Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do

Working consists of interviews with over 100 Americans about their jobs and feelings toward work. Through firsthand accounts, workers share their daily routines, challenges, satisfactions, and perspectives on their roles in society. The interviews span a wide range of occupations including laborers, executives, craftspeople, service workers, farmers, and artists. Each subject speaks candidly about workplace dynamics, compensation, physical demands, emotional costs, and the impact of their work on their personal lives. Studs Terkel presents these oral histories without commentary, allowing the workers' voices and experiences to stand on their own. The interviews were conducted in the early 1970s across the United States. The collection paints a complex portrait of work as both a source of identity and alienation in American life. Through these diverse accounts, fundamental questions emerge about dignity, class, purpose, and the role of labor in shaping the human experience.

Readers value the raw, unfiltered perspectives from workers across all levels of society. The oral history format captures authentic voices and experiences that resonate decades later. Many note how the interviews reveal universal human experiences and aspirations beyond just job descriptions. Liked: - Intimate glimpses into others' daily work lives - Preservation of natural speech patterns and personalities - Mix of blue collar, white collar, and service industry perspectives Disliked: - Length and repetition across 700+ pages - Some interviews feel dated or irrelevant to modern work - Lack of organization makes it hard to read straight through Ratings: Goodreads: 4.2/5 (13,000+ ratings) Amazon: 4.6/5 (500+ ratings) Common reader comment: "Best read in small segments rather than all at once." Several reviewers mention using it as reference material rather than reading cover-to-cover, with one noting: "It's like a documentary in book form - fascinating but can be overwhelming in one sitting."

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📚 While gathering material for "Working," Studs Terkel interviewed over 130 people across 40 different occupations, from gravediggers to movie ushers, creating one of the most comprehensive oral histories of American workers ever compiled. 🎙️ The book spawned a Broadway musical adaptation in 1978, featuring songs written by multiple composers including James Taylor and Stephen Schwartz. 📖 Terkel conducted his interviews using a Uher tape recorder, but never used prepared questions—he believed in letting conversations flow naturally to capture authentic stories. 🏆 The author, Studs Terkel, won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for a different oral history book, "The Good War," but "Working" remains his most widely recognized work. 👥 The book's subjects were specifically chosen to represent workers who rarely got public attention—the "uncelebrated"—rather than focusing on prominent professionals or business leaders.