This American Life

We want to believe our lives can be changed by the ideas contained in a book.

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• Prologue: When Alexa was seven, she started going through her grandfather's books. Her grandfather was a playwright and teacher, and through the books—and especially through his notes in the margins—she entered the world of 1930's American theater. And she found a book th...

Adults telling kids who they are, and kids wondering — are they right?

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• Prologue: Host Ira talks with comedian Gary Gulman about his transformation from high school nobody to football star. (8 minutes)
• Act One: Gary puts on a tough guy costume, but will it turn him into a tough guy? Ira continues Gary Gulman’s story. (17 minutes)
• Act Two: Eleanor Gord...

One family faces the Trump administration’s ban on trans people serving in the military, and responds with a surprising secret weapon.

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• Prologue: Geirid and Chrissy are extreme planners. But about a year ago, they were confronted with a situation that even they had no idea how to plan for. (4 minutes)
• Act One: Geirid and Chrissy make an “in case of e...

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 an internet blackout. We worked with reporters Roxana Saberi and Fatemeh Jamalpour to get voice memos out of the country. Even though it was dangerous and difficult, people wanted to be heard.

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• Prolog...

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 and Essie Robeson.

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• Prologue: Guest Host Emanuele Berry talks to Nichole Hill about the Black movie characters Nichole was curious about as a child. (7 minutes)
• Act One: A giant of the Harlem Renaissan...

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 Serial Productions—who invented the true-crime podcast more than a decade ago—and from The New York Times.

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• Act One: M Gessen tells Ira Glass about the surprising events that prompted them to begin rep...

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 returns to those interviews.

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• Prologue: Ira talks about why four conversations reveal how his relationship with his parents changed. (4 minutes)
• Act One: Ira’s mom, Shirley, is invited to lead a discus...

Two lawyers who work for ICE step forward and lift the curtain on what is really happening inside our immigration system right now.

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• Prologue: Two lawyers dive into the details of what they’ve witnessed behind the scenes in different parts of the immigration system. (2 minutes)
• Act One: Former ICE attorney Ryan Schwank explains the chaos and dysfunct...

People deciding to do things that most of us do NOT choose to do. 

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• Prologue: A new documentary called The Boys and the Bees captures a moment where a six-year-old has a very unlikely wish, and his dad decides to grant it. Host Ira Glass talks with filmmaker Arielle Knight about what happens next. (9 minutes)
• Act One: John Tothill tells the story of ...