Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith (Ballantine Reader's Circle) - Softcover

Terkel, Studs

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345451201 ISBN 13: 9780345451200

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2002

Synopsis

“IT’S THE UNGUARDED VOICES HE PRESENTS THAT STAY WITH YOU. . . . Terkel’s interviews may not allay fears about death. But reading them certainly encourages life while we have it.”
–The New York Times

Whether it’s Working or The Great War, the legendary oral histories of Studs Terkel have offered indispensable insights into all areas of American life. Now, at eighty-eight, the Pulitzer Prize winner creates his most important work on a subject few can comfortably discuss: death.

Here, in the voices of people both esteemed and unknown, are wise words, meaningful memories, and compassionate predictions about the experience of life’s end–and what may come after. A grad student explains how her two-year coma convinced her of the existence of reincarnation . . . A Hiroshima survivor reconciles her painful memories with the stoicism of her Japanese culture . . . Actress Uta Hagan expresses how her art is her religion and will be her legacy . . . Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler relives his World War II ordeal, after a torpedo left him in a lifeboat among injured and dying comrades . . . An AIDS counselor reveals why healthy gay men may require the most crucial psychological help . . . and a retired firefighter admits he “never felt so alive” as when he was doing his dangerous job.

From the sheer physical facts to the emotional realities to spiritual speculations, all aspects of death are openly expressed in this wonderful work, the stirring culmination of Studs Terkel’s brilliant career.

About this title

About the Author

Studs Terkel (1912–2008) was an award-winning author and radio broadcaster. He is the author ofRace: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession; Division Street: America, Coming of Age: Growing Up in the Twentieth Century;Talking to Myself: A Memoir of My Times; “The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II;Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do;The Studs Terkel Reader: My American Century; American Dreams: Lost and Found;The Studs Terkel Interviews: Film and Theater; Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression;Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith;Giants of Jazz; Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Troubled Times;And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey; Touch and Go: A Memoir;P.S.: Further Thoughts from a Lifetime of Listening; and Studs Terkel’s Chicago, all published by The New Press. He was a member of the Academy of Arts and Letters and a recipient of a Presidential National Humanities Medal, the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, a George Polk Career Award, and the National Book Critics Circle 2003 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0345451201
• ISBN 13: 9780345451200
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English