Let’s start with a little history about the National Security Agency. In 2003 journalist James Bamford talked with us about his latest book about the NSA. Back then, he said the general public didn’t know much about the National Security Agency, by design.
You can also hear our original interview with Bamford.
Storyteller Hugh Lupton tells Jim about the ancient Celtic tradition related to our Halloween rituals, and tells him a story. Lupton is the author of “Freaky Tales from Here and There.”
America has a thing for Japanese culture. And since the U.S. and its allies occupied Japan after WWII, some Japanese have had a thing for American culture, music in particular.
James Nolan is a poet, writer and fifth generation New Orleans native. He went through Katrina inside his French Quarter apartment.
Poet Rochelle Hurt is from Youngstown, Ohio. Now that she's moved away, she misses home. And the rust.
Leigh Ann Henion was a young mother when she felt her world closing in. So she did something unconventional: she set off on a "wonder pilgrimage" to see some of the world's most astonishing natural phenomena. She tells us about juggling motherhood with swimming in bioluminescent oceans, standing at the edge of active volcanoes, and witnessing vast animal migrations.
Ishmael Beah was 12 when the army of Sierra Leone gave him an AK-47 and a lot of drugs and turned him into a killing machine. Beah's been rehabilitated and lives in the USA.
James McManus writes for Harpers. With an advance from the magazine, he entered the world series of poker.
