orig. Louis Turkel
born May 16, 1912, New York, N.Y., U.S.
U.S. radio personality and author.
He moved with his family to Chicago when he was eight. Terkel gave up a legal career to become a radio disk jockey and interviewer, exposure that led to his own television show in 1950. In 1953, blacklisted from television for his leftist leanings, he returned to radio, continuing at the same station for 45 years. His books include Division Street (1967), about Chicago; Hard Times (1970), about the Depression; Working (1974), on Americans and their jobs; The Good War , on World War II (1984, Pulitzer Prize); and Race (1992), on American feelings about race.