America at 250: A View from the Streets

"The staff writer and historian Jill Lepore is an admirer of the Federal Writers' Project, and the man-on-the-street form of documentary it helped to pioneer. This type of journalism, she thinks, is integral to the democratic project. As part of a special episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour, Lepore collaborated with the audio-storytelling group Transom to create a new documentary on how Americans perceive their country on the eve of its two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary."

"Producers conducted interviews in Illinois, California, Louisiana, Vermont, and Utah, in gas stations, city parks, and malls, on street corners and dairy farms, asking people how they see themselves in the American story, how they feel about America at two hundred and fifty, and what they imagine the tricentennial of independence will be like."

"The New Yorker Radio Hour's collaboration with Transom was produced by Sophie Crane. It was recorded by Eve Abrams, Scott Carrier, Erica Heilman, Yohance Lacour, and David Weinberg. Mixing and sound design by Josh Crane. Music by Jon Evans and Matthias Bossi at Stellwagen Symphonette. It was created as part of Transom's Listeners Project, an experiment in hyperlocal documentary storytelling."

"New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts. The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC and The New Yorker."

A documentary created for The New Yorker Radio Hour uses a man-on-the-street, Federal Writers’ Project–style approach to examine how Americans perceive their country before its 250th anniversary. Interviews were conducted in Illinois, California, Louisiana, Vermont, and Utah in everyday public and private spaces such as gas stations, city parks, malls, street corners, and dairy farms. People were asked how they see themselves in the American story, how they feel about America at 250, and what they imagine about the tricentennial of independence. The project was produced in collaboration with Transom as part of Transom’s Listeners Project, an experiment in hyperlocal documentary storytelling. New episodes release Tuesdays and Fridays.

Read at The New Yorker