Cross posted at slothropia.com.
Studs Terkel, a great American and more importantly, a great human, died today.
Studs was 96, but remained active and vital almost to the end of his gargantuan life. I don't know what Studs would have had to say about this years' election but I suspect he was pleased with the prospect of the end of the right wing era and with the imminent election of Barack Obama.
A wiser and braver nation would have extravagantly celebrated him and his and his achievements. As it was he was beloved and admired by many, including me.
As well as an oral historian, radio personality and writer, Studs was a lover of baseball and sometime actor. IMHO he acquitted himself well in the 1988 John Sayles film, Eight Men Out, which dealt with the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
Here is a longish interview with Harry Kreisler:
Here is Studs on a Soapbox, Parts i and 2:
He is missed already and will never be forgotten.