He is the host of a celebrated and highly respected radio interview program in Chicago. He has used the techniques developed on his radio program to write a series of non-fiction books about various aspects of contemporary American life. The topics he has described have been work, the Depression of the 1930's, the Second World War, and race and aging. Terkel is able to transform sociological categories into human experiences. Terkel gives his interviewees the sense that what they have to say is significant.
Gifted students like to find and discover the meaning of ideas and concepts.
Terkel's methods of studying social history are a valuable tool for their investigation of their social world. They are mostly in the performing arts. Terkel is interested in these gifted individuals as examples of the creative experience. For him, the performing artist is an individual who possesses a keen sense of discipline and craft. All of these interviews include discussions of each performing artist's craft.