National Oral History Project StoryCorps Records Ordinary People Telling Their Stories to Each Other

"StoryCorps is built on a few basic ideas: That our stories--the stories of everyday people—are as interesting and important as the celebrity stories we’re bombarded with by the media every minute of the day.

That if we take the time to listen, we’ll find wisdom, wonder, and poetry in the lives and stories of the people all around us. That we all want to know our lives have mattered and we won’t ever be forgotten. That listening is an act of love."

Those are the opening lines of Dave Isay"s new book about StoryCorps. It's called “Listening is an Act of Love” and was published in November.

Today we are joined by Dave Isay and three of the people whose stories are featured in the book. They are among the many thousands who have recorded their memories using StoryCorps since it began in 2003.