Publisher, HighBridge Audio (June 2009)

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“Studs Terkel, himself an octogenarian, has personally interviewed senior citizens ranging from their early 70’s to almost 100 years of age. In his introduction, Terkel addresses how priceless our elderly citizens and their personal experiences are to our country’s heritage. Shirley Venard does a remarkable job interpreting each woman's personal account. Her performances personify their wit, intelligence, fortitude, weariness, spirit and grand sense of humor. Allen Hamilton is a virtual chameleon as he reenacts a wide variety of male personal histories. He adds all the ingredients necessary to portray strong-willed, intelligent men from all walks of life, who have been seasoned by life's unexpected twists and turns.” —AudioFile

“Superb oral history. ” —Booklist

“Inspired. . . . The language spoken here is pure Terkel: the voice of the embattled old liberal shaking his stick at the twentieth century.” —The New York Times Review of Books

“It’s a classic, a wonderful example of the Terkel approach: letting people have their say in their own way.” —BookPage

“We don’t know anything about the past and we don’t seem to want to know it. And all the time the people who can tell us about it, make it meaningful, the real repositories of living information, are being lost.” —Studs Terkel

Together, these stories represent an extraordinary panorama of American life and work throughout the century and the ways in which the times have changed.

Coming of Age is a compelling picture of what we have gained through “progress”—and what we have lost.

About the Author: STUDS TERKEL (1912-2008) was a free spirit, an outspoken populist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, a terrible ham, and one of the best-loved characters on the American scene. Born in New York in 1912, he lived in Chicago for over eight decades.