Will the Circle Be Unbroken? by Studs Terkel

Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith
by Studs Terkel

Hardback
384 pages
(November 2001)
New Press
ISBN: 1565846923

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Reincarnation

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Synopsis:

From Amazon.com

Mustering more spunk and battery juice than his overworked tape recorder, 88-year-old Studs Terkel cranks out another eclectic treasury of oral histories in Will the Circle Be Unbroken? This time, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Good War takes on death, a universal experience that solicits plenty of speculation, caution, and emotion from his 60-plus interviewees. Regular folks--ranging from the deeply religious to the deeply atheistic--share their life stories and their hopes or suspicions about the afterlife. Some are well-known, such as author Kurt Vonnegut, radio journalist Ira Glass, and folksinger Doc Watson (who, incidentally, appears in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's classic bluegrass album Will the Circle Be Unbroken). Others, including parents, artists, medics, and clergymen, share equally compelling stories about losing family members, patients, and friends; personal encounters with heavenly voices; and apparitions. Terkel lies low throughout the book; his voice is only heard in the short intros to each speaker's story and in the chuckle-inducing introduction, which tells the story of an asthmatic boy--Studs, of course--who ironically outlives his family and dear wife Ida. The result is a vibrant tapestry of life's full process, sure to stir compassion and inspiration in adults at any point on the curve. --Liane Thomas

Reviews:

Circle is Broken SB 1 or God

11/11/2001

Reviewer: A reader from Washington, DC

How can anyone not like this book? So realistic an approach to a subject we all ponder more and more as the years pass. This book brings new information as well, I read the other reviews here and I would have written the same if they hadnt been posted. The Sept 11th attacks did not come to me though and would not expect anyone to. The book is chilling to the bone and has me wanting to go back and read it again, I want to start about one quarter the way in as this book explodes at this point, but I am going to start from the beginning again. What I'm saying is the book has chronology or a line you definitly have to follow. Very supportive. I would like to recommend a book that really touches the subject in a different way, it breaks the circle!

Amazingly Poignant and Timely Given September 11, 2001

11/1/2001

Reviewer: A reader from Chicago, IL United States

Studs Terkel, a Chicago treasure and Pulitzer Prize winner, could not have predicted how the release of his latest book would coincide with the events of September 11, 2001, in an amazingly poignant and timely fashion. Like his other books, this one is a collection of interviews with a broad selection of people from all walks of life. Terkel, seeking a way to cope with the death of his wife of 60 years, Ida, set out on a project to examine what people thought about the one experience we will all have but will not be able to describe once we've had it: Death. The Prologue, interviews with two New York City brothers, revisits them from an earlier book. How uncanny that one is a fireman, one a policeman. I got goosebumps reading about events at the World Trade Center before September 11th. The stories are, when all is said and done, a celebration of life and, for want of a better word, "spirit." For anyone searching for meaning in recent events in America, this book will be a tremendous solace. The book ends with Mamie Mobley, mother of Emmett Till (whose murder in the '60's was as much the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement as Rosa Parks' bus seat) and I cried through the whole chapter. The epilogue, a story of two women and two children is the perfect ending of this examination of life, death and family. Had the events of September 11th never happened, I would have recommended this book highly. Because of September 11th, this book just has to be a "best seller."

Deep in death, Terkel finds life

10/10/2001

Reviewer: A reader from Chicago, IL United States

In America, we have hidden away death and the dead. Insulated by modern medicine, by a culture obsessed with youth, and by a pervasive need not to accept our own limited nature, we have put death aside. Studs Terkel, in this eloquent book, has helped restore death to its proper and healthy place as something to be contemplated, understood, and, bit by bit, accepted. This book is a collection of interviews with ordinary people who express themselves with extraordinary eloquence as they consider how death has touched and shaped their lives. From this diverse chorus of voices arises an understanding of death as both a creative and a destructive force, of death as a shaper of life rather than a void. The result is a book more about life than death, about the remarkable importance of every life and of every death.

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Circle is Broken SB 1 or God	11/11/2001
Reviewer: A reader from Washington, DC
How can anyone not like this book? So realistic an approach to a subject we all ponder more and more as the years pass. This book brings new information as well, I read the other reviews here and I would have written the same if they hadnt been posted. The Sept 11th attacks did not come to me though and would not expect anyone to. The book is chilling to the bone and has me wanting to go back and read it again, I want to start about one quarter the way in as this book explodes at this point, but I am going to start from the beginning again. What I'm saying is the book has chronology or a line you definitly have to follow. Very supportive. I would like to recommend a book that really touches the subject in a different way, it breaks the circle!

Amazingly Poignant and Timely Given September 11, 2001	11/1/2001
Reviewer: A reader from Chicago, IL United States
Studs Terkel, a Chicago treasure and Pulitzer Prize winner, could not have predicted how the release of his latest book would coincide with the events of September 11, 2001, in an amazingly poignant and timely fashion. Like his other books, this one is a collection of interviews with a broad selection of people from all walks of life. Terkel, seeking a way to cope with the death of his wife of 60 years, Ida, set out on a project to examine what people thought about the one experience we will all have but will not be able to describe once we've had it: Death. The Prologue, interviews with two New York City brothers, revisits them from an earlier book. How uncanny that one is a fireman, one a policeman. I got goosebumps reading about events at the World Trade Center before September 11th. The stories are, when all is said and done, a celebration of life and, for want of a better word, "spirit." For anyone searching for meaning in recent events in America, this book will be a tremendous solace. The book ends with Mamie Mobley, mother of Emmett Till (whose murder in the '60's was as much the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement as Rosa Parks' bus seat) and I cried through the whole chapter. The epilogue, a story of two women and two children is the perfect ending of this examination of life, death and family. Had the events of September 11th never happened, I would have recommended this book highly. Because of September 11th, this book just has to be a "best seller."

Deep in death, Terkel finds life	10/10/2001
Reviewer: A reader from Chicago, IL United States
In America, we have hidden away death and the dead. Insulated by modern medicine, by a culture obsessed with youth, and by a pervasive need not to accept our own limited nature, we have put death aside. Studs Terkel, in this eloquent book, has helped restore death to its proper and healthy place as something to be contemplated, understood, and, bit by bit, accepted. This book is a collection of interviews with ordinary people who express themselves with extraordinary eloquence as they consider how death has touched and shaped their lives. From this diverse chorus of voices arises an understanding of death as both a creative and a destructive force, of death as a shaper of life rather than a void. The result is a book more about life than death, about the remarkable importance of every life and of every death.