All the other books ask, 'What's it like?' What was World War II like for the young kid at Normandy, or what is work like for a woman having a job for the first time in her life? What's it like to be black or white?

Terkel smoked two cigars a day until 2004. This show along with Marlin Perkins's Zoo Parade Garroway at Large and the children's show Kukla Fran and Ollie are widely considered canonical examples of the Chicago School of Television. He also served as a distinguiStuds Terkeld scholar-in-residence at the Chicago History Museum.

Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16 1912 – October 31 2008) was an American author historian actor and broadcaster.