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.
35 episodes transcribedWith Donald Trump’s victory this week, many people looked at the election results and thought, yeah, this is the country I thought it was. For some pe...
A wee flame, flickering in the dark. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Who’s trying to bridge...
People who tell a lie and then believe the lie more than anyone else. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription...
Thirteen parole board members decide whether or not one man should be released from prison. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our...
Ira Glass has news to share about some things happening here at This American Life. To sign up as a Life Partner, visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepart...
So much of the fight for the presidency is coming down to battles for small slices of voters who can help throw swing states to one candidate or anoth...
Chen Almog-Goldstein was kidnapped by Hamas along with her three youngest children on October 7, 2023. This week, she tells the story of their life as...
People caught in limbo, using ingenuity and guile to try to get themselves out. Prologue: Rachel has two kids. Elias, age seven, is a vegetarian. Theo...
One kid comes to America as an exchange student and commits herself to the senior year experience. Prologue: We talk to high school seniors in Salt La...
People trying and struggling to see what another person sees. Prologue: Guest-host Tobin Low talks to comedian Tig Notaro about a jarring ride to sch...
Iowa has three million people and a million come to their State Fair, each with their own goals and dreams for the fair. We hang out with some of them...
When the best—and perhaps only—way to say something is to write it down. Prologue: Ira goes out with a letter carrier, ‘Grace,’ as she delivers mail o...
In a crisis, when all logic suggests that you get away from the dangerous thing, how will you respond? Prologue: Ira talks to two members of a recreat...
People rethinking some of the most important relationships in their lives — with their sister, their political party, and the nominee for president. P...
Boen Wang has a theory that a lot of the misery in his life can be traced to a single moment that happened years before he was born. So he makes a pil...
