This is NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Kia Miyakana-Tis. If you're an avid NPR listener, you've

probably heard this name and you definitely know this voice. Ari Shapiro is one of the hosts of

NPR's All Things Considered, tasks with the job of helping listeners comprehend the world around them,

especially things that might feel unfamiliar. The job of making the unfamiliar familiar is attached Shepiro has taken on

since he was a child, explaining aspects of his identity to folks in his hometown of Fargo, North Dakota.

Now, a new memoir is pulling back the curtain, so to speak, to reveal the stories

behind the voice. It's called Best Strangers in the World and shares the adventures and

experiences of this intrepid reporter. Here he is with NPR's Steve Inskey. In the U.S.,

national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Our colleague Ari Shapiro begins a new memoir by recounting what he did in first grade.

Says he and his brother were the only Jewish kids at their school in Fargo, North Dakota,

and at Christmas time they went around explaining what Hanukkah was. Not all that many years later, Ari Shapiro went to work at NPR,

and according to the NPR archives from back in 2003, he was still explaining Judaism to everybody

else. At the Passover celebration in the first century BC, Rabbi Hillel smeared bitter herbs in an

apple-nut mixture called Horoset between two slices of unleavened bread or matzah.

It may not have been the first sandwich ever made, but it's the first in recorded history.

Ari Shapiro, 20 years ago, doesn't sound that much different. Since then, he's become a correspondent,

traveled much of the world, covered conflicts in elections, become host of NPR's All Things Considered Our Afternoon Program, and

...