It's the Brian Larry Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. And on this 5th of July, we're indulging in the long holiday weekend. So we've put together some recent interviews with book authors

from longtime Democratic Party strategist Luis Miranda, yes, he's Lynn Manuel's dad, to sociologist Richard

Ossijo and his exploration of gentrification north of the city in the Hudson Valley,

Mayor Bloomberg's so-called master builder, Dan

Doctoroff, and Dan Curzon, with her kinder funner guide to English usage, and funner is a word

in the title of the book. But we start with New York Times columnist Nicholas Christoff, who has now

been with the Times for 40 years and who has just

published a memoir about a lot of that called Chasing Hope, a reporter's life. And, you know, we could

use some hope in these pessimistic times, right? Interesting that it comes from Christoph, who,

if you read him regularly, you know, he's devoted his career to exposing some of the

worst suffering in the world. That's what he's done, but maybe you saw a recent times op-ed,

he wrote, that draws on the book, called The Case for Hope. We'll talk about that. Nick,

congratulations on the book, and welcome back to WNYC. Thank you.

Great to be with you.

So I see that even when you were a kid in Yamhill, Oregon, what a name, Yamhill,

you thought of growing up to be a foreign correspondent.

How did you get that bug early on?

Was it from your parents or some other way?

You know, my dad was a World War II refugee, and so, you know,

in a very mixed up household, he would speak to his brother in Polish and to his sister in

Romanian. And so I think I had that sort of sense of the world. And, you know, when you're in

Yamhill, Oregon, you feel like you're practically overseas

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