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.
88 episodes transcribedAt 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...
People deciding to do things that most of us do NOT choose to do. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Pr...
Kids using perfectly logical arguments and arriving at perfectly wrong conclusions. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premiu...
An episode from our show's early days: Stories about what happens when strangers are kind — and when they're not. Prologue: Brett Leveridge was stand...
911 calls unlike any we’ve heard before, and other stories about immigration agents sweeping through America. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners...
When a joke could get you killed, should you say it anyway? A group of Syrian comedians test the limits of their newfound freedom, a year after the fa...
In this special mini-episode -- an extra episode this week! -- we hear from someone in Venezuela with a very specific take on last week's U.S. attack.
People discovering information about their own lives that they did not know, and suddenly everything looks very different. Visit thisamericanlife.org...
The tiny thing that unravels your world. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Ira talks to Chris...
The one animal we can’t seem to live without, even when we really, really want to. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium...
Stories about the intersection of Christmas and retail, originally broadcast in 1996 when our show was only a year old. Including David Sedaris's "San...
How one block in Portland, Oregon became a movie-set war zone that lots of people think is a real war zone. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners t...
The vexing difficulty of finding the perfect gift. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Host Ira...
When history comes knocking, you have to figure out what to do. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prolo...
