Thread by @LincolnsBible

This morning, our journey begins into The World Beneath.

You can find the 1st episode of the audio series where ever you find your podcasts. Or subscribe to Apple Podcast Subscriptions to binge the season.

Let’s talk about the series for a bit…/1
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the…

2/ The series is structured as a 5-Season experience. Each season will have a theme, and a scandal - as our way into the world.

Season One's theme is TREASURE. We'll explore the origins of the Second Economy that fuels the underworld.

3/ Although you can binge the entire season at once on Apple, it IS meant to be listened to in order of the episodes. It is a series written in the tradition of the days of radio's audio series.

Serialized story-telling. Each episode builds on the last and drives into the next.

4/ On Mondays, for those of you listening on other platforms, we drop the scripted episodes. 10 episodes over the next 10 weeks.

On Thursdays, we drop something else: "Sit Downs". These are discussions with people who lived, or studied, an aspect of the world we're exploring.

5/ The Sit-Downs are designed to bring what we learned or reviewed in Monday's scripted episode into the current moment. And bridge us from one episode to the next.

I've had some incredible conversations - with remarkable people, all along the way. I'm so grateful to them all.

6/ And because this entire thing started over four years ago, with this weird account of mine on Twitter - researching the material with, and learning from, ALL OF YOU... I'm publishing the bibliography for each episode on The World Beneath’s new Twitter account:
@MobstersSpies

7/ Here is the biblio for Episode One: “Two Dead Bodies”.
Have fun digging!

8/ Finally, music played such an important role in both keeping me sane AND connecting with many of you over these years.

So, I’ll post a song each week that kind of speaks to the energy of the episode - or my experience writing it.

Here’s today’s. 🤍

9/ The 1st Sit-Down of Season One is an interview with someone very special to me - my uncle.

He has decades of lived experience working on the side of light at the NSA.

Our conversation bridges Episode 1, TREASURE, with next Monday's episode, LOVE CODE.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hum…

10/ In our discussion, my uncle, a 35+-year veteran of the NSA, walks us through the everyday workings of the agency - illuminating the humanity inside our greatest intelligence agency: good people, doing the ever-important work of securing our precious democracy.

11/ Today's song & video are a tribute to Unc, who taught me how to dance, when I was just able to walk.

We've swing-danced at every family event - weddings, graduations, bar mitzvahs - ever since.

💃🏻

12/ I hope this conversation - our dance of words - brings you some joy & hope for the future.

Available now on all podcast platforms.
link.chtbl.com/theworldbeneath

13/ LOVE CODE, the 2nd narrative episode of Season One of The World Beneath, introduces our heroine, Elizebeth Friedman - creator of cryptanalysis and godmother of the NSA.

14/ LOVE CODE is an origin story of genius, patriotism, and love.

And none of it would have happened without a conspiracy theory about William Shakespeare.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lov…

15/ Voicing Elizebeth Friedman for The World Beneath is Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts-trained Shakespearean actress Judy Louise Johnson, @judylj.
link.chtbl.com/theworldbeneath

16/ Today's song is for Elizebeth, and for her two loves: cryptanalysis and William - who sparked the fire in her.

Bibliographies for each episode can be found at the account @MobstersSpies on the week of their premiere. Here is the biblio for "Love Code".

18/ Today’s Sit-Down on The World Beneath podcast is titled “History Matters” with L.A. Times-bestseller author Greg Olear - my friend, colleague, and fellow wordsmith.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/his…

19/ Greg’s column PREVAIL covers politics, national security, foreign affairs, history - & poetry on Sundays. His weekly podcast, “PREVAIL with Greg Olear,” features important interviews w/ fascinating people.
gregolear.substack.com

20/ Greg is the author of DIRTY RUBLES: AN INTRODUCTION TO TRUMP RUSSIA, as well as 2 novels. All can be found on Amazon.
PREVAIL podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows:
And you can (& must) follow him on Twitter @gregolearpodcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/pre…

21/ Today’s song is “Beyond Belief” by Elvis Costello

In PIRATES OF 5th AVENUE, the third narrative episode of The World Beneath, we learn what ALL the greats know: to be the best – to reach heights never before reached…you need a coach.

Jordan had Phil Jackson. Brando had Stella Adler. And Lansky & Luciano had Arnold Rothstein.

23/ Today’s episode intros 2 men:

ARNOLD ROTHSTEIN - the original fixer of Organized Crime. By 1920, he owned everyone who was anyone in America's two largest cities: NYC & Chicago.

And ELMER IREY - the legendary Treasury Man who hunted him down.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pir…

24/ The bibliography thread for PIRATES OF 5th AVENUE is up on the podcast twitter feed @MobstersSpies.
Have fun with it.

25/ Voicing Elizebeth Friedman for #TheWorldBeneath is actress Judy Louise Johnson, @judylj.

And since Rothstein & Irey collided over an ocean of booze, our song today is "Alcohol" by The Kinks, cover by Hailey Tuck.

Today’s Sit-Down on The World Beneath podcast is with Melissa Davis, @MelissasLibrary, Director of Library and Archives at the George C. Marshall Foundation - the guardians of Elizebeth and William Friedman’s legacy of work.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the…