Chicago — Studs Terkel

Too personal to capture an objective view of Chicago, too much in a hop, skip, and a jump style to clearly focus on any aspect of the city, Terkel's latest book is entertaining, nostalgic, and a paean to his town. Managing to hark back to his own boyhood experiences and relate them to Chicago at large and occasionally voicing his own political philosophy, the author offers a kaleidoscopic tour. Policemen, dance ballrooms, race relations, WPA art, street art (not graffiti), and museum art, the Terkel rooming house, hospitals, a snowstorm, professional baseball, the Chicago Symphony, and the southside's reaction to Joe Louis's victory over Max Schmeling all come into view. Over 120 evocative photos enhance the text. Primarily regional in interest. Roger W. Fromm, Bloomsburg Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.