You know what's so fascinating about this story is that the big dig is in many ways the last great project of the interstate era.

It is the last major project funded under that original legislation.

But it's this transitional project because it's really looking ahead to the future, right?

It's the last project of that era, but it's it's aspiring towards the ideals of the era we live in now, the era of environmental impact

statements and community input and taking seriously the needs of residents who live in the places where that infrastructure is.

So you know like it begins on paper and it ends on computers.

It begins in the you know Nixon administration and it ends in the Obama administration right so it kind

of captures that whole era which is part of the reason I think it's just such a fascinating

case study for understanding not just this one project but really the whole way we

build has changed.

Hello and welcome, why is this happening with me your host Chris Hayes.

One of the great delights and joys of this program is that when I encounter

something some artifacts some bit of information some stories some history some

podcasts and book some movies some TV show that I love, that I truly love, I'm able to bring it here to you to share it with you.

And you might recall if you're a regular list of the podcast, this past winter I read this incredible book about the history of Polynesia called

Sea People when I was on vacation in Hawaii and I was like obsessed with it and we had the

author Christina Thompson on. Today is another edition of that. I was in the rare situation where I had listened to all my podcasts and I was taking a long drive because I've been doing a lot of driving and I'm at the point in my book right now, my book

where the book is basically going into production and I'm not I don't have to listen to a book for my book research at all times on audio books so I had a weird

clean slate audio wise and I was discussing with Kate like, well, is there a novel?

You know, she got a whole audible library as a novel.

She's recommended a few.

I get in the car.

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