Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny moments, big feelings, and surprising plot twists. Newsy stories that try to capture what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or podcast. Hosted by Ira Glass and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.
101 episodes transcribedOn this country's 250th birthday, we bring you stories about the most American people, places, objects, and social norms that make this country what i...
We try to tell the story of life in America through portraits of life on four different corners, in four different states across the nation. Visit th...
We spend an hour in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, behind and desperate, with people trying any damn thing they can think of. Visit this...
It’s the late 1960s, and a California TV repairman named Bob sees an opportunity to help people cheat death with the new science of cryonics. But free...
Regular people trapped inside Greek myths. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: When a mysteriou...
We want to believe our lives can be changed by the ideas contained in a book. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subs...
Adults telling kids who they are, and kids wondering — are they right? Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscriptio...
One family faces the Trump administration’s ban on trans people serving in the military, and responds with a surprising secret weapon. Visit thisamer...
People who end up with far more power than they bargained for, and everything that comes with it. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up...
Since the war began in Iran, we've heard very little from people inside the country — and there's a reason for that. The entire country has been under...
Ira always hated commencement speeches. Then he felt like he had to give this one. thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners
The casino game everyone thinks they can beat. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Host Ira Gl...
Stories of cheating, cheaters, and the cheated. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Ira talks w...
At a time when the U.S. government is trying to make American history tidier, we try to learn from the mess. Including the untold, messy story of Paul...
What happens when a new guy comes on the scene and changes the way everyone relates to each other? Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up...
M. Gessen returns to our show with a true-crime story that takes place entirely within their own family. This story comes to us from the producers at...
In the early days of the radio show, Ira did a series of interviews with his parents that completely changed his relationship with them. This week, he...
Stories that take place on the edge of civilization, just out of sight. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscripti...
Two lawyers who work for ICE step forward and lift the curtain on what is really happening inside our immigration system right now. Visit thisamerica...
Stories of high drama from America's workplaces — surprising, emotional places full of the greed, jealousy, and ambition of real politics. Visit this...
