with emotion, true adoration of Studs, and warmth for the book. After I talk about this and that and the three things that the book does that haven’t been done before, people tell Studs’ stories and ask various questions. Peter Kuttner talks about his experiences with Studs. Steve Robinson, outgoing leader of WFMT, asks who I think is carrying on Studs’ tradition. Hard question because I don’t think anyone really does.  Terry Gross is different. I mention Alex Kotlowitz but I stress that he isn’t Studs. Bernardine and then Lois Baum, later remind me that Amy Goodman might be someone. My thoughts are she does in certain political ways and does get people to say things that they don’t mention on other shows. I come back to one of my main points, Studs’ respect for the people he talked to – the anti-Mike Wallace.

September 14 – Bookends and Beginnings in Evanston

First thing, Stan Kahn, who I played softball with for a year came to the event and appeared to really like it.  Very good feeling.  Big crowd at the store that included two of the people I interviewed, Pearl Hirshfield and Mark Larson as well as Judy Hoffman, who filmed Studs many times. Pearl who was Studs and Ida’s friend and political comrade talked about Studs and Mark Larson spoke about Studs interviewing him on his own racism. Included in the crowd were around 30 students from DePaul and Northwestern who asked some great questions. Young people, or even people younger than my generation, don’t know Studs. Hoping Kevin’s foreword introduces some people. Finally, the couple that owns the store were great hosts.

September 15 – 57st Bookstore with Bill Ayers

First we picked up 97-year old Tim Black, Studs friend, oral historian, teacher, and political activist. I interviewed Tim for the book and he talked about Studs’ bravery as well as white racism in Chicago.  Good crowd with good questions. Some remembrances of Studs and Tim provided wisdom. Bill hosted and helped make the question stage come alive. Good questions from two young people and an interesting selection of attendees. Middle age couple who had just moved from Rockford to Hyde Park and were thrilled to learn more about Studs. Also some young people, two who asked great questions. One about which Studs book he should start with and the other, a young college instructor asked about teaching Working and reaching young people – Tim advised her brilliantly. Finally, Adrian Marin, who is archiving all of the paper/more at Studs’ house came and our conversation after the event was warm, insightful, and wonderful.

Chicago Tribune Review - Rick Kogan

Writer of Studs Terkel biography started with a story in his head

Rick Kogan – Chicago Tribune

It was a not-so-happy Halloween in 2008 when the many thousands of his fans and followers heard that Studs Terkel had died. This news was perhaps softened a bit by the fact that he was 96 years old and that his life had been filled with activity: TV star, actor, radio host for nearly half a century on WFMT, author of nearly 20 books (among them such best-sellers as "Division Street America," "Working" and "The Good War," winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1985), energetic activist and civic symbol. He got it right when some years before his death he crafted his own playful epitaph: "Curiosity did not kill this cat."

On that 2008 Halloween, Alan Wieder was driving his car along a road near the University of South Carolina, where he had been a professor for nearly two decades. He was talking on his cellphone to his girlfriend, Joanie Krug, who would later become his wife. He stopped talking so that he could turn his full attention the car radio's delivery of the news of Terkel's death. "And then I just drove to the nearest place I could think of where I could get a pair of red socks," says Wieder, referring to one of the items that was — along with a red-checked shirt, a loosened red knit tie, gray trousers and a blue blazer — part of the familiar Terkelian wardrobe.

That sartorial style came to be after Studs (it simply does not seem right to refer to him in any other way, not by last name or by his birth name, which was Louis) spotted a man at a party wearing a red-checked shirt and said he had to have one just like it. He always had a frazzled and rumpled look, as if he might have been a racetrack tout. But it's possible he could have looked even worse. As his wife Ida said, "I have to take him out to the store to buy clothes. Otherwise, he would be dressed in rags."

"Finally, I found a pair of red socks in a sporting goods store," says Wieder.

He no longer has those socks but he has a book, the first major biography of Studs since his death. (Previously there was "Studs Terkel: A Life in Words" by Tony Parker published in 1996.)

Wieder's "Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation" begins with these words: "This project began in my head over twenty years ago. As a university oral historian, it was Studs Terkel's books that made my work possible, credible in the academic setting that swept further and further into the world of empirical data. People's stories were not to be trusted, but Studs made them legitimate."

It is a fine and immensely readable book that hits all of the many stops in Studs' long career. It is the result of deep and detailed research, incisive and insightful thinking and is based soundly on "more than one hundred conversations with Studs' family members, friends, colleagues, and other people whose lives he touched."

I was among those people, for not only had I known Studs since I was born — he took my father, his good friend, out for a celebratory drink that long ago night — but I had written a number of stories about him over my newspaper years, including his obituary, which began by noting that he "arrived here as a child from New York City and in Chicago found not only a new name but a place that perfectly matched — in its energy, its swagger, its charms, its heart — his own personality. They made a perfect and enduring pair."

"At first some of the people I approached were suspicious," says Wieder. "I was lectured a bit: 'Don't get Studs wrong,' more than one said. And others were skeptical."

One of the reasons was that Wieder was far from Studs' inner circle, which numbered among it some people who were contemplating writing books of their own about him. Wieder was a virtual stranger, having met Studs only once. It was in 2003 when he was in Chicago for a conference at which Studs was a featured speaker. He was introduced to him by Bill Ayers, the local author and professor who was a friend of both Studs and Wieder. "We shook hands and I immediately sensed that Studs was totally uninterested in talking to another professor," says Wieder. "But when I mentioned that I had just returned from South Africa, he brightened and we talked and talked." Actually, that conversation lasted only 10 minutes but it remained vivid in Wieder's mind.

In the wake of Studs' death Wieder was wrapping up his book about a pair of South African activists. When his "Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid" was finished, he focused on Studs. As he writes, "I had been scripting Studs' story in my head for many years." "After that initial skepticism, so many people were willing to share their memories," says Wieder, who now lives in Oregon. "They all helped me get to know Studs as a human being." His tone is understandably flattering, his admiration palpable. He ends his book with this appreciative assessment: "He amazed us!"

There will surely be more books about Studs. His own books still sell and his radio interviews live on in the remarkable Studs Terkel Radio Archive. In a sense Studs fashioned his own autobiography. Though famous for his skill in interviewing others, he also wrote a number of books in which his voice is the most prominent. Among them I think the best is 1986's "Chicago," a big title for a slender, 144-page book, which he described as a "rambling essay." But I find it to more like a meditation, a thrilling trip into Studs' feelings for this city with which he is so closely identified.

Wieder is proud of his own book, though he wonders still, "Did I really get him?"

The preface is by Chicago poet-teacher Kevin Coval, who calls the book "a tribute to one of the greatest men in the history of the greatest & most horrible of cities." And the book ends with a poem by Studs' friend, the author-publisher-poet Haki Madhubiti. These are its last lines:

"your being among us is the rare, ripe, swinging musical

and we, the chorus, are still taking lessons, breaking only

to say thank you."

He wrote that a while ago, on the sad Halloween day that Studs died.

rkogan@chicagotribune.com

Political Perspectives Interview with Gene Bradley

Studs Terkel now and then: Alan Wieder on KBOO radio; Studs himself, same station, 1996

Alan Wieder, author of Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation, talks to community radio station KBOO‘s Gene Bradley on “Political Perspectives.” Then an interview with Studs Terkel, from the same studio, in 1996. And, if you’re in Portland, Oregon on August 30, drop by Broadway Books, , 7:00 to 8:00pm, 1714 NE Broadway, where Alan will read from his book and talk about Studs Terkel.

Interview Link:

http://kboo.fm/media/52059-alan-wieder-studs-terkel-politics-culture-mostly-conversation

September 13th Chicago Book Launch at Hull House

Book Launch and Signing

Please join us for the Chicago book launch and signing of Alan Wieder's Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation. Speakers include Alan Wieder, Haki Madhubuti, Kathy Kelly and Kevin Coval . Refreshments provided.

Alan Wieder’s Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation is the first comprehensive book about this man. Drawing from over one hundred interviews of people who knew and worked with Studs, Alan Wieder creates a multi-dimensional portrait of a run-of-the-mill guy from Chicago who, in public life, became an acclaimed author and raconteur, while managing, in his private life, to remain a mensch.

Alan Wieder is an oral historian who lives in Portland, Oregon. He is distinguished professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina and has taught at the University of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In the last fifteen years, he has published three books and numerous articles on South Africans who fought against the apartheid regime. The latest book, Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid, was published in 2013 by Monthly Review Press.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016
6:00p-8:00p
FREE

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
800 S Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60607

Radio Interview - Rag Radio

Thorne Dreyer is a wonderful interviewer -- like Studs, he clearly reads the book.  Link for interview:

https://archive.org/details/RagRadio2016-08-12-AlanWieder

September 16 - Milwaukee

Book Release: Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation by Alan Wieder

readings & workshops

Sep 16 Friday, September 16
7:00pm, FREE

Studs Terkel was an American original: Courageous, iconoclastic, funny and brilliant. Alan Wieder captures his essence, and in doing so reminds us of Studs’s extraordinary effervescence, his endless quest for the truth, his attainment of a place in the pantheon of America’s greatest patriots.

—Dennis Kucinich, Former Mayor of Cleveland and Presidential candidate

Studs Terkel was an American icon who had no use for America’s cult of celebrity. He was a leftist who valued human beings over political dogma. In scores of books and thousands of radio and television broadcasts, Studs paid attention—and respect—to “ordinary” human beings of all classes and colors, as they talked about their lives as workers, dreamers, survivors. Alan Wieder’s Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation is the first comprehensive book about this man.

Drawing from over one hundred interviews of people who knew and worked with Studs, Alan Wieder creates a multi-dimensional portrait of a run-of-the-mill guy from Chicago who, in public life, became an acclaimed author and raconteur, while managing, in his private life, to remain a mensch. We see Studs, the eminent oral historian, the inveterate and selfless supporter of radical causes, especially civil rights. We see the actor, the writer, the radio host, the jazz lover, whose early work in television earned him a notorious place on the McCarthy blacklist. We also see Studs, the devoted husband to his adored wife, Ida.

Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation allows us to realize the importance of reaching through our own daily realities—increasingly clogged with disembodied, impersonal interaction—to find value in actual face-time with real humans. Wieder’s book also shows us why such contact might be crucial to those of us in movements rising up against injustice. The book is simply the best introduction available to this remarkable man. Reading it will lead people to Terkel’s enormous body of work, with benefits they will cherish throughout their lives.

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Alan Wieder is an oral historian who lives in Portland, Oregon. He is distinguished professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina and has taught at the University of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In the last fifteen years, he has published three books and numerous articles on South Africans who fought against the apartheid regime. The latest book, Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid, was published in 2013 by Monthly Review Press.

Mission

Woodland Pattern Book Center is dedicated to the discovery, cultivation and presentation of contemporary literature and the arts. 

Our goals are to promote a lifetime practice of reading and writing, to provide a forum and resource center for writers/artists in our region, and to increase and diversify the audience for contemporary literature through innovative approaches to multi-arts programming.

Woodland Pattern is the only Milwaukee, Wisconsin arts organization presenting contemporary literature to the general public on a continuous basis.

October 10 Jimmy Carter Library Atlanta

Alan Wieder Book Signing

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Monday, Oct 10, 2016 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Location:
Carter Library 441 Freedom Parkway NE
Atlanta, GA 30307

Studs Terkel was an American icon who had no use for America’s cult of celebrity, an eminent oral historian and leftist supporter of radical causes, and an actor, writer, and radio host who, in scores of books and broadcasts, paid respect to “ordinary” human beings of all classes and colors as they talked about their lives. Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, But Mostly Conversation by oral historian and author Alan Wieder is the first comprehensive book about the man and his work. Drawing from over one hundred interviews of people who knew and worked with Terkel, Wieder creates a multi-dimensional portrait of a run-of-the-mill guy from Chicago who, in public life, became an acclaimed author and raconteur, while managing, in his private life, to remain a mensch.

A Cappella Books will have copies of Studs Terkel available for purchase and signing following the program. This event is free and open to the public.

If you are unable to attend this event but would still like to read Studs Terkel, CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER A SIGNED COPY (link TBA).