Working

Studs Terkel's oral history of American workers across occupations — what they do, what they think about, and what their work means to them.

Work as the lens for American life: Terkel interviewed workers across every occupation — steelworkers, housewives, waitresses, executives, farmers, prostitutes — letting their voices document American work culture from the inside. The organizing insight: almost everyone wants their work to be meaningful, regardless of whether it is. The book is simultaneously a sociological document and a humanist argument for the dignity of labor. Oral history as literature: Terkel's ear for voice and selection of telling details makes Working read as well as fiction.