The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“The Best Strangers in the World is a witty, poignant book that captures Ari Shapiro’s love for the unusual, his pursuit of the unexpected, and his delight at connection against the odds.”—Ronan Farrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and New York Times-bestselling author of Catch and Kill and War on Peace

From the beloved host of NPR's All Things Considered, a stirring memoir-in-essays that is also a lover letter to journalism.

In his first book, broadcaster Ari Shapiro takes us around the globe to reveal the stories behind narratives that are sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking, but always poignant. He details his time traveling on Air Force One with President Obama, or following the path of Syrian refugees fleeing war, or learning from those fighting for social justice both at home and abroad.

As the self-reinforcing bubbles we live in become more impenetrable, Ari Shapiro keeps seeking ways to help people listen to one another; to find connection and commonality with those who may seem different; to remind us that, before religion, or nationality, or politics, we are all human. The Best Strangers in the World is a testament to one journalist’s passion for Considering All Things—and sharing what he finds with the rest of us.

Ari Shapiro is the award-winning cohost of NPR’s All Things Considered, the most listened-to radio news program in the United States. In addition to his reporting, Shapiro makes frequent appearances as a guest singer with the “little orchestra” Pink Martini. He created the original one-man show, Homeward, in 2016, and since 2019, has performed and toured the stage show Och and Oy with Tony Award–winner Alan Cumming. He lives in Washington, DC.