Hello, I'm Cleo Levin, one of the editor's brain members' exclusive Slate Plus content.

I recently spoke with host Josh Levine and senior producer Evan Trung about making this

season of one year.

Then Josh spoke with his story in Tracy Campbell about his book The Year of Parall, America

in 1942.

Here's a snippet from that conversation.

There's something kind of comforting to me that in moments of great crisis people can

step up, but also that people are always people.

Yeah, I think in a strange way history can be comforting that way in ways that we're

not expecting that if we don't gloss over and create a history that never really existed

then we don't have something we have to live up to.

That human beings in all situations can sometimes rise to extraordinary levels and remarkable

heroism to selflessness can also be extremely self-serving and petty at the same time.

That's the human condition and history ought to be something that helps us understand

that rather than gloss it over with a history that never existed in the first place.

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