Will the Circle Be Unbroken and Coming of Age, by Studs Terkel

Stories bring us together. We've known this forever. Nowadays, we are learning, they also drive us apart.

Where are the good stories these days? In other words, what's a good answer to the failings of public education and politics writ large?

Here is Studs Terkel's: talk to people. Listen to what they say. When someone tells their story and you listen, that is bringing together.

Studs Terkel's works are compendia of such stories, brought together and distilled. A prize-winning audio essay featuring survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki haunts and harrows; a conversation with Myles Horton and Rosa Parks opens a window onto already-legendary history; and books like Coming of Age and Will the Circle Be Unbroken amass and knit together hundreds of hours of recordings with people from all walks of life. Celebrities and common people alike show their humanity; they learn things they never knew about themselves, and we recognize ourselves in them. Replete with allusions to history and with different perspectives on well-worn stories, Studs' works have taught me more than almost anything else. A little outro music, for instance:

Ceterum censeo, social media is for the birds.