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American Dreams: Lost and Found
 
 
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American Dreams: Lost and Found (Paperback)

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4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Price: $16.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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  Hardcover, August 11, 1980 -- $36.50 $0.01
  Paperback, March 31, 1999 $16.95 $2.17 $2.10
  Mass Market Paperback, October 11, 1981 -- $0.50 $0.01
  Unknown Binding -- -- $1.05

Frequently Bought Together

American Dreams: Lost and Found + Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do + Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression
Price For All Three: $40.01

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  • This item: American Dreams: Lost and Found by Studs Terkel

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Here is raw material for one thousand novels in one medium-sized book!... Incomparable. Studs Terkel's done it again. -- Margaret Atwood

In American Dreams, Mr. Terkel, a superb editor as well as the ideal listener... becomes Walt Whitman. -- John Leonard

Studs Terkel has captured the melody of America. -- Nicholas Von Hoffman

Studs Terkel shows America from the inside out -- a fascinating and revelatory portrait. -- Ronald Steel

The best of Terkel's works. A stirring, hopeful book. -- Robert Sherrill, front page, New York Times Book Review


Product Description

Back in print, the book the New York Times Book Review called the Pulitzer Prize winner's best. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ted Turner, Jesse Helms, Joan Crawford, Vine Deloria, Helen and Scott Nearing. These are just some of the people Studs Terkel has persuaded to tell their version of The American Dream. In this group portrait of hopes, we see that American reality defies our stereotyped expectations. Starting with an embittered winner of the Miss U.S.A. contest who sees the con behind the dream of success, the Pulitzer Prize-winning interviewer discusses ideals and aspirations with the businessman enamoured of success, the farm kids dreaming of the city, the city boys determined to get out, the Boston Brahmin, and the KKK member. We see both the simple dreams -- owning a piece of land or running a small-town paper -- as well as the grand aspirations -- building a fourth television network, or becoming the best body builder in the world. Now back in print, this Terkel classic will surprise and edify a whole new generation of American readers.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 496 pages
  • Publisher: New Press; Later printing edition (April 1, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1565845455
  • ISBN-13: 978-1565845459
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #438,155 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Studs Terkel
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

American Dreams: Lost and Found
58% buy the item featured on this page:
American Dreams: Lost and Found 4.3 out of 5 stars (3)
$16.95
Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do
13% buy
Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do 4.6 out of 5 stars (24)
$11.53
The Good War: An Oral History of World War II
12% buy
The Good War: An Oral History of World War II 4.5 out of 5 stars (37)
$11.53
Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression
11% buy
Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression 4.2 out of 5 stars (21)
$11.53
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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars It opened my eyes, May 3, 1999
By A Customer
A wonderful reflection of the diversity of dreams and realities of so many people. Terkel collects people from all walks of life and probes there dreams--what they are, what they were, how they've changed.

He engages them to tell there stories of success and failure, hardship and longing, understanding and transformation.

I never felt more in touch with the unique nature of America than when I was reading this book. I would recommend it to anyone.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting look at America by Americans, May 28, 2009
Gritty journalist/author Studs Terkel (1912-2008) spent decades letting people tell their stories, and the result is more than a dozen solid oral histoires. This 1980 effort is one of his best, with over 100 Americans talking about their lives and that ever-elusive American Dream. Most interviewees try defining the dream, but focus more effectively on their work, successes, and (often) frustrations. Ms. USA (1973) discusses the shallowness of her title. Frank Wills describes a lack of opportunities after uncovering the Watergate break-in. Anti-nuclear activist Sam Lovejoy describes opposing new power plants in Massachusetts. Businessman Ted Turner discusses his upcoming news network (CNN), while a football lineman confesses using false anger to inspire his game. We hear from business leaders, liberal activists (a Terkel staple), the poor of Appalachia, and aged children of immigrants (who also remember their parents). Also chipping in are street-wise community workers, a 1963 Civil Rights marcher, and politicians as diverse as Detroit Mayor Coleman Young and right-wing Senator Jesse Helms (both are less embarrassing than expected).

As usual, many of Terkel's interviewees are from Chicago (plus Kentucky, Oregon, and New England) and on balance they tilt a bit leftwards with skepticism towards the establishment. Still, this is an interesting look at, about, and from ordinary Americans. Readers should also see Terkel's other top efforts, such as WORKING, THE GOOD WAR (World War II), and HARD TIMES (Great Depression).
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4.0 out of 5 stars Down The Streets Of Broken Dreams, November 30, 2008
As I have done on other occasion when I am reviewing more than one work by an author I am using some of the same comments, where they are pertinent, here as I did in earlier reviews. In this series the first Studs Terkel book reviewed was that of his "The Good War": an Oral History of World War II.

Strangely, as I found out about the recent death of long time pro-working class journalist and general truth-teller "Studs" Terkel I was just beginning to read his "The Good War", about the lives and experiences of, mainly, ordinary people during World War II in America and elsewhere, for review in this space. As with other authors once I get started I tend to like to review several works that are relevant to see where their work goes. In the present case the review of American Dreams: Lost And Found serves a dual purpose. First, to reflect on the lives of working people (circa 1980 here but the relevant points could be articulated, as well, in 2008): the recent arrivals to these shores hungry to seek the "streets of gold"; those Native Americans, as exemplified by Vince Deloria's story, whose ancestors preceded our own and who continue to bring up the rear; those blacks and mountain whites who made the internal migratory trek from the South and, in some cases, found more in common than in difference; and, others who do not easily fit into any of those patterns but who nevertheless have stories to tell. And grievances, just, unjust or whimsical, to spill. Secondly, always hovering in the background is one of Studs' preoccupations- the fate of his generation- the so-called "greatest generation". Those stories, as told here, are certainly a mixed bag. Thus, there is no little irony in the title of this oral history.

One thing that I noticed immediately after reading this book, and as is true of the majority of Terkel's interview books, is that he is not the dominant presence but is a rather light, if intensely interested, interloper in these stories. For better or worse the interviewees get to tell their stories, unchained. In this age of 24/7 media coverage with every half-baked journalist or wannabe interjecting his or her personality into somebody else's story this was, and is, rather refreshing. Of course this journalistic virtue does not mean that Studs did not have control over who got to tell their stories and who didn't to fit his preoccupations and sense of order. He has a point he wants to make and that is that although most "ordinary" people do not make the history books they certainly make history, if not always of their own accord or to their own liking. Again, kudos and adieu Studs.
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