Kathy Fagan

Studs Terkel ((1912-2008) was an asthmatic sickly child who outlived every member of his family, his beloved wife Ida (M=44), and most of his peers, dying after a bad fall at age 96. Famous for flunking the bar exam and interviewing people on radio, about their Work. At age Terkel took on the topic of death, which, curiously, most people do not want to discuss. Death, and the wild speculations about "after life", is a universal certainty. This book contains 60-plus interviews of mostly regular folks--from the religious to the atheistic with no expectation of "rebirth". Their life stories and speculations about the afterlife are ventilated by one of the great "listeners" of radio experience. Includes a few well-known figures -- Kurt Vonnegut, radio journalist Ira Glass, and folksinger Doc Watson (of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fame - bluegrass album "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"). Others, as artists, medics, and clergymen, and parents speaking of losing family members and friends. Some tell of personal encounters with heavenly voices and apparitions and "out of body" views. Terkel does not interject himself much here, but somewhere I recall him saying -- maybe -- he defined himself as "a cowardly atheist" during a 2004 interview with Krista Tippett on American Public Media's "Speaking of Faith".

This author does the simple things, asks questions and allows people to answer.
Amazing, ordinary people, like you and me ( )

A gift from Uncle Mody, this is a revealing set of Studs Terkel's oral interviews with a wide range of people on the topic of death, and what might come after. Here are interviews with doctors, ministers, atheists and agnostics, soldiers, funeral directors, those who came back from dying, death-row inmates, AIDS victims and helpers, parents who have lost their children, and one with a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. Fascinating stuff, and mostly touched with a quiet optimism that this life is not the end. I'm reminded by the near-death survivors who "died" on the operating table and reported floating above their bodies, of a scientific experiment I read about recently that might provide some evidence: The researchers will place in the operating rooms a simple and easily-remembered graphic, which can only be seen from above the operating table. After any surgical near-death experiences, those who recount floating above their bodies will be asked if they can recall seeing the graphic. As a man of science, I'm quite interested to see the results someday. Until then, these stories are sufficiently fascinating. ( )

Not as strong as others he's put together. Considerable insight into effects of the AIDS crisis that seems to be forgotten now. ( )