Division Street is the book that first made Studs Terkel's reputation as America's foremost oral historian, as "one of those rare thinkers who is actually willing to go out and talk to the incredible people of this country". Viewing the inhabitants of a single city, Chicago, as a microcosm of the nation at large, Terkel chronicles the thoughts and feelings of some seventy people from widely varying backgrounds in terms of class, race, and personal history. From a mother and son who migrated from Appalachia to a Native American boilerman, from a streetwise ex-gang leader to a liberal police officer, from the poorest African Americans to the richest socialites, these unique accounts form a multifaceted collage that defies any simple stereotype of America.