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Terkel, Studs : The Great Divide: Second Thoughts On The American Dream

Pantheon Books, New York City, NY, 1988

ISBN 0394570537

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 439 pages. Massive oral history on subject. One of the greatest books of our time. Advance Signed Copy. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. Vintage "First Edition Circle" Bookmark laid in. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Studs Terkel's "The Great Divide: Second Thoughts On The American Dream". One of the earliest and most prescient accounts on The Rise (of the 1% billionaire class) and The Fall (of the American middle class). Stable, self-sufficient, and prosperous (therefore impervious to authoritarian demagoguery), the American middle class is the single greatest social achievement not only of the democratic experiment, but of Western civilization itself. Which makes Terkel's chronicle as timely and indispensable as ever. "Here is the America we are all living through: The America of yuppies, Wall Street greed, right-wing fundamentalism, Reaganite values, Sixties activists who have become stockbrokers and real-estate speculators. Here at the same time is the Other America: The backers of the Sanctuary Movement, the obstinate liberals, the teachers still fighting the good fight. Here, too, are all those caught in the middle, the people who have seen the changes, but who hesitate to transform their inner lives" (Publisher's blurb). Fast forward thirty years later, to the 2016 Presidential Election Year, and Terkel's book haunts and reverberates with the loud music of truth: If the American middle class holds, democracy will survive. If it does not, Western civilization, not just democracy, will collapse. As always, Studs Terkel's genius is in his ability to arrive at the universal by staying very close to the personal. His obstinate refusal to generalize makes his books instant classics, as fresh and relevant today as when they were first written. An absolute "must-have" title for Studs Terkel collectors. This Advance Signed Copy is very boldly and beautifully signed and inscribed in black pen-marker on the front free endpaper by the author: "Peace, Studs Terkel". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. There is no recipient named. Laid-in is the vintage "First Edition Circle" Bookmark. This title is a great book. This is one of few such signed and inscribed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction in 1985 for "The Good War". One of the greatest American writers of the 20th century and a national treasure. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER STUDS TERKEL TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0394570537.

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