What is the author's tone in Hard Times; an Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel?

As Hard Times is oral history—a series of interviews conducted by the author—its tone varies according to the speaker. However, running beneath the interviews—as always in a Studs Terkel work—is the vibrant sense of national dialogue. Even those that the author has to prompt frequently have something vital to say about the nature of want, the role of government, and the value of labor. In Terkel's America, the zeitgeist is being formed minute by minute in the words of its citizens.