This American Life
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This American Life
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 pop...
Seneste episoder
72 episoder
893: Testosterone
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered everyone over 30 in the military to have their testosterone tested. That inspired us to rerun this classic...
892: Trapped on a Bus
People on journeys they did not intend — or agree to.
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891: The Test Case
Some people in this country think Antifa is a dangerous domestic terror organization. Some think that’s a complete myth. This week, we go to the feder...
890: Maximal Americanness
On 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...
128: Four Corners
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.
889: There’s Something About Hail Mary
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.
354: Mistakes Were Made
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...
888: Not Today, Hades!
Regular people trapped inside Greek myths.
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137: The Book That Changed Your Life
We want to believe our lives can be changed by the ideas contained in a book.
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676: Here’s Looking at You, Kid
Adults telling kids who they are, and kids wondering — are they right?
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887: Two Is One, One Is None!
One family faces the Trump administration’s ban on trans people serving in the military, and responds with a surprising secret weapon.
318: With Great Power
People who end up with far more power than they bargained for, and everything that comes with it.
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886: Blackout
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 (Reluctantly) Gives a Graduation Speech
Ira always hated commencement speeches. Then he felt like he had to give this one.
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466: Blackjack
The casino game everyone thinks they can beat.
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393: Infidelity
Stories of cheating, cheaters, and the cheated.
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885: Bless This Mess
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...
212: The Other Man
What happens when a new guy comes on the scene and changes the way everyone relates to each other?
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884: The Idiot
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...
883: Call Your Parents
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...
628: In the Shadow of the City
Stories that take place on the edge of civilization, just out of sight.
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882: Give a Little Whistle
Two lawyers who work for ICE step forward and lift the curtain on what is really happening inside our immigration system right now.
208: Office Politics
Stories of high drama from America's workplaces — surprising, emotional places full of the greed, jealousy, and ambition of real politics.
881: I Want What I Want
People deciding to do things that most of us do NOT choose to do.
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605: Kid Logic
Kids using perfectly logical arguments and arriving at perfectly wrong conclusions.
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75: Kindness of Strangers
An episode from our show's early days: Stories about what happens when strangers are kind — and when they're not.
Transcripts are...
880: What Is Your Emergency?
911 calls unlike any we’ve heard before, and other stories about immigration agents sweeping through America.
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851: Try a Little Tenderness
In the new year, stories of people trying a radical approach to solving their problems.
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879: A Christian and a Muslim Walk Into a Bar
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...
The Americans Outside My Window
In this special mini-episode, we hear from someone in Venezuela with a very specific take on last week's U.S. attack.
878: New Lore Drop
People discovering information about their own lives that they did not know, and suddenly everything looks very different.
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New Lore Drop
People discovering information about their own lives that they did not know and suddenly everything looks very different.
850: If You Want to Destroy My Sweater, Hold This Thread as I Walk Away
The tiny thing that unravels your world.
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Tr...
801: Must Be Rats on the Brain
The one animal we can’t seem to live without, even when we really, really want to.
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Christmas and Commerce
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...
877: The Making Of
How one block in Portland, Oregon became a movie-set war zone that lots of people think is a real war zone.
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255: Our Holiday Gift-Giving Guide
The vexing difficulty of finding the perfect gift.
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876: Bigger Than Me
When history comes knocking, you have to figure out what to do.
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513: 129 Cars
We spend a month at a Jeep dealership on Long Island as they try to make their monthly sales goal: 129 cars. If they make it, they'll get a huge bonus...
875: I Hate Mysteries
What’s in the box? What’s in the $%&ing box?!?
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