Living life in America, it’s too easy to see one’s own opinion as authentic, reasonable mainstream and that of others as wild, dangerous and uninformed. Maybe that’s human nature, but Americans tend to take things to extremes anyhow. Knowledge of "the facts of life" is hardly imprinted in anyone’s genes. You learn these facts over a lifetime and your take on "the facts" can change overnight and dramatically. 

          You are never more aware of the possibility of change—even in the same household—than when you read one of Studs Terkel’s compilations of interviews. People from different ends of the spectrum come together, even take actions which once seemed abhorent to them. People who once shared similar views drift, or are wrenched, apart. Soldiers turn against war, ministers against the Church, housewives become activists. Other people hold onto their beliefs. 

          In THE GREAT DIVIDE, as in "Working", "The Good War", "Division Street, America", and "Hard Times"—to name a few of his other books—Terkel presents the life stories, the views, and the complicated picture of a broad section of America. Before you spout off on what Americans think, how they feel, or what they do, it would behoove you to read this or any other of his books. When I’m tempted to make some sweeping generalization about America, I think of Studs Terkel, and keep my mouth shut. People abroad who think they’ve got a handle on the USA ought to check these works out too. I can’t think of any other set of books that give such insight—in relatively painless form too—into American life and values. For every yuppie there’s a displaced worker, for every conservative there’s a radical, for everyone who knows "the answers to life’s questions", there is one who keeps searching. 

          THE GREAT DIVIDE concerns class, an aspect of America that many refuse to face, as well as the major division between those who are only out to look after No. 1, as we say, and those who feel that justice and improvement in society top individual concerns. If we take the 1960s as a time when the latter tendency loomed larger, the 1980s, when Terkel wrote this book, were certainly typified by the former.

          The only caveat to THE GREAT DIVIDE is that we seldom learn the circumstances of the interviews, the phrasing of the questions, or what was edited out. This of course is true of any published interview without a full transcription. But the range of opinions and thoughtfulness would tend to convince me that although Terkel has his own views, he let others shine through. Teachers, stockbrokers, laborers, housewives, bosses, soldiers, students, blacks, whites, Hispanics, immigrants, organizers, apathetic standers-by, left, right—all kinds of people appear on these pages. The GREAT DIVIDE is an education in American values, and believe me, "American values" don’t belong to any single political party.